Isuien Garden

Isuien Garden, located within Nara Park, is the collective name for two gardens: the Front Garden created in the Edo period and the Back Garden created in the Meiji period, together covering about 3,400 tsubo (approx. 11,000 m²). The Front Garden was made as a villa garden by a purveyor of Nara-sarashi (Nara-bleached linen). Because it was designed for enjoying sencha (infused green tea), it has a quiet, serene atmosphere. The Back Garden was created by Tojiro Seki, head of the 68th Bank (now Nanto Bank), as a pond-stroll garden with artificial hills that uses Mount Wakakusa, Mount Kasuga, and Todai-ji’s South Great Gate as borrowed scenery; it contrasts with the Front Garden and feels open and expansive. Seasonal flowers can be enjoyed here as well, such as iris in June, Rinnoren lotus in early July, and autumn foliage in November. The Neiraku Museum of Art within the grounds is a private museum founded on the roughly 2,000-item collection assembled over three generations by the Nakamura family, who ran a shipping business. After the Seki family, the Nakamura family purchased Isuien and opened the museum to exhibit their collected works, including ancient Chinese bronzes, Joseon-dynasty ceramics, and Japanese tea utensils. Among the collection, Tanomura Chikuden’s “Mata Mata Ichiraku-jo” was reportedly so treasured by Junsaku Nakamura that he even named his own residence “Ichiraku-so.” After visiting Isuien, it’s also easy to continue on to the Nara National Museum to the south or Todai-ji to the north.