The Zuirakuen is a Japanese rock garden (karesansui) made using the Oishi Bugaku Ryu style of gardening. It is part of the original Tsushima family estate, a wealthy family of farmers who lived in the Miyadate area.
The garden underwent two long rounds of landscaping efforts before achieving completion. Teizan Takahashi, the leading landscaper of the Bugaku Ryu School, initiated the project in the spring of 1890 and continued working on the garden until the fall of 1905. His two pupil, Teigetsu Ikeda and Teiyo Tonosaki, restarted work on the garden in 1928, adding to and modifying it until 1936, when it was finally considered complete.
“>-full” src=”http://voyagertree.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/20180507_153610443503351.jpg” alt=”” width=”3000″ height=”2250″ /> The garden has several distinct features. Directly in front of the shoin-style main house building, two large stepping stones are arranged with a gap so large in between them that it is almost impossible to cross without hopping. Once across the stepping stones, there is a “dry pond” (water features imitated when stones are carefully arranged) with a stone bridge across the pond. At the far back of the garden is a low, minartutre hill on the right side (when viewed from the house enterance) and a taller hill on the left side. Large rocks and stone lanterns are also spontaneously arranged throughout the garden. Together, all of these various features embody the quintessence of the Oishi Bugaku Ryu styl.[/caption]
