We found another Great Japanese Garden
Shukkeien Garden in Hiroshima is a gem in the city
Like most places in Japan, Shukkeien Garden has a long history dating back to the 1600s, when it was constructed as part of a villa for a feudal lord. Eventually it became a public garden and was designated a place of national scenic beauty, but it was extensively damaged when the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during WWII.
You can walk through the garden and find trees that were blown sideways by the blast, as well as markers where refugees gathered after the atomic bomb dropped. There’s a small memorial for those victims, which became a theme throughout our travels in Hiroshima.
Though Korakuen Garden in Okayama is a large park with big vistas, Shukkeien Garden is quite compact. Even within the confines of 40,000 square meters, the garden has several miniature scenes that make it a fascinating place to visit. Each twist and turn through the garden leads to a new scene the has been carefully crafted to be distinct — yet befitting of the whole.
When we first arrived, we found a small pond beside a rest area where some visitors were having light snacks. The pond was surrounded by trees and the cherry blossom petals had fallen in, creating a floating carpet of white and pink.
As we continued further into the garden, we came to the large pond around which the garden is centered. At the east end is a viewing pavilion and a series of three different bridges that jump between small islands.
On the far side of the pond we climbed the hill, which is supposed to be a representation of Mt. Fuji, to get an overview of the garden. Japanese gardens usually have a high point from which the entire garden can be viewed.
On the other side of the hill, we found a bamboo grove and some more cherry blossoms. We arrived in Hiroshima at the peak of the cherry blossom blooming season (for this part of Japan). There aren’t a whole lot of cherry blossoms (like there would be in Tokyo or Kyoto), but they were still beautiful. You don’t get a full sense of appreciation for them until a week later, when they’ve dropped all their flowers and you wish they’d stayed around longer.
We enjoyed walking around the gardens and seeing the many vantage points. It was a mostly relaxing place to be. As we sat in a viewing pavilion looking at the still water and watching people cross the arched bridge in the centre, I started to think about how great it would be to live in a house within a Japanese garden. Shukkeien Garden would make a great template. We started picking out all the main features that we would want in our garden... things like a view of the pond from the main house, as well as a tea pavilion and a viewing pavilion.
We left the garden lightly debating whether this was the best Japanese Garden we’d been to. It’s hard to say that we liked it better than Korakuen Garden, but we didn’t find it any worse either. They are each great in their own unique ways.
