Abstract
Ogawa Jihei VII, also known as Ueji (1860-1933), is a famous landscape architect who significantly contributed to Japanese modern gardens. Some aspects of Ueji’s garden creation process are still little researched. The Seifuso-garden in Kyoto, constructed from 1912-1913 by Ogawa, is currently under repair. For efficient repair, we needed to know how he had constructed the garden. This paper presents a summary of our findings regarding the garden’s construction process and spatial characteristics, namely: 1) the Seifuso-garden was completed in 9 months from July 1912 to April 1913; 2) the tea garden was completed in 6 months from November 1912 to April 1913; 3) the pond was completed in 7 months from September 1912 to March 1913; 4) the artificial hills were completed in 3 months from October to December 1912; 5) bamboos were planted in front of the entrance in April 1913; 6) the grass garden was completed in 7 months from October 1912 to April 1913. Regarding spatial aspects, we found that Ogawa changed the layout and direction of a pre-existing garden by 1) shifting the tea houses and expanding the pond; 2) changing the garden’s direction (seen from a point in the building) from east to south.
