Umegayatsu Kairakuen

A Hirado Lord's Retreat Above the Hirado Strait

Umegayatsu Kairakuen (梅ヶ谷津偕楽園) is the former country retreat of Matsura Hiromu, tenth lord of the Hirado domain, in Akenokawachicho, Hirado City, Nagasaki Prefecture; its main house, stone fence and stone steps, and stone walls, all built in 1839, together with an Inari shrine dated 1833, became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on December 26, 2005. The estate lies on the east coast of northern Hirado Island, on a slope facing the Hirado Strait (Hirado Seto) that separates the island from the Kyushu mainland.

Matsura Hiromu (1791 to 1867) was the thirty-fifth head of the Matsura family and is also known by his art name, Kanchū. According to Hirado City's heritage database, the site first held a teahouse called Kairinsha, built by the family's thirtieth head, Matsura Takashi. It later fell into neglect, and in 1830 Hiromu sought someone skilled in land reclamation; a wealthy Hirado merchant, Kondō Keikichi, was chosen, and work on the garden began.

The name Kairakuen was settled in 1843, Hirado City says, and comes from a line in the Mencius about a ruler sharing his pleasures with the people. Nagasaki Prefecture's tourism site adds that Hiromu made Kondō the keeper of the garden and gave him the surname Umegaya, a link still audible in the name Umegayatsu.

A Garden of Scenic Beauty and Four Registered Structures

On October 17, 2013, the Umegayatsu Kairakuen garden was designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty together with Seikaen, another of Hiromu's gardens in the Hirado castle town, under the joint name Seikaen and Umegayatsu Kairakuen. Hirado City gives the Kairakuen portion as 15,256 square meters. The two gardens are valued as a pair that Hiromu shaped differently to suit each site and purpose.

Nagasaki Prefecture's description explains that the north slope was planted throughout with paper mulberry, podocarpus, Japanese ternstroemia, machilus and wax trees, probably as a model plantation tied to the domain's finances. There were plum trees trained as bonsai and flower beds, and for a time a kiln operated in one corner; decorated ceramics from it still edge the flower beds. The garden hosted tea gatherings, poetry and kemari, the courtly football game, yet it also held a gun battery during years of coastal tension and served as a refuge when fire struck the town.

Four elements are Registered Tangible Cultural Properties: the main house, the stone fence and stone steps, the stone walls, and the Inari shrine. They carry consecutive registration numbers, 42-0046 through 42-0049, all listed for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. In other words, the garden's stone framework, the house its users lived in, and a small shrine within the grounds are protected together.

Sources differ on dates. Nagasaki Prefecture's tourism site gives 1816 for the buildings, but the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the prefecture's own cultural property database both give 1839, which is followed here.

Walking Umegayatsu Kairakuen

Umegayatsu Kairakuen steps down from a hill on the north toward the sea on the south. The visitor's route was designed to come down from that hill: an 11-meter flight of stone steps leads to the path in front of the main house entrance, with a stone fence 6 meters long built near its foot.

The main house sits halfway down the slope, entered at the center of its east side. It uses the fall of the ground to stand two stories high facing south, open toward the sea, with a tea room and other rooms tucked against the hillside. Stand before it and face south, and the stone wall runs east to west at your feet, with the garden and the Hirado Strait beyond.

That wall runs 55 meters along the south side of the house, then curves 42 meters southward from its west end to divide the fields, 97 meters in all. The Inari shrine, a stone sanctuary with a stone torii, stands in the southwest corner. Walking down from the northern steps to the house, then to the southern walls and finally the shrine, takes you past all four registered elements in one line.

Visiting Umegayatsu Kairakuen: Hours and Access

The main house has operated as a small museum. According to Nagasaki Prefecture's tourism site, it opens 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closes every Thursday, and charges 400 yen for visitors of junior high school age and above, with younger children free (inquiries: +81-80-2743-6946). Exhibits are described as including books, tableware, toys and kemari equipment.

There are, however, recent reports that it has been closed, so opening may have changed. Call before you go.

By car it is about 5 minutes after crossing the Hirado Bridge. By bus, get off at the Kurakake stop on the Saihi Bus line and walk about 15 minutes, according to the prefecture's cultural property database. Umegayatsu Kairakuen is privately owned, so visit only during opening hours and stay within the areas shown to you.