Ishitani Family Garden

Ishitani Garden: A Hidden Masterpiece in the Forests of Tottori

Tucked into the wooded valleys of Chizu Town in southeastern Tottori Prefecture lies one of the finest private gardens in western Japan. Ishitani Garden (Ishitani-shi Teien) unfolds beside the historic Ishitani Residence, a sprawling country mansion built by a family of timber merchants who shaped the region's economy for more than three centuries. Composed of a pond garden, a dry landscape garden, a lawn garden, and intimate inner courtyards, this Nationally Registered Place of Scenic Beauty captures the refined sensibilities of an early twentieth-century merchant household at the height of its prosperity.

For travellers seeking an authentic encounter with the lesser-known interior of Japan—far from the crowds of Kyoto—Ishitani Garden offers a rare opportunity to experience how a great Japanese family lived in harmony with mountains, water, and the changing seasons.

The Ishitani Family and the Town of Chizu

Chizu flourished as the largest post town along the Inaba Highway, the historic route that linked the castle town of Tottori with the Sanyo region to the south. Travellers, daimyo processions, and goods from across western Japan passed through its single main street, and a handful of merchant families grew wealthy serving them.

The Ishitani family, who took the shop name "Shio-ya" (Salt House), were among the most prominent of these. From the early Edo period (1603–1868) they served as official purveyors to the Tottori domain, dealing in wholesale goods, transport, finance, and sake brewing. After the Meiji Restoration, the family pivoted into forestry and large-scale landownership, and the cedar plantations of Chizu—still famous today as some of Japan's finest timber—became the foundation of their wealth.

The Ishitani family was also known for its civic generosity, supporting relief work, school construction, and road improvements throughout the region. The family head Ishitani Denshiro served in both the House of Representatives and the House of Peers, and it was he who launched the great rebuilding project of 1919 that gave the residence and its gardens their present form.

Why Ishitani Garden Was Designated

Ishitani Garden was registered as a National Place of Scenic Beauty by the Agency for Cultural Affairs on March 28, 2008. It later became the very first garden designated a Place of Scenic Beauty by Tottori Prefecture, on January 14, 2010—an unusual double recognition that reflects its exceptional standing.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs cited the garden's significance as an outstanding surviving example of a wealthy modern merchant's garden, preserving in remarkable completeness the design vocabulary and spatial composition that defined private gardens of the late Meiji and Taisho eras. The combination of an Edo-period pond garden with the early-twentieth-century dry landscape and lawn gardens illustrates the evolution of Japanese garden design across two distinct cultural periods, all within a single estate.

The materials, design quality, and craftsmanship throughout are considered to be of the very highest order, and the garden is widely regarded by specialists as one of the most refined of its kind in the San'in region.

Highlights and Things to See

The Pond Garden (Chisen-teien)

The largest and oldest of the gardens, the pond garden is believed to predate the great Taisho-era reconstruction. It is best viewed from the Edo Zashiki, a formal reception room with verandas wrapping around two sides. From here the eye is drawn across the still pond to a long stone bridge and, in the distance, a tall artificial waterfall set against the wooded slope of Mount Ushibuse-yama. The mountain itself is incorporated as borrowed scenery (shakkei), seamlessly merging the cultivated garden with the natural landscape beyond.

The Dry Landscape Garden (Karesansui)

Created during the 1919 reconstruction, the karesansui garden lies just north of the pond garden. Carefully placed stones and raked gravel evoke water and mountains in abstract form. Its restrained, contemplative atmosphere offers a striking contrast to the lush, water-rich pond garden beside it.

The Lawn Garden (Shibafu-teien)

Continuing further north, the lawn garden faces a detached annex. Its open expanse of grass—unusual in traditional Japanese gardens—reflects the early-twentieth-century interest in incorporating Western design elements into the country residence of a modern Japanese gentleman.

The Roji and Inner Courtyards

Smaller intimate spaces include the roji, the path leading to the tea room, and several tsubo-niwa (pocket courtyards) tucked between the buildings. These offer moments of quiet visual delight as visitors move through the residence.

The Residence Itself

The Ishitani Residence (designated a National Important Cultural Property) is itself one of Japan's great surviving examples of modern Japanese-style architecture. The estate covers some 10,000 square metres and contains more than forty rooms and seven earthen storehouses. The cavernous earth-floored entrance hall, with its soaring beams of massive Chizu cedar, is one of the most photographed interiors of any historic house in Japan. Decorative roof tiles and transoms (ranma) carved around 1921 by the Buddhist sculptor Kunimai Taiseki add another layer of artistic richness.

When to Visit

The residence and three of its storehouses, now used as galleries, are open year-round (with limited closures in winter). However, visitors may enter the gardens themselves only during the special openings held for a few days each spring and autumn. The autumn opening, when the maples around the pond turn deep crimson, is particularly spectacular and well worth planning a trip around.

Even outside these special periods, the gardens can be admired from the verandas of the residence, and the experience of walking through the great old house is itself memorable.

Around Chizu Town

The Ishitani Residence stands within the preserved post town streetscape of Chizu-juku, where several other historic merchant houses, an early Western-style building, and the early-Showa-period fire brigade station can still be seen. A short walk takes visitors past the Suwa Shrine and several long-established sake breweries, including Suwa Shuzo, made famous by the manga and television drama "Natsuko's Sake."

Beyond the town, Chizu is a renowned forestry area covered in some of Japan's finest cedar forests. The Itaibara settlement, a Tottori Prefecture-selected preservation district of traditional buildings, lies in a hidden valley nearby and offers a glimpse of an isolated mountain community little changed for centuries. Chizu is also Tottori's only certified Forest Therapy base, with several forest bathing trails open to visitors.