Because few gardens built during the He ian period remain today, our knowledge of the details of the gardens of those days is very poor. It is well accepted that we can use old tales as materials for h istorical study, because these tales sometimes reflect not only the life style of the period, but also historical facts.
There are many descriptions of gardens in
The Tale of Utsuho, one of the oldest novels in Japan, said to have been written at the end of 10th century. This study is an attempt to clarify the characteristics of garden design at that time, through an analysis of this tale. Only three main gardens are discussed in this essay, although about fifteen gardens were described in the tale.
1) The hero of the tale lived with his mother in the hollow of four big trees, “Utsuho”, during his childhood. Although it was located in the heart of the northern mountains, far from Kyoto, there was a large open area with some mounds, a spring and a rill, arranged like a house garden, in front of the hollowed trees (Fig. 1).
Therefore, it can be assumed the artificial hills, springs and ‘Yarimizu’ (a rill led into a garden) were already included in the extensive gardens of the noblemen of that period.
2) “Kyogoku-Residence” in Kyoto belonged to the hero's grandfather. Eventually the hero reconstructed this residence to enjoy the four seasons, quietly, and to teach his daughter to play the Koto.
The Shinden mansions and the garden-buildings such as the ‘Ro’ (End-pavilion), ‘Tsuri-dono’ (Shorepavilion), ‘Sori-hashi’ (arched bridge) and ‘Mido’ (Shrine) had both Japanese and Chinese characteristics (Fig. 3, Fig. 4).
The existence of both Chinese and Japanese styles in the garden implies that the middle of the Heian period (the 10th century) was probably a transitional stage in the development of the Shinden style garden.
It is worthy to note that the word ‘Izumi-dono’ (Spring-pavilion) is used in this tale, although Dr. Mori writes that this word was used for the first time in an old document in 1083.
3) “Fukiage-Palace” was constructed near the Fukiage shore, which is now considered to be situated in Wakayama city (Fig. 5).
The ‘Garden of Four Seasons’ was one of the important garden types which occurred in the Heian period. This is thought to have been developed under the influence of the Theory of Onyo-Gogyo or the natural surroundings of Kyoto. In the Garden of Four Seasons at the Fukiage-Palace, Spring Hill, Summer Shade, Autumn Grove and Pine Forest areas were located in the east, south, west and north sections of the garden, respectively.
Dr. Yoshinaga writes that the Jodo garden was created in the late Heian period by some priests in order to strengthen their aspirations to faith. However, the auther of this tale described the Garden of the Fukiage-Palace as the Paradise in the West. This implies that the noblemen in the late 10th century, supported by their religious longing, attempted to make their gardens after the Paradise in the West. Accordingly, the Gardens of the Fukiage-Palace can be considered as a prototype of Jodo style garden.
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