Ritsurin Garden is the largest Cultural Property Garden in Japan, and is considered a Special Place of Scenic Beauty. It has received the highest rating of three stars in France’s “Michelin Green Guide Japan”, and is often thought to deserve a spot in Japan’s Three Great Gardens (日本三名園, Nihon San-mei-en) alongside Kanazawa’s Kenrokuen, Mito’s Kairakuen, and Okayama’s Korakuen.
With 6 ponds, 13 landscaped hills, and over 1300 pine trees, the garden’s beauty can be appreciated by anyone, even if they aren’t usually into parks and gardens. First built in 1745, some of the pine trees in the garden have been carefully trimmed and groomed since then, giving these centuries old pines a beautiful bonsai-like appearance. The ponds of the South Garden are also particularly stunning, with a teahouse beside them, wooden bridges crossing the streams, and beautiful trees lining the pond.
While many might balk at the idea of visiting a garden, this one is definitely well-worth a visit.
Ritsurin Garden Review and Thoughts
Recommended
Ritsurin Garden is undoubtedly the best attraction to check out when in Takamatsu (高松), and is definitely deserving of being in Japan's Top Three Gardens. Perhaps what sets Ritsurin Garden apart is its beautiful ponds, a wide variety of interesting bridges and paths to discover, and also the ability to feed some of the local koi (鯉, Carp). It's just a fun garden to walk around and enjoy, even if you might not be the most nature-y person around.
The garden has two main parts, the South Garden (南庭, Nantei) and the North Garden (北庭, Hokutei). While you can definitely visit both, we highly recommend the South Garden over the North Garden. The South Garden has a high concentration of interesting things to see at every part of the walk, while the North Garden feels more like a more sparse extension of the South Garden.
The recommended course length for the South Garden is 60 minutes, but your mileage definitely varies based on how many photos you take along the way. If you were to actually walk the entire route without stopping, you could probably clear the whole garden in under 30 minutes or so, but then again, where's the fun in that?
For those looking for a more leisurely way to enjoy the garden, we highly recommend checking out the Wasen (和船, lit. Japanese boat) boat ride. While Japanese gardens are common across Japan, there aren't that many that allow you to take a leisurely ride in one of the ponds, with an elderly Japanese man slowly paddling your way through as you peruse the scenery around you. It's definitely one of the more unique ways to view the garden and one of Ritsurin Garden's more unique traits. A boat ride costs ¥620 per person, takes about 30 minutes, and can be reserved online via this site or in person at the boat pier.
One of the secret spots of Ritsurin Garden is at Fukiage-tei (吹上亭, lit. Water Spout Teahouse) where you can find a quaint little gift shop. At the gift shop, you can buy bread for ¥100 to feed the koi (鯉, Carp) in the pond right outside, it's a genuinely fun experience for the young and the young at heart. There's just this sense of unbridled joy from feeding the koi, and even trying your best to avoid the aggressive koi and making sure the smaller ones at the side still get fed.
The Kikugetsu-tei (菊月亭, lit. Chrysanthemum Moon Teahouse) Tea House is also definitely worth a stopover. One of the largest tea houses in the garden, it sits right beside one of the major ponds, allowing you a beautiful pond-side view as you sip on some traditional Japanese matcha (抹茶, Maccha, Powdered Green Tea), allowing you to experience first-hand what it might have felt like to be one of the region's daimyo (大名, Feudal Lords) back in the day. It's also located on the far end of the South Garden, making it a perfect midway stop for you to rest your legs for a short while.
Fuyo Peak (芙蓉峰, Fuyō-mine) is also one of the great places to check out the view from, and of. When you stand atop Fuyo Peak, you can get a great panoramic view across the entire Hokko (北湖, lit. North Pond) pond, and this is one of the best views in Ritsurin Garden. When you view Fuyo Peak from afar across Hokko Pond, you'll start to see its semblance to Mount Fuji, the mountain which it was designed to resemble. To us, this is one of the best viewpoints of Ritsurin Garden and definitely not to be missed.
Lastly, there's a really fun story about the Okedoi no Taki (桶樋滝, lit. Wooden Bucket Waterfall) in the north part of the South Garden. It was said that once upon a time, whenever the daimyo (大名, Feudal Lords) of the area visited the garden and sat in the old Higurashi-tei Tea House. Multiple of his retainers would run up the rock wall opposite the old Higurashi-tei Tea House and start pouring pails of water down, to create the facade of a waterfall for the daimyo to enjoy his tea over. An artificial waterfall has been created there today in order to recreate what the daimyo would have seen back in the day.
Bonus Tip: During the months from May to October, you can also find huge water lotus (水蓮, Suiren) plants in the North Garden. These gigantic plants are even taller than the average human with beautiful flowers during the summer months.
Ritsurin Garden's Story
Ritsurin Garden is thought to have been built in the early 1600s during the Edo Era (1603-1867, 江戸時代, Edo-jidai) as a garden of Sato Michimasu (佐藤道益), a member of the Ikoma Clan (生駒氏, Ikoma-shi) who ruled Sanuki Province (讃岐国, Sanuki-no-kuni), modern-day Kagawa Prefecture (香川県, Kagawa-ken). Following an uprising in the 1640s, the Ikoma Clan was demoted, and Matsudaira Yorishige (松平頼重) became the new daimyo (大名, Feudal Lords) of Sanuki Province. It was at that time that the garden became Matsudaira's property, whose family developed the garden over 100 years before completing it in 1745.
The garden continued to be used as a villa for the Matsudaira Clan for over 200 years and finally became a public garden in 1875 following the Meiji Restoration (明治維新, Meiji Ishin). In 1953, the Japanese government designated the garden as one of Japan's Special Places of Scenic Beauty.
Recommended Spots in Ritsurin Garden
芙蓉峰
Fuyō Peak
This hill was made to resemble Mount Fuji when viewed from a distance across the pond. From the top of the hill, you can find one of the best views in the garden, overlooking the ponds and the trees.
和船
Wasen Boat Ride
A traditional Japanese wooden row boat ride that will take you around the Nan-ko (南湖, lit. South Pond). It’s a nice charming ride that let’s you see the garden from a different angle, as you wear a traditional wick kasa (笠).
吹上亭
Fukiage-tei
A small wooden teahouse alongside the pond, you can buy koi (鯉, Carp) feed here to feed the koi that swarm the pond area near the tea house. The teahouse is named after the Fukiage (吹上, water spout) next to it, a large water source that used to bring water up from underground sources and filled the entire Nan-ko of Ritsurin Garden.
掬月亭
Kikugetsu-tei
A beautiful tea house that have been used my generations of daimyo (大名, Feudal Lords) of the Takamatsu Domain (高松藩, Takamatsu-han) since the tea house was built in 1640. You can rest your feet in the tatami-covered floors as you sip on some green tea, staring out over the pond. The teahouse’s name is inspired by a Chinese Tang Dynasty poem that goes that if you scoop (掬, suku) the water, the moon will be in your hands.
