 |
| Entry view of Kumamoto En |
PROJECT HISTORY & CONSTRUCTION
A team effort:
The Kumamoto En Japanese Garden is part of the Sister City relationship between Kumamoto City, Japan and San Antonio, Texas. It was constructed between March and April of 1989 by a team of carefully selected volunteer craftsmen and landscapers from Kumamoto, Kyoto, Tokyo, and San Antonio. This team included craftsmen from Yasui Moku in Kyoto. The garden is patterned after the famous 300 year old Suizenji Park in Kumamoto and contains many of the same elements. These plaques in English and Japanese stand at the entrance to the Kumamoto En (pictured below).
The garden occupies a small corner of the San Antonio Botanical Garden, on land blessed by a Shinto priest before construction. Upon entering the garden, you enter a place apart from the everyday world, a safe and peaceful haven where all anger, prejudice, and worldly problems are left at the gate.
 |
| Stone with dedication plaques in Japanese and English |
The Kumamoto En was designed to demonstrate the beauty of authentic Japanese gardening and introduce visitors to many different elements used in Japanese Gardens. It is designed to be enjoyed one scene at a time, like a scroll painting, unrolling as you stroll through.
Different styles of garden paths, bamboo fencing, stone lanterns, and landscape construction styles from famous gardens in Japan are revealed along the path. Many of the elements in the garden are modeled after those of Katsura Detached Palace in Kyoto, Japan.
Take a "walking tour" of Kumamoto En Japanese garden with photographs and short descriptions of its features in the following section.
ELEMENTS OF KUMAMOTO EN
Walking tour:
The first element a visitor meets is the Kyaku Ishi or Visitor's Stone , the great flat stone landing at the entry gate. The carriages of royalty and dignitaries would be set here for their visit. Just past the wooden gate columns, a group of paving stones arranged in the Ensyu pattern guide the viewer, first to the right where the first stone lantern may be seen, then to the left to a sculptured Afghan pine (Pinus elderica), then slightly further to a grouping of sago palms.
 |
Oribe lantern near entry |
The path continues on cut granite stones arranged in a design similar to one at the Katsura Detached Palace in Kyoto. This style of paving is called Shin, or formal style. These stones and all other building materials where brought from Japan or were personally selected by Mr. Kiyoshi Yasui, designer of Kumamoto En and owner of Yasui Moku Construction in Kyoto, Japan. The garden construction was guided by Garden Master Katsuoki Kawahara, owner of Kawahara Company in KyotoJapanese stone lanterns, usually made of granite, find their origins in Buddhist Temples, and later in the Shinto Shrines. Their windows, covered with rice paper to shield the wind and illuminated with small oil lamps or candles, cast their light as guides at a garden entrance, at a special viewpoint, or along the pathway to tea rooms or azumayas.
The first of three styles represented in the garden is known as the Oribe lantern. It is a style of lantern designed specifically for garden use by its creator, Japanese warlord Furuta Oribe, also a great tea master and a practitioner of the Sukiya (or Tea Ceremony) way of life. It is located just inside and to the right of the entry gate.
The two opposing sides of the light chamber have windows shaped like the moon and the sun. The knob-like top to this and many other lanterns represents a lotus bud. A lantern with this type of base called a "planted lantern" because its base is buried in the earth for support. Some Oribe lanterns have a Buddha carved into the base. After Lord Oribe was converted to Christianity, he began having the Virgin Mary carved into the bases of his lanterns. This version of the Oribe is known as the Christian Lantern.
 |
Katsura style fence |
There are four styles of kake gaki, or bamboo fence represented in the Kumamoto En. All are handmade from materials brought from Japan. The fence style on this side of the entry is named Katsura gaki after the style used in the Katsura Detached Palace gardens in Kyoto ( gaki is a Japanese word for fence).
One of the more difficult to construct, it is assembled with alternating sections of small and medium bamboo waddle to provide a subtle checkerboard effect. These sections are held in a wooden frame covered by half-sections of bamboo culm, cut at an angle at the top. The sections are topped with three half-sections of culm to protect the waddle from rain. All is held together with copper wire and palm rope tied with traditional knots, and supported from the back by posts and buttress-like poles. If you look closely, you will see that the entire fence sits upon a narrow layer of stone to protect it from the soil.
All of the bamboo fences in the Kumamoto En must be regularly maintained, the palm rope replaced, waddle re woven. Every few years the fences must be completely replaced by Japanese craftsmen from Kumamoto and Kyoto.
Past the Oribe lantern and along the Katsura gaki, the path turns slightly to the left and the formal Shin style path becomes a very natural path of rounded stepping stones set directly in the grass surface. A visitor must walk carefully, taking time to continue past the small grove of the palm-like sago plants called Sotetsu (Cycas revoluta). This planting is similar to one across from the tea arbor at Katsura Detached Palace. The pathway continues with the Gyo, or semi-formal style of paving.
More >> |
