The Moroto garden

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	This garden was arranged by Hikozaemon Yamada about 1680’s who was a famous merchant in the Edo-period(1600-1867). In 1884 it was handed over to Seiroku Moroto and is managed by the Moroto foundation to this day. Seiroku Moroto was born in 1847 as heir to a landowner. Due to the failure of his father’s business, the family was forced to move to a new place, carrying a huge debt with them. After settling down in Kuwana, they started a rice wholesale business. When Seiroku was 20 years old, he was able to clean his family’s debt and made a fortune in a relatively short time. In 1884 he bought the house and the garden from the Yamada family. He lived simply and strictly prohibited a luxurious life, but he never spared expenses if it was necessary. For instance, he offered money to lay water pipes to the town since Kuwana suffered poor water quality. The garden is divided into two parts. One is the garden made by Hikozaemon Yamada in the Edo-period(1600-1867). Visitors can enjoy many flowers such as an azalea, a wisteria and an iris. The other was made in the Meiji-period(1868-1913) by Seiroku Moroto. Many pine trees and blue stones are arranged in this garden to make an atmosphere of a deep valley. Construction of the house began in 1890 and it took two or three years to complete. Seiroku lost his wife and his business was not going well at that time, so he decided to build this house following his friend’s advice to change his bad luck to good luck (in Japan there is a superstition concerning the direction in which one’s house faces). There are two important points about this house. 1:The floor was built higher off the grand than usual to provide a more spectacular view of the garden. 2:Only a few pillars were used to allow for a more open space. The pond of the house is modeled after the Biwa lake. It is connected to the Ibi river, so that the water level of the pond rises and falls with the water level of the river (however circulation of the water has been stopped since the typhoon hit the city in 1959.). Suikou-tei was designed by the sixth Omote-senke(a chief of one of the sects for tea ceremony). It was used as a place for tea ceremony, admiring the moon and writing poems. The name of “Suikou” comes from an idiom, which means deep consideration and many drafts to produce superior poetry. The shrine was rebuilt in the Meiji-period(1898-1913), but the Gods were worshipped by the Yamada family(previous owner) in the Edo-period. Now there are five Gods that were worshipped by both the Yamada and the Moroto families. The fox is treated especially precious by the Moroto family because a white fox once saved Seiroku when he got lost in the mountains. To show his gratitude, he vowed to worship Inari(the Fox God) in the shrine. The main house was built about 1889 for a company of rice wholesale business. The place we use as an exhibition room now was an office. But Seiroku usually sat down in front of the entrance with small desk, so nobody noticed that he was the president of the company. He carefully chose materials to build it, for example, the entrance door was made by one wooden plate which is difficult to find nowadays. Storages were built in 1895. They were originally made by wood, but　rebuilt by brickes after a fire. We open the garden only twice a year, spring and autumn. Spring term is from the middle of April to June. Autumn term is from the middle of October to November. Please contact us for more information. Adults: 500yen Children(under 12): 200yen Group discount: Over 20 people 400yen Tuesday to Sunday: 10:00-17:00(reception close at 16:00) Closed on Monday(except National Holiday).We close the garden on Tuesday instead of National Holiday. By train: take Kintetsu line or JR from Nagoya to Kuwana station By car: use Higashi-Meihan highway then get off at Kuwana IC. From Kuwana station: It takes 15min. walk from the station. It is free but limited