Post by Otagiri on Sept 29, 2004 7:08:27 GMT -5
MSNBC has called the Shisendo estate in northern Kyoto as one of the 12 must see architectural sites. Has anyone here visited it? I think a couple of you guys are over there now - Mykaru? Yamamori?
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6081348/
www3.kiy.jp/~tourj/kyoto/shi-1.html
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6081348/
www3.kiy.jp/~tourj/kyoto/shi-1.html
SHISENDO HALL AND GARDEN, Kyoto, Japan (1636-1672)
Known as Hall of the Hermit Poets in English, Shisendo is a relatively small garden and house in the hills on the northeast edge of modern Kyoto. It was built by Ishikawa Jozan, a samurai warrior who became disillusioned with war and the Tokugawa shogun, and built an estate based on the legendary retreats of scholars and poets of the T’ang dynasty of China. After his death the garden was neglected and then restored in the 19th Century.
Shisendo’s main building is approached by a marvelous sequence of stone steps and spaces that lead past a large camellia tree to a genkan where shoes are removed and the visitor is greeted. As you walk along the portico to the main hall, your feet feel the wonderful cypress planks through your socks, and then the stiff resistance of the woven tatami mats. The hall is relatively dark, but opens diagonally onto the inner garden of sand, shaped azaleas, and beautiful trees beyond. The view is breathtaking and almost entirely open, because the shoji and fusuma panels have been pushed back into the walls—the roof carried by an impossibly small wooden column in the corner.
The visitor sits on the tatami, and contemplates the gorgeous outdoor scene while listening to the gurgling of a nearby stream. After a while, green tea is brought by a discreet attendant, and the cares and concerns of the outer world slip away. After a peaceful few minutes, the visitor is allowed to enter the garden and look back at the building, which is a brilliant collage of form and materials. The roof planes are variously made of tile and thatch, punctuated with a small moon-viewing room with a circular window.
Known as Hall of the Hermit Poets in English, Shisendo is a relatively small garden and house in the hills on the northeast edge of modern Kyoto. It was built by Ishikawa Jozan, a samurai warrior who became disillusioned with war and the Tokugawa shogun, and built an estate based on the legendary retreats of scholars and poets of the T’ang dynasty of China. After his death the garden was neglected and then restored in the 19th Century.
Shisendo’s main building is approached by a marvelous sequence of stone steps and spaces that lead past a large camellia tree to a genkan where shoes are removed and the visitor is greeted. As you walk along the portico to the main hall, your feet feel the wonderful cypress planks through your socks, and then the stiff resistance of the woven tatami mats. The hall is relatively dark, but opens diagonally onto the inner garden of sand, shaped azaleas, and beautiful trees beyond. The view is breathtaking and almost entirely open, because the shoji and fusuma panels have been pushed back into the walls—the roof carried by an impossibly small wooden column in the corner.
The visitor sits on the tatami, and contemplates the gorgeous outdoor scene while listening to the gurgling of a nearby stream. After a while, green tea is brought by a discreet attendant, and the cares and concerns of the outer world slip away. After a peaceful few minutes, the visitor is allowed to enter the garden and look back at the building, which is a brilliant collage of form and materials. The roof planes are variously made of tile and thatch, punctuated with a small moon-viewing room with a circular window.
