A century of gardeningBorrowed scenery, 1,400 hand-pruned pines, and a grievance about rankings

Work began in the early 1600s under a local lord and continued under the Matsudaira family, who held Takamatsu for eleven generations. The garden was not finished until 1745 — around a hundred and twenty years of continuous work by successive rulers.

It opened to the public in 1875 and is designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty, the highest national classification, which covers only a handful of gardens.

The mountain is part of the garden

Behind the south pond stands Mount Shiun, and it is treated as a component of the composition rather than a view beyond it — shakkei, borrowed scenery. Sightlines were designed so the mountain closes the picture from specific points, and the planting is maintained to keep those lines open.

That is the difference between Ritsurin and a large park. Every position you are invited to stand in was chosen.

Around 1,400 pines are pruned by hand, year round, by a permanent team. You will see them on ladders. That labour is the garden.

The rankings argument

Japan’s Three Great Gardens are Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, Koraku-en in Okayama and Kairaku-en in Mito. Ritsurin is larger than all three — Kenroku-en is about eleven hectares — and is frequently rated above them in visitor surveys, including by foreign guidebooks.

It is not on the list because the list was drawn up in the Edo period on a different basis. Kagawa mentions this. Repeatedly.

How to walk it

There are two circuits. The south garden is the older, formal, pond-and-pine composition and holds the classic views; the north garden is looser and was remodelled later. If you have an hour, do the south.

Kikugetsu-tei, the teahouse over the south pond, serves matcha for a few hundred yen. Sitting on tatami at the water with the mountain behind is the intended experience, and almost nobody stops.