Kenroku-en

Kenroku-en
Kenroku-en (兼六園, Kenrokuen?)
The Kotoji Toro, a two-legged stone lantern that is one of the most well-known symbols of the Kenrokuen
Type	Japanese garden
Location	Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
Coordinates	36°33′43″N 136°39′45″E / 36.561944°N 136.6625°E / 36.561944; 136.6625Coordinates: 36°33′43″N 136°39′45″E / 36.561944°N 136.6625°E / 36.561944; 136.6625
Created	1620s

Kenroku-en (兼六園, Six Attributes Garden), located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, is an old private garden. Along with Kairaku-en and Koraku-en, Kenroku-en is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. The grounds are open year-round during daylight hours and famous for its beauty in all seasons; an admission fee is charged.

Kenroku-en was developed from the 1620s to the 1840s by the Maeda clan, the daimyōs who ruled the former Kaga Domain.

While the date of initial development of the garden that would be become known as Kenrokuen is rather unclear, one version of the garden's origins can perhaps be marked by the completion of the Tatsumi water channel in 1632 by Maeda Toshitsune, the third daimyō of the powerful Maeda clan and ruler of the Kaga Domain from 1605 to 1639, as this feature would be later incorporated into creating the garden's twisting waterways in 1822.

Conversely, other versions of the garden's inception "is said to have originated when the 5th daimyō Tsunanori [r. 1645–1723] built [in 1676] the Renchiochin house on the slope facing the [Kanazawa] castle, and gave its garden the name Renchitei", also spelled Renchi-tei, which means "lotus pond".

Not much is known about Renchitei in the years after it was named, principally as about eighty years after its creation, nearly the entire garden was destroyed by a massive fire in 1759. However, it is known from documents of the period that before the fire, the garden was often used and enjoyed by successive lords and retainers for "different banquet occasions such as viewing the moon ... enjoying colorful maples", and for admiring horses. Furthermore, local legend suggests that the Sacred Well of Kenrokuen – arguably the oldest object in the garden if the legend is true – suggests that:

1,200 years ago a peasant named Togoro stopped to wash his potatoes at the well. Suddenly, flakes of gold began to bubble up from the well, giving Kanazawa – meaning 'Marsh of Gold' – its name. Water from the well runs to the purification basin at the nearby Shinto shrine, and many people come to the Sacred Well for water for the tea ceremony.