A Garden Inspired by Chinese Art
Dating from the 1780s, the garden of Eiunso is contemporary with the central, Edo-period part of the villa built by Mohri Shigetaka (1725–1789). The focal point is a pond designed to evoke China’s Dongting Lake, a famous site for its beauty and a popular theme for Chinese painters. The rocks in the garden were collected from all over Yamaguchi. Of particular note are the tortoise stone (kame-ishi) just beside the stone lantern at one end of the island, and the stone water basin (chozubachi) incorporated into the far bank of the pond.
Suikinkutsu: Japanese Water Music
One interesting feature just beside the veranda of the central part of the house is the suikinkutsu dating from the 1780s. When a ladleful of water from the stone basin is emptied onto the black stones at its base, the water filters through the stones and produces a musical tinkle as it drips down. This is because an earthenware pot with a hole in its base is buried upside-down beneath the stones. The sides of the pot form an echo chamber, which amplifies the sound of the drops landing on the pool of water below.
It is called a suikinkutsu, or “water koto cave,” because the sounds it produces supposedly resemble the notes of the koto, a stringed musical instrument often called the Japanese harp. Like a wind chime, the sound is supposed to be cooling and refreshing.
A Teahouse Within a Teahouse
In one corner of the garden sits the Kagetsuro Teahouse. Originally built in the precincts of Suo Kokubunji Temple in 1786, it was dismantled and rebuilt here in 1888. Kagetsu refers to an eighteenth-century style of tea ceremony conducted by five people in an eight-mat tatami room. The Kagetsuro Teahouse has a range of different room sizes, allowing it to accommodate up to thirty people and a variety of tea ceremony styles.
