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Daimyo Gardens: Edo-period Wonderlands
The Tokugawa Art Museum recently held a special exhibition on Daimyo gardens. The following information was all that was available on their website:
The Edo-period daimyo created vast gardens inside their provincial castle grounds and at their residences in the capital city of Edo. Many of these daimyo gardens were designed for strolling: they had rolling land representing mountains, valleys and plains surrounding a large pond representing the sea at the center. Such vast gardens were used for entertaining visits from the shogun (onari), for greeting other daimyo, and for conducting ceremonies. The daimyo took great pains to make all possible improvements and add small inventive touches so as to increase the attractions. In the eyes of the commoners, the results were a veritable wonderland.
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According to the last sentence in this blurb I am to assume that commoners were allowed into the gardens of daimyo. Such was not the case of emperial gardens as I mention in my previous post. The Tokugawa Art Museum preserves the extensive holdings of the Owari branch of the Tokugawa family. The Owari's, based at their castle seat here in Nagoya, maintained the closest family and political ties to the ruling shoguns throughout the Edo period (1603-1868). No other feudal lords, or daimyo, surpassed the Owari holdings and their concern for the history of the clan. The family legacy encompasses art and a vast array of heirloom objects and furnishings intended for the lord and his household. Thus, the museum's collections would have been housed in the daimyo garden similarly to the collections of the emperial gardens. These collections, however, we can imagine were open to the public.
While looking for a review of this exhibit, I came across this page which outlines the construction project for joining the Tokugawa Museum with the Hosa Library by creating a garden in fitting with the area's history: This area was once the 'Ozone Shitayashiki,' a retreat of Feudal Lord Mitsutomo, second generation Lord of the Owari Clan. Based on this fact, and using literature and materials about the gardens of Nagoya Castle and the gardens of the Owari Tokugawa Clan's Edo residence as reference, develop the gardens to offer visitors a taste of samurai culture in the Edo period.
It is interesting to look at how the planners attempt to preserve the historical roots of the area, the buildings and their holdings and simultaneously incorporate the needs of the surrounding community. A good lesson in city planning ...
