Gardens

Since the beginning of the Heian Period, gardens were an important part of architecture. Many of the main buildings in the castles faced a garden. As the number of buildings became numerous, the gardens became smaller and smaller, until only the garden in front of the Nijo’s inner shoin still existed.

The basic elements in the Japanese gardens were water and stone. The pond is the most important part of the garden. The pond of the garden of the Nijo Castle compound takes up most of its area and is centrally located. It is even large enough to hold three islands: Island of Eternal Happiness (Horai-jima), Crane Island (Tsuru-jima), and Turtle Island, (Kame-jima). Though some parts of Japanese gardens are man-made, the raw materials are still from nature. The pond is an example of this because it was made to imitate a body of water by nature. So, like the natural ponds and lakes, the man-made ones in Japanese gardens are in no particular shape.

Another man-made feature of gardens are the bridges. Some are used for functional reasons, but sometimes, they are also used for decorative purposes. An example of a decorative bridge are stone bridges that cross over sand. These are purely for looks for visitors. Usually, there are two stones at the ends of the bridge.

Stones not only served as building material for bridges, they were also used in paths and walls. Though the stones were often placed together, each individual one still has its uniqueness. Each one is placed in a certain position according to its color and shape. This way, its arrangement is more natural, like the shape of the ponds.

In 1965, Seinyu-en was built in the Nijo Castle. This garden includes two tea-houses and over a thousand decorative rocks, each specially placed. Seinyu-en was built to receive the Kyoko's guests.