Post by washi on Apr 11, 2015 4:05:31 GMT
One August day in 2012, I ventured out into the summer heat to spend the day in a couple of air conditioned museums in the city of Nara. I have an interest in Japanese Tea Ceremony and its architectural expressions, so one thing I was looking forward to was seeing Hassōan, the tea house and garden designed by Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), now located in a court yard adjacent to a wing of the Nara National Museum. Unfortunately, the only place I could see it from was a window of the museum, so I enquired at the reception desk if there were any times and conditions under which ordinary people could have a closer look. The helpful staff there informed me that, unfortunately, there were not, but suggested to me a nearby location where I could look around.
From the map I received, I assumed that I was being directed to a formal garden that I had been to on two previous occasions, and as I had some time before I needed to catch the train home, I decided to pay the garden another visit. It turned out, when I arrived, that Yoshi Ki En is located just south of I ("ee") Sui En, the larger and more famous garden that I had previously visited. Compared with nearby Kyoto, Nara is not particularly noted either for gardens or for tea houses. But the splendid gardens of Kyoto are scattered throughout the large city, and many of the famous tea houses are not open to the public. Both of these gardens offer a hurried traveler an opportunity to experience a first-class Japanese garden, conveniently located near the famous tourist sites in the Nara Park area. If a visitor has time to visit one but not both of them, my personal recommendation would be to visit Yoshi Ki En.
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