02 May 2024

 

Kyoto

We offer a wide choice of cheap flights to Kyoto together with Kyoto hotels, tours and self-drive itineraries.

Mysteries of the secret gardens

A sceptical Sophie Butler travelled to Kyoto, home to Japan's most famous historical gardens. She returned hooked on these horticultural marvels

Kyoto, Japan - Cherry Blossoms of Kyoto Kyoto, Japan - Kinkakuji Temple Garden Kyoto, Japan - A traditional Kyoto Zan Garden

1 Cherry Blossoms of Kyoto 2 Kinkakuji Temple Garden 3 A traditional Kyoto Zan Garden

When a guide explained that a band of monkeys had stolen bananas that morning, swum in the lake and then sat, sticky and soggy in the Rinuntei pavilion to eat their booty, I found myself quietly suppressing a smirk. It was day one of my stay on Kyoto and I was at the tea house in the hillside gardens of the Shugakuin Imperial Villa. The monkeys had trampled the miniature plants into the ground and through the translucent paper screens we could see the smooth tatami mats smeared with squashed banana. I felt a sneaking admiration for the monkeys and their total lack of respect for a garden so neat and tidy that we, chaperoned by a coiffured guide, dared not put a foot off the path.

I had arrived in Japan firmly opposed to what I regarded as an over-zealous and prissy attitude to gardens – stunted bushes too tightly clipped, trees too fastidiously pruned, gravel raked into bizarre furrows. I couldn’t see the appeal of nothing being left to chance. I came as a staunch supporter of classic English country garden anarchy; borders of wild flowers, overgrown oaks ,unkempt hedges and shaggy willows. The idea of ‘male’ and ‘female’ waterfalls seemed laughable, as did rocks possessing a ‘soul’. But here I was visiting friends in Kyoto, home to virtually all of Japan’s most famous and historic gardens. It would be churlish not to visit a few.

Only a short while after sniggering at the devastation caused by the monkeys, and helped by the guide’s explanations, the first sparks of interest began. Much of the point of Japanese gardens depends on symbolism. And once the symbols start to make sense, you can begin to ‘read’ and understand them in a way that you never could an English herbaceous border. I began to learn the language of the repeated themes and motifs, the links between the Japanese idea of the garden and their religious beliefs; how the stone lanterns honour the souls of ancestors at temple entrances; how the smooth chozubachi stones collect rainwater by shrine entrances so that pilgrims can wash themselves; and how the rocks, islands and ponds which represent animals, such as the turtle or crane, are associated with long life.

As the gardens began to make sense, I found it easier to relax and come to terms with the artifice. I could see the waves in the gravel, the mountains in the rocks and I was hooked. In five days in Kyoto, I visited more than a dozen gardens. And in a dark, damp courtyard at home, I’ve begun to plan one of my own. Here are the gardens I found most inspiring:

Shugakuin Imperial Villa Garden

Created by the Emperor Gomino-o who began his ambitious project in 1655, this is an intimate, wooded garden with a landscaped park on a grand scale. The area around the 17th century Kyaku-den temple, its wooden panels delicately painted with carp and richly adorned floats for the Gion-matsuri festivals, is laced with narrow, winding paths. There are tantalising glimpses of mysterious stone lanterns, trickling waterfalls splashing over smooth stones, mossy rocks grouped in small clusters and miniature maples. Beyond, a grey shingle alley, lined with pine trees, runs through rice fields, and climbs 450ft above sea level to a vast panorama of broad lake in the foreground backed by distant, hazy mountains.

Katsura Imperial Villa Garden

Compact stroll gardens (laid out in the 17th century by Prince Toshihito), set around a lake. Harmony is created by an arrow straight avenue of trees, the perfect oval created by a bridge reflected in still water, a careful arrangement of velvety smooth stones and the symmetry of a tall, stone lantern. The only movement is a sudden flurry of fish or a shadowy glimpse of a turtle. To convey the feelings of a vast shoreline in miniature, flat black stones edge a long rocky promontory, tipped by a tiny lighthouse.

Ryoanji Temple Garden

Perhaps the most famous Zen garden in Japan, 15 rocks, like broken teeth, skirted by moss and gravel raked into ruler straight lines, are contained in a courtyard. Strangely mesmerising, it is thought to have been laid out in the late 15th century.

Ginkakuji Temple Garden

High hedges at the entrance symbolise the separation of the outside world from the realm of beauty within. The uncluttered purity is designed to clear the mind, allowing you to appreciate the ‘kaienshiki chisen teien’ (pond garden for strolling). The most striking feature are ‘Tsukimachiyana’ (the mountain awaiting the moon), a flattopped, smooth mountain of small white stones, and a pond with seven stone bridges and four floating stones.

Shoseien Garden

Two fires in the mid 19th century were devastating. It is now a national historic site and highlights include the ‘taka’ishigaki’, a wall of massive granite blocks and two bridges in contrasting styles – a tinstone bridge and grander ‘kaitoro’ corridor bridge in Chinese style.

Kinkakuji Temple Garden

The golden temple (a replica of the 14th-century original) appears to rise out of a looking glass pond, and the landscape is designed to give a constantly changing perspective of the building. This garden is very popular so you should come either early or late in the day.

Honen-in Garden

A small, intimate garden built into a hillside with trees and wisteria trellises overhanging the random-stone path like a forest canopy. Lotus-shaped fonts drip water into stone bowls. Moss is dappled by sunlight through cool green leaves, and pagoda lanterns are placed among ferns. At the end of the path you discover a large, serene Buddha presiding over his tranquil domain.

Visiting tips


• The best time to visit is spring when the cherry blossom is out (although these are also the busiest months) or from October to late November when the maple leaves are at their most spectacular.
• Admission prices to most gardens range from £2 to £6.
• Kyoto’s imperial gardens are free but you have to apply in person at the Imperial Household Agency (near Imadegawa station) for an entrance pass. You will need your passport. You may have to book several days in advance.
• Tours are usually in Japanese. Take a good guidebook.
• Kyoto’s gardens are far flung, many dotted around the outskirts, and on a short trip there will be a limited number you can see. You need to plan time carefully. Be prepared for a lot of walking, and take comfortable shoes and an umbrella.

This article was featured in the February 2005 DialAFlight magazine and was first published in the Sunday Telegraph. All information was correct at time of going to print.

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