東福寺方丈庭園Tohuku-ji Hojo Garden
© Tohuku-ji Temple Houjou-teien
本格的な庭園としては処女作でありながら、自他ともに認める重森三玲の代表作であり、日本庭園の歴史や技巧を研究しながらも永遠のモダンを追い求めた彼の原点である。Created in 1939, the Hojo garden in Tohuku-ji Temple is Mirei Shigemori’s representative garden work in which he has pursue the everlasting modern.昭和14年（1939年）に作庭。
土、水、石、木、砂、苔など自然素材をふんだんに芸術的に構成するにあたって、東福寺ほど恵まれた条件は無いとして、重森三玲もその生涯をかけると言ったほど。
東福寺の方丈庭園は、東西南北と四周にあり、苔と敷石で市松模様に表現された北庭園（写真）、正方形に刈り込んださつきと砂地によるモダンな西庭園、古代中国より仙人の住む不老不死の地と考えた理想郷と臨済宗の五山を表現した南庭、柱石を星座の形に据えた「北斗七星」の東庭園がある。南庭の砂紋が変わったこと以外は昔と変わらないままである。
重森三玲が設計した庭は、自然とアート、伝統とモダニズムの融合、その大胆なデザイン感覚と芸術性により、昨今注目されつつあり、再評価が進んでいる。
ちなみに「三玲」の名は、フランスの画家ジャン＝フランソワ・ミレーにちなみ本人が改名したもの。
東福寺方丈庭園
住所：京都市東山区本町15-778
時間：9:00～16:00（11月のみ8:30～16:30）
拝観料：400円（小・中学生 300円）
TEL：075-561-0087
http://www.tofukuji.jp
Text: Tamami Kadowaki
The Hojo, which is one of main building in the Tohuku-ji Temple founded in 1235, was reconstructed in 1890, and the gardens arranged at the four quarters around the building of Hojo were laid out in 1939 by Mr. Mirei Shigemori (a famous garden-builder), who intended to express the simplicity of Zen in the Kamakura period with the abstract construction of modern arts.
The garden consists of four gardens in 4 cardinal points: the southern garden – located in the front of Hojo is the most contrived work among the four gardens and is composed of four rock-composites symbolizing Elysian islands placed on the sand garden-floor “Hakkai” (meaning the eight rough seas) and five moss-covered sacred mountains at the right corner, the west side – the western garden, compared with rigidity of the southern garden’s Zen-style (dry stone-garden), this garden has a gentle style composed of moss and azalea-shrubs trimmed in a chequered pattern in imitation of “Seiden”, a Chinese way deviding the land, the northern garden (picture above) – with square-cutted stones and moss are distributed in a small-sized chequered pattern, which is a Mirei Shigemori’s favor, and the eastern garden, seven cylindrical stones are arranged in the moss field so as to represent main stars of the Great Bear of the heaven.
Because of Shigemori’s artistic approach to the garden creation, blending with nature and art, traditionalism and modernism, the garden work by Mirei Shigemori is reappraised and gaining people’s attention these days. Shigemori renamed his first name as Mirei, after a French artist, Jean-François Millet.
Tohuku-ji Hojo Garden
Address: 15-778 Honmachi, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
Open: 9:00-16:00
Tel: 075-561-0087
http://www.tofukuji.jp
Text: Tamami Kadowaki
Translation: Mariko Takei
