Video Narration Script

Kenrokuen Garden is located
in the city of Kanazawa,
the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture.
The garden was designated
a National Site Of Scenic Beauty
on March 8, 1922.
It was designated
a National Site Of Special Scenic Beauty
on March 20, 1985.

The Kotojitoro Lantern is unquestionably
Kenrokuen’s most famous landmark.
The Lantern’s name is derived
from it’s resemblance to
the bridge-like objects that
support the strings on a koto,
one of Japan’s traditional
musical instruments.

The name Kenrokuen
is derived from the contemporary idea
of a perfect landscape garden.
This idea incorporated
the six attributes:
spaciousness, seclusion,
artifice, antiquity,
watercourses, and panoramas.

The Gankobashi or Ganko Bridge
was constructed with eleven stones
and designed according to
the positions of wild geese
flying in formation.

This upright standing stone
is inscribed with a haiku poem
that was written by
the famous haiku poet “Basho,”
when he was in Kanazawa in 1689.

This five-story pagoda
is thought to resemble the pagoda
at Ninnaji Temple in Kyoto
which was formerly an imperial residence
that was founded in the year 888
and was then known as Omuro Palace.

The Neagari No Matsu was planted
by the 13th lord Nariyasu Maeda.
It was purposely planted
in a mound of soil
which was later removed
leaving the roots exposed.

Uchi Hashi Tei tea house
was originally built in 1776
and was once located in an earlier,
smaller version of the garden
known as Renchi Tei.
It was moved to it’s current site in 1874.

Sazae Yama is 9 meters high
and was created from soil
that was excavated
in the process of extending
the Kasumigaike pond in 1837.
It’s name draws on the comparison
of the spiral path leading to the top
and a type of shell fish
known in Japan as “sazae.”

The 11th lord Harunaga Maeda
built the original Shigure Tei tea house,
but it was demolished
at the end of the Edo era.
The tea house was rebuilt
as part of a garden expansion project
that was completed in March of 2000.

The Midori Taki waterfall
was added to the garden in 1774
and is 6.6 meters high.

This is Japan’s oldest fountain
and it’s water reaches
an average height of 3.5 meters.
The fountain’s water pressure
is created naturally
due to the higher surface level
of it’s source, the Kasumigaike pond.