Abstract
This paper deals with Rikugien-garden from 1773 to 1779, the first seven years of Nobutoki Yanagisawa's retreat life. Findings are as follows: 1. During his period, the garden was almost always under construction: building teahouses, rearranging garden rocks, and replanting plants. 2. Nobutoki himself took care of the garden: weeding, prunning, and plannting. 3. Some area was not under human controll: garden was surrounded by a bush hedge, and the pond water was mainly supplied by rainwater. 4. The garden produced vegetable, edible green, mushroom and fruit. 5. The garden was a place to get inspiration for poetry. He often held a haik gathering in the garden. 6. He and his friends regarded the garden as “yamazato”, a village among mountains that had been an ideal hermitage for a retired noble since the Heian period.
