The 28th Shimdzu clan’s leader Shimadzu Narioki built Tamazato Garden in 1835. Seinan Civil war burnt down the garden in 1877, but Narioki’s son, Hisamitsu, re-built the garden. The 2nd World War burnt the garden gain, but the tea house and parts of the garden have remained. I think that this is a nice place for foreign travelers to appreciate the beauty of Japanese garden. I felt my heart was purified and relaxed at the garden. I also participated in the regular tea ceremony which is open for public people.
CONTENTS
Kuromon – Black Gate –
This is the entrance gate to Tamazato Garden.
The garden is the part of the Kagoshima City Girl High School now. I could hear the voices of high school girls who engaged in school activities over the gate.
This KUROMON (literally means “Black Gate”). The gate was build for the funeral of Shimadzu Hisamitsu.
Origin of Name “Tamazato”
The name of the garden “Tamazato” derives from Narioki’s Nickname (Gyokuin). Later the surrounding area of Tamazato Garden was named “Tamazato”.
Nice View of Garden
The scenery of the garden astonishes me as soon as I entered through Black Gate.
Please have a look at those pictures. This Japanese garden is beautiful. The pond reflects the green trees on its surface.
You can see the tea house over the pond.
Following picture is tea house. When I arrived at the garden, they had already started to register participants for the tea ceremony. At first I didn’t mean to participate in the party, but my curiosity got better of me and decided to see how it would be like.
Tea ceremony starts at 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00 on designated days. Participants are limited to 15 people. The fee is only 500 yen including tea and snack.
I took some pictures of the garden before the tea ceremony started. The atmosphere is completely relaxing and I almost forgot the elapse of time. Maybe Shimadzu Narioki and his son, Hisamitsu, also enjoyed the same scenery.
I like the wooden warm atmosphere of tea house. I felt as if I returned to my grandmother’s home at countryside.
Scenery of Tamazato garden from the tea house.
Tea Ceremony
My heart was beating fast when I was invited into the tea house. Other participants were waiting in the room. Many of them were older than I and enjoyed chatting. It seemed that those guest had known each other and joined the party several times.
Probably I was the only person who did not understand how to act at a tea ceremony. I didn’t have any knowledge about it! Oh my god…!
The inside of tea house is very beautiful. I was a bit nervous, but the traditional Japanese architecture was a great help in relaxing me.
Tea and snack were served to participants, but I didn’t know how to deal with them. Luckily, a kind lady sitting beside me was kind enough to me how to do it. It was a bit embarrassing to visit tea ceremony without know ledges. I should have studied about it before I came here.
This is the scenery of the tea ceremony. 5 participants attended the ceremony including me.
Following picture is tea snack. I took the picture because the Japanese-plum-flower-like snack was very cute, but I should have refrain from taking photos during ceremony…
By the way the snack is made of various sweet beans. I found it very nice to drink with hot green tea.
It was February and cold. So, special cup for winder was used for the ceremony. The cup is bigger than normal cup with a large mouth. When you drink tea inside, the hot steaming make your face feel warm.
Another participant was a architect and taught me that this model explained the struct ure of the wall of tea house.
Japanese plum flower UME was decorated at the corner of the room. February is the season when the flowers are in full-bloom. While enjoying tea, we could appreciate the seasonal beauty through this UME flower and scenery of the gardens from the tea house.
This is the view from the tea house. Water was springing up from rocks. I felt very relaxed. Maybe Shimadzu families were thinking about the politics of Kagoshima in viewing this garden. This is a nice place to concentrate on thinking.
Lights in the tea house. It is not too bright and creates warm atmosphere.
Enjoy Walking on Tamazato Garden
I enjoyed walking on the garden after the tea ceremony.
There were some stone lanterns of various unique shapes at the garden.
It must be very beautiful at night if the lanterns are lighted on. It is a shame that visitors could not enter the garden at night.
Interesting lantern with a mushroom on the top of it. Elaborate leaves are curved on its surface.
There is an another lantern in the middle of lake. I thought that it would be hard to get there to light it on.
Many stones are piled near the entrance of Tamazato Garden.
This is the traditional water plumbing facility which was built when Tamazato Garden was constructed for the first time.
Video of Tamazato Garden
I edited the video of Tamazato Garden so that you can feel its beauty. Please watch and enjoy!
Transportation and Access
Open Hour
09:00-17:00 Entrance fee : free
Holidays
Tuesdays, New Year holidays
Access
Get Line 11 or Line 8-2 bus at Kagoshima Chuo Station and get off bus-stop “Joshiko-Mae”. (About 30 minutes)
Free Parking lot is available across Kuromon (Black Gate), but it is small and can be crowded in the holidays.
TEL
099-222-2627（Administrative office of Tamazato Garden）
Address
27-20 Tamazato-cho, Kagoshima City
Map
Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture 890-0012, Japan
