Recorded Joy·Rakuchū / Gojō

Shosei-en, Higashi Hongan-ji Garden

Shōsei-en is a detached garden of Higashi Hongan-ji, laid out on land granted by Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1641. Its name comes from a line by the poet Tao Yuanming—roughly, "strolling the garden day by day, it becomes a delight"—while the karatachi (trifoliate orange) hedge that once ringed it gave the alternate name Kikoku-tei. By tradition the garden is attributed to Ishikawa Jōzan, and the site is said to be the old grounds of Minamoto no Tōru's ninth-century Kawara-in, itself modeled on the distant coast of Shiogama. The buildings, lost to fires in the closing years of the Edo period, were later rebuilt, and the garden was named a National Scenic Site in 1936.

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These notes come from desk research. Local traditions vary.