In this September, I visited two Historic Gardens of Akita Prefecture, North western part of Japanese archipelago for my summer vacation. Let me present the explanations and photographs about these two Historic Gardens.
**（2）**Former Ikeda Family’s Garden “旧池田氏庭園”
In September 19, I visited Former Ikeda Family’s Garden “旧池田氏庭園” in Daisen City”大仙市”.The former Ikeda family”旧池田氏” is one of the three major landowners in the Tohoku region”東北地方”.The field which was owned by Ikeda family was 11,880,000 square meters and 1,250 peasants worked there. In 1896, the Ikeda family expanded their mansion in line with the surrounding arable land management project. The garden was designed by Yasuhei Nagaoka”長岡安平”, the landscaping pioneer of modern Japan and the garden was completed in the early Taisho period.The mansion is demarcated by a waterway and the shape is hexagon shape as the Ikeda family’s crest”池田亀甲桔梗”. The total area of the mansion is 42,000㎡, and there is a Japanese garden, a Western-style building and five warehouses. The most eye-catching features are the main garden pond and a stone lantern 3.9m high. This stone lantern is one of the largest snow viewing lanterns in Japan and was made from andesite called Ogaishi”男鹿石” from the Oga Peninsula”男鹿半島”. In the latter half of the Meiji era when this lantern was made, there were no large processing machines or heavy machinery, so it was reported that a total of 1,000 workers were spent on transportation and installation.The Western-style building located near by the main garden pond is a reinforced concrete building that is said to have been built for the first time in Akita Prefecture. The outer wall is decorated with white porcelain tiles, and the gate pillar is made of marble transmitted from Italy. The building was opened as a public library to local youths who are full of scholarship. In addition, a ball pool room was set up on the first floor, and it was also used as a guesthouse to welcome visitors who visited the Ikeda family. The gold-colored leather paper”金唐革紙” was used for the interior wallpaper of the Western-style building, and the wallpaper for the cafeteria on the second floor was the same as that used in the National Diet Building.In 2004, the garden was designated as National places of scenic beauty and the Western-style building was designtaed as National Important Cultural Property in 2017.
How was my explanations and photographs about these two historic gardens of Akita? If you have an interest and chance to visit Akita, please enter these historic gardens and enjoy their beautiful landscapes.
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URL：http://daisenkankou.com/near/国指定名勝-旧池田氏庭園
