Sankei-en - Features - Inner Garden

Inner Garden

The Inner Garden, north of the Main Pond, was opened to the public in 1958, and was until then the Hara family's private garden. Its buildings are the Gomon Gate (御門?) (Tangible Cultural Property), the Hakuun-tei (白雲邸?) (Tangible Cultural Property), the Rinshunkaku (臨春閣?), Tenzui-ji's former Jutō Ōidō (旧天瑞寺寿塔覆堂, Kyū-Tenzui-ji Jutō Ōidō?), the Shunsōro (春草廬?), the Kinmokutsu (金毛窟?), the Gekkaden (月華殿?), the Tenju-in (天授院?), the Chōshūkaku (聴秋閣?), and the Renge-in. Only during the summer, the Rinshunkaku and the Hakuun-tei are open to the public.

Of particular value is the Rinshunkaku (Important National Cultural Property, see photo below), formerly belonging to the Kii House of Tokugawa. It is often compared in beauty to the World famous Katsura Imperial Villa in Kyoto. Originally the summer residence of Tokugawa Yorinobu, the first head of the Kii House, it used to stand in Iwade, Wakayama prefecture. Acquired by Hara in 1906, it was rebuilt over a period of three years between 1915 and 1917. Divided in three sections, it was decorated by famous artists Kanō Tanyū and Kanō Yasunobu. The transoms between pavilions are decorated with sculpted waves (first pavilion) and special paper containing poetry (second pavilion). The third pavilion's transom is decorated with real gagaku instruments like shō and flutes.

The Gekkaden (Important National Cultural Property) was built in 1603 by Ieyasu, the first of the Tokugawa shoguns within Kyoto's Fushimi Castle. It was bought in 1918 together with the Shunsōro and moved to Sankei-en. Hara then connected it to a pavilion he built, the Kinmokutsu. The paintings on the room partitions are attributed to Momoyama period artist Kaihō Yūshō. The Gekkaden can be rented by the public.

The Tenju-in (Important National Cultural Property) was originally a Jizō-dō in Kita-Kamakura near the great Kenchō-ji Zen temple and was bought in 1916. Tenju-in was Hara's Jibutsu-dō (持仏堂?), the temple which enshrined his tutelary gods.

Tenzui-ji's former Jutō Ōi-dō (Important National Cultural Property, see image above) was built in 1591 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi as a resting place for his mother, and is one of the few extant buildings attributable with certainty to him.

The construction of the Chōshūkaku (Important National Cultural Property, see photo below) is traditionally attributed to Iemitsu, third of the Tokugawa shoguns. The pavilion is open to the public in spring and in November for the traditional viewing of the autumn colors.

The Shunsōro (Important National Cultural Property) is a tea room believed to have been built for Oda Urakusai, brother of the more famous Oda Nobunaga. Urakusai was a well-known practitioner of the tea ceremony.