Sankeien Gardens Page 14

This pleasant two storied house was designed by the famous tea-master Shokan Sakuma and built by the Third Shogun Iyemitsu Tokugawa in the compound of the Nijo Castle in Kyoto.

The building was later given to the Shogun's nurse, Kasuga-no-Tsubone, who moved it to the residence of her husband, the feudal lord Inaba. In the 14th year of Meiji (1881) it was moved to the Tokyo residence of Prince Nijo at Wakamatsu-cho, Ushigome. In the 11th year of Taisho (1922) it was presented to Mr. Hara.

Other examples of two-storied structures of this kind are the Ruri-den, established by the famous priest Muso Kokushi during the Northern and Southern Dynasties Period, now located in the compound of the Buddhist Temple Saiho-ji in Kyoto, and Kyoto's world-famed Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji, built during the Muromachi Period. These three buildings combine Buddhist temple structural techniques and residential architecture.

The Choshu-kaku, however, is a residence showing little influence of temple architecture. It resembles the Hiun-kaku which forms part of the Higashi Honganji Temple in Kyoto. Both of these are done in the Shoin style, which was greatly influenced by Tea Cult architecture, in which bisymmetric shapes were avoided as much as possible. As a rule, a bisymmetric structure is quite imposing and is suitable for memorial buildings, while a non-bisymmetric one is light and not necessarily balanced. The Choshu-kaku in general gives an impression of both lightness and balance.

31. Back side of the "Choshu-kaku"