• Kenroku-en, one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan, means a garden combining the six attributes of a perfect garden. As a strolling-style landscape garden, it incorporates fancy designs in every corner, achieving peerless scenery in each season.

• Six Features as a Synonym for an Excellent Landscape Garden
  According to the ancient Chinese book of gardens, there should be six different sublime qualities to which a garden can aspire. Grouped in their traditional complementary pairs, they are spaciousness & seclusion, artifice & antiquity, water-courses & panoramas. As might be imagined, it is difficult enough to find a garden that is blessed with any three or four of these desirable attributes, let along five, or even more rarely, all six. Yet that is just the case here, where as the name “Kenroku-en” literally means “garden that combines six characteristics”, which is named by Sadanobu Matsudaira, a feudal load in the present Tohoku district (northern part of mainland Japan).

• Kenroku-en, a strolling-style landscape garden counted as one of the three noted gardens in Japan
  1. Historical and Cultural Heritage Reflecting the Kaga Hyakuman-goku Culture
  Along with Kairaku-en in Mito and Koraku-en in Okayama, Kenroku-en stands as one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. During the Edo period (1603 - 1868), Kenroku-en was founded and extended over generations by the feudal lords of Kaga (current southern part of Ishikawa) as a typical Daimyo (feudal lord) garden. Located in the heart of Kanazawa, it has been appreciated by both citizens and tourists from all over the world as a landscape garden that shows a different flavor in each season.
  2. Strolling-Style Landscape Garden Arranged with Ponds, Hills and Tea Houses on a Wide Scale
  By introducing the element of the “strolling-style” garden, Kenroku-en is laid out with a variety of gardening techniques from different periods. Unlike the sit-and-view style garden where you enjoy the landscape only from a certain spot of a temple or a palace, the strolling-style garden has large ponds, hills, cottages and tea houses arranged on a spacious ground, allowing you to take a walk through them. Because of the geographic features such as winding streams connecting several ponds and artificially built hills with a variety of trees, this style is also referred to a “strolling-style landscape garden incorporating ponds and hills”.
  3. A Reflex of Feudal Lords Wishes for Prosperity
  Kenroku-en was developed to perfection over generations by the Kaga clan lords. The basic concept of gardening, however, was “eternal life” consistently. By creating a large pond to resemble the ocean and arranging an island for a legendary wizard with the secret perpetual youth and longevity to live there, the lords cast their wishes for longevity and eternal prosperity into the design of the garden. The 5th lord, Tsunanori Maeda, the founder of the garden, established three divine islands, Horai, Hojo and Eisyu, in the Hisago-ike pond, and the 13th load Nariyasu Maeda also built Horai island in Kasumiga-ike pond.
  4. Literature and Noh Chant Represented in the Landscape
  The garden is designed to incorporate particular subjects from other scenery, literature and Noh chant lyrics. In addition to this, unique Kotoji stone lantern with imbalanced legs and the elaborately designed stone pavement with a diamond. Source: Kenroku-en

Kotoji Stone Lantern: This is the ideal spot to enjoy panoramic views.
Karasaki Pine Tree: This black pine was planted by the 13th lord Nariyasu.
Uchihashi-tei Tea House: One of the four tea houses in Renchi-tei garden, standing at Kasumiga-ike pond. It was moved to the current site in 1874.
Kasumiga-ike Pond: 5,800 m2, has sites of beautiful scenery with Sazae-yama hill, Uchihashi-tei tea house, Kotoji lantern, Niji-bashi bridge, Karasaki pine tree.			Oldest fountain in Japan: using height difference of the two waters.
Yugao-tei, Gourd Tea House: built in 1774.	Hisago-ike Pond: development of Kenroku-en is said to have started from around this area.		Curved Water Flow starting Tatsumi service water
Seisonkaku is a residence that Yoshuyasu Maeda, feudal lord of 13 generations in Kaga clan built for mother		Trees of season cover around "Curved Water"	Wagtail Island
Wooden Flower-watch Bridge	Root-up pine of which root went out 2m on the ground	Bronze statue built first in Japan in 1880	Bridge named as "Gaggle of wild geese"

2009/02/01