Gojusan-tsugi Koshikakejaya Rest House
Located across from the pine grove at the garden’s north end, the Gojusan-tsugi Koshikakejaya is a rustic-style, thatched roof shelter with seats facing the pine grove and open on one side. A picturesque view of the garden grounds with Okayama Castle in the background, can be found through the bamboo latticework of the shelter’s back wall. This feature of the garden was added in the early 1870s. The lattice-work is intended to have the effect of making the garden both hidden and visible at the same time.
Gojusan-tsugi Koshikake, or “bench of the 53 stations” gets its name from a horizontal plaque (hengaku) with fan-shaped pictures representing the 53 stations on the Tokaido Road attached to the back wall. The 53 stations were rest areas along the major highway people traveled in those times between Kyoto and Edo (now Tokyo).