Urakuen Garden

Urakuen Garden at a Glance

Urakuen Garden (有楽苑, Uraku-en) is a Japanese garden owned by Nagoya Railroad in Inuyama Gomonsaki, Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture, laid out in 1972 when the National Treasure teahouse Joan was moved to the site. Two designated buildings stand in it: Joan itself and the Former Shodenin Shoin, an Important Cultural Property. The garden lies just east of Inuyama Castle.

Both buildings date from around 1618 and were built by Oda Urakusai (1547 to 1621), a younger brother of the warlord Oda Nobunaga and one of the leading tea men of his age. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Urakusai retired after the Summer Siege of Osaka to Shodenin, a subtemple of Kennin-ji in Kyoto that he had revived, and there he built the teahouse and, next to it, the residence known today as the shoin.

From Kyoto to Inuyama

The Agency's commentary traces the move. At the end of the Meiji era, Joan passed into the hands of the Mitsui family together with its tea garden path and the shoin, and was taken to their residence in Tokyo. Joan moved again to Kanagawa Prefecture in 1938 and reached its present site in 1972. Aichi Prefecture's tourism site and the garden's own website explain that this last move was made by Nagoya Railroad, and that Urakuen was laid out to recreate, as far as possible, the garden Joan had stood in while it was in Kyoto.

The design was supervised by Sutemi Horiguchi, one of the defining Japanese architects of the Showa period, according to the official site. The garden takes its name from Urakusai himself.

What Stands in the Garden

Joan is a teahouse of two and a half mats plus a daime mat. It was made a National Treasure in 1936 under the old national treasures law and was designated again as a National Treasure under the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties in 1951. The Former Shodenin Shoin, Urakusai's retirement residence, was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1944. The official site describes it as built adjoining Joan.

Two further tea buildings complete the garden. Genan is a reconstruction, based on old drawings and made when the garden was built, of the tea room Urakusai kept at Tenma in Osaka, and Koan was newly built in 1986 for tea gatherings held in the garden, according to the Inuyama tourism association. Neither is a designated property, but both are used for tea service and private gatherings.

Hours, Admission and Getting There

The official site gives opening hours of 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with last entry at 4:30 p.m. The garden closes on Wednesdays and over the New Year (December 29 to January 1), with additional closures for maintenance; Aichi Prefecture and the tourism association add that it opens when a Wednesday is a public holiday and closes on a substitute day instead. Admission is ¥1,500 for adults and ¥800 for children, and a combined ticket with Inuyama Castle costs ¥2,000. A bowl of matcha in Koan is ¥600, served with reception from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Urakuen Garden is 8 minutes on foot from Inuyama-yuen Station on the Meitetsu Inuyama Line, which is about 30 minutes from Meitetsu Nagoya Station by limited express. Free parking is shared with the adjoining Hotel Indigo Inuyama Urakuen Garden. The garden has toilets and a shop, and smoking is not permitted, according to the tourism association.

The interiors of Joan and the Former Shodenin Shoin are normally closed and can be entered only on reserved special viewing days; the details are given on each building's page. Public access is sometimes limited for events, so check the notices on the official site before going.