Katsura Imperial Villa - History

History

The Katsura district of Kyoto has long been favored for villas, and in the Heian period, Fujiwara no Michinaga had a villa there. The members of the Heian court found it an elegant location for viewing the moon.

Prince Hachijō Toshihito (智仁; 1579–1629), the founder of the Katsura Imperial Villa, was born on February 13, 1579. He was the sixth son of Prince Sanehito, and a descendent of Emperor Ogimachi. In 1586, Toshihito was adopted by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, but they separated in 1589 when Hideyoshi had his own son. He presented Toshihito with land that yielded 3000 koku (15,000 bushels of rice) and allowed him to establish a new house in the imperial line, which became the Hachijo family line.

From an early age, Prince Toshihito was very familiar with the Tales of Genji, the Poems of Past and Present, and the works of Po Chu-i. He was incredibly fond of these works, and was said to copy passages from the works for leisure. One such passage, from the Tales of Genji, had written:

“Far away, in the country village of Katsura, the reflection of the moon upon the water is clear and tranquil.”

When Toshihito obtained land along the south bank of the Katsura River, the location of the novel the Tales of Genji, he set out to construct a villa modeled on passages from it. However, because he lacked wealth and resources, the first constructed villa was similar to “a teahouse in the melon patch” . However, after the marriage of Tokugawa Kazuko to Emperor Go-Mizunoo, which Toshihito had been active in creating, construction of the villa began. As Prince Toshihito became a greater figure in public life, more guests came to visit the Katsura Imperial Villa. By 1624, he had devoted more of his resources to the expansion of the villa, and it was recorded that hills had been formed and a pond had been dug in the middle of the garden. A priest that visited Katsura in 1624 wrote that it had the “finest view in Japan”. By 1631, the villa was called a “palace”.

Prince Toshihito died in 1629, when his son Toshitada (also called Noritada) was ten years old. Because he was only a child, Toshitada made little use of the garden, and the villa was allowed to deteriorate badly. However, he shared the same interests as his father, and visited the villa by 1641. After marrying the daughter of Lord Kaga, which greatly increased his income, he set out to renovate the imperial villa. With the section of the villa his father built known as the “Old Shoin”, Toshitada constructed the main house, as well as several teahouses, and these became part of the section called the “Middle Shoin”. After these renovations, the fame of the Katsura villa grew.

In 1654, Toshitada adopted Prince Sachi, one of the ex-Emperor Go-Mizunoo’s many sons, and a few years afterwards, Go-Mizunoo decided to visit. It is said that the New Palace, also called the “Imperial-Visit Palace”, was built to accommodate the ex-Emperor while he was visiting. Prince Toshitada died in 1662, and his heir died a few years later. After this, the fourth and fifth generation princes died in their teens, making additions to the Katsura Imperial Villa impossible. However, the seventh generation prince, Prince Yakahito, visited the villa numerous times and made repairs to it, leaving most of the layout in its original form.

The Hachijō-no-miya house changed its name to Tokiwai-no-miya (常磐井宮), Kyōgoku-no-miya (京極宮), and finally Katsura-no-miya (桂宮), before the line died out in 1881. The Imperial Household Ministry took control of the Katsura Detached Palace in 1883, and since World War II, the Imperial Household Agency has been in control.