The Shousei-en garden (where occurs one of Yumeyakata’s location photo courses) is a beautiful park that, while located in the middle of Kyoto, offers a beautiful view of Japanese four seasons with a wide variety of flowers, evergreen trees and a nice pond.

The land of the garden was donated 1641 by the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu to the Honganji Temple. The park layout was then designed by the scholar Ishikawa Jozan.
The garden is shaped in a specific Japanese style that privileges walking paths and water ponds for intellectuals and tea ceremony master to walk and rest around the park.

This year, it was the first time in 20 years it has been lighted up. Especially for this occasion, 100 LED lamps were used, mainly around the large pond of the garden, called “Ingetsu-chi” (Moon crest pond).

The lights gathered around the pond’s “Shinsetsukyo” bridge gives a soft reflection into the waters.

The crepe-myrtles that typically bloom in summer around the pond were standing out beautifully.

I could enjoy a different view from the one seen by the Edo period intellectuals, and could escape a bit from the heat of Kyoto inside this little piece of nature. It was definitely worth going, especially since it has been 20 years since the last such an event was held there.

Akane Kibune
Kyoto Expert Certificate 1st Grade

Access: 7min walk from Gojo station (Karasuma subway line)

Shousei-en website:

http://www.higashihonganji.or.jp/worship/shoseien/

Higashi-Honganji website:

http://www.higashihonganji.or.jp/

Yumeyakata – Shousei-en Location Photo plan:

https://www.en-kyoto.yumeyakata.com/shoseien-garden