Kenrokuen Garden – Ishikawa, Japan's Oldest Garden

Kenrokuen Garden – Ishikawa, Japan's Oldest Garden

Kenroku-en is located on a hill in the central part of the city of Kanazawa. It is regarded as one of Japans three most beautiful gardens, along with Kairaku-en in the city of Mito and Koraku-en in the city of Okayama. Once the garden of Kanazawa Castle, it was opened to the public in 1874. There are many spots of interest within its spacious, 100,000 or so square meter grounds. These include the Kasumi-ga-ike Pond; a unique two-legged Kotoji-toro lantern in the north of the garden, and the Hisago-ike Pond, as well as an elaborately structured Yugao-tei Cottage near the pond. It snows heavily in winter in this region, and a device called a yuki-tsuri (snow support) is used to keep the branches of trees from breaking under the weight of snow. The ropes used for supporting the branches create beautiful geometric patterns.