Kyoto | (Kikoku-tei) Shosei-en Garden

The Kikoku-tei Shosei-en Garden

Kyoto is known for its many formal Japanese gardens, and the urban Shosei-en Garden is on of the more historic in the city. The Shosei-en Garden is also known as the Kikoku-tei, or "Orange Grove" garden for its many ornamental orange trees.

The Shosei-en Garden dates back to the Heian Period (794 to 1185), when it was part of the Rokujo Kawahara estate that was owned by the Emperor Saga's son; Prince Minamoto Notooru.

One of the unique features to his garden was the addition of a salt-water pond the he constructed to recreate the rocky Shiogama coastline of Oku Province in Northern Honshu's Miyagi Prefecture. For 'authenticity,' salt-water was imported from Namba (South Osaka bay), to stock the garden's main pond.

Higashi Hongan-ji Shrine

The garden is connected to the Higashi Honganji, or Shinshu Otani-ha Shrine, which was built in 1641, when the land was bequeathed by the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. In 1643, Sennyo Shonin who was the hereditary heir to the Honganji tradition commissioned landscape designer Ishiyama Saijo to create the Shosei-en.

The garden's design was also credited to famous landscape architect Kobori Enshu, creator of the 'enshu-ryu' method of flower-arranging.