Sakurai Samurai Mansion Garden

 

The garden at the Sakurai samurai mansion in Okuizumo, Shimane, has one of the biggest waterfalls of any Edo Period garden in Japan.

Located high up in the remote Chugoku Mountains, the Sakurai were a high-ranking samurai family who moved into the area to control the very lucrative iron and steel production of the area.

Many of the surviving buildings of their estate date back to the mid-Edo period, as does the garden.

The garden's main feature is the waterfall cascading down the rocky hillside into a carp-filled pool.

The garden and the area around the estate is especially popular in Autumn. However, the site has been used as a location in a popular TV drama called Vivant, and so has recently become popular year-round.

The mansion used to host the Matsue Daimyo when he toured the area.

The most famous Matsue Daimyo was known as Fumai and was a renowned master of the Tea Ceremony. He named the waterfall Iwanami and it is registered as a National Scenic Spot.

The rustic teahouse on the edge of the pond was designed by Meiji-era painter Naoiri Tanomura while staying here as a guest of the Sakurai.

The previous post was on the interior and exterior of the mansion.

Sakurai Family Samurai Mansion

 

The Sakurai were a samurai family who controlled iron production in an area of Okuizumo in the Chugoku Mountains of Shimane.

Originally from what is now Hiroshima, the family moved here in 1644 from the Kabe district and so were known locally as Kabeya.

Just below the old manor is a modern museum called Kabeya Shuseikan displaying artifacts from the family history.

The main house was built in 1738. The main residence sometimes served as a honjin, a guesthouse for when the Daimyo was traveling in the area

The most notable feature of the manor is the garden, and that will get a full post next....

There were several other samurai families controlling iron production in the region, probably the most important iron-producing region in Japan.

Down the mountains, the Itohara Family Residence is another big samurai manor with a garden and also a museum devoted to tatara iron making.

Near to the Sakurai Residence is more modern version of a tatara forge, and in the town of Yokota is a big museum devoted to tatara and samurai swords

Tameshigiri Testing a New Samurai Sword

 

Tameshigiri is the art of testing a new sword. In the good old days this would often be done using the body of an executed criminal, but sometimes on a live criminal.

When this no longer became practical a substitute was discovered that mimicked the properties of human bodies. Wet goza, the reed mats that cover tatami flooring, when wrapped around bamboo, was close to a human limb.

Nowadays Tameshigiri is a kind of an exhibition martial art, but the goza is not wet and is not wrapped around bamboo.

There are a variety of different cuts and arrangements in Tamegishiri. One of the more difficult is called Tsubamegaeshi. A vertical roll of goza is first cut with a 45 degree downward cut from left to right. then followed by an upward 45 degree cut from right to left below the first cut. Then before the cut piece can fall it is cut in half horizontally from left to right, and a final cut on the remaining standing piece of roll is cut horizontally from right to left. All in the blink of an eye. see Photo 3

This video and these photos were taken at a demonstration of Tamegishiri at the Okuizumo Tatara and Sword Museum and the sword master is Mr. Yoshihara.

Okuizumo Tatara Sword Museum

 

In the remote Chugoku Mountains of Shimane is a museum featuring many Japanese swords, apparently quite a popular topic for many visitors to Japan, yet few, if any, swords were actually made in this area.

However, this is one of the most important areas for the main ingredient in a sword, iron. Japan had little in the way of iron ore deposits, and for centuries most iron was imported.

However, once the technique of smelting iron sand was introduced,  domestic iron and steel production flourished, and the Okuizumo area became a major exporter to other areas of Japan.

The museum showcases the history of the tatara forges that produced this iron. Perhaps the most intriguing is that the result of a tatara forge includes a small quantity of something called tamahagane, which is one of several types of metal that are vital to producing an authentic Japanese sword. Modern science and technology have been unable to find another way to make tamahagane.

Some days have demonstrations of working a small piece of iron in a modern forge, and members of the public are given the chance to try their hand. Also occasionally there are demonstrations of tamegishiri, sword testing, which I will show in the next post in this series.

Though having no interest in samurai swords I still found the museum intriguing, and, being so remote, is never crowded.

The previous post in this series on Okuizumo was on the sculpture of Yamata no Orochi in front of the museum. The ancient iron industry was so important to the area that there are numerous other tourist sites about it. Nearby is the Itohara Memorial Museum which I would recommend.

A few kilometers from the museum is a modern factory building that contains the only working tatara forge in Japan. It is the only source of tamahagane in Japan, so all, true Japanese swords made nowadays must buy from here. It is thought to be the inspiration for Irontown, a setting in the anime Princess Mononoke.

Yamata no Orochi

 

Yamata no Orochi is a mythical serpent with 8 heads that appears in the Izumo cycle of ancient Japanese myths set in the time before the descent of imperial lineage.

In the myth, Susano defeats the serpent and marries a local princess who was to be sacrificed to the serpent, and so and begins the rise of Izumo culture that predates and later contributed to Yamato culture.

All these photos are of a modern sculpture depicting Orochi outside the Okuizumo Tatara Sword Museum, in Yokota, Shimane. Orochi appears everywhere throughout Izumo, on draincovers and giving its name to many products, including the tourist train I took to get here.

Yokota is on the River Hi which runs through Okuizumo and it is generally held that the 8-headed serpent refers to the 8 tributaries of the river that is at times violent and dangerous. Some commentators suggest that Orochi represents a tribe that fought the Izumo, but so much evidence suggests it was the river. Near here is the shrine for Kushinada, the princess saved from the serpent, and downstream are shrines to her parents. Nearby also is one of the sites said to be where Susano "descended", and spots downstream said to be Orochi's nests are found in narrow gorges where the river would have been particularly dangerous.

The idea of sacrificing humans to a river is fairly widespread around the world as well as here in Japan. I found a riverbank monument to a local lord who was praised by locals when he switched from burying live humans in the river bank to burying clay figures, and stories of human sacrifice to protect new bridges and castle walls are fairly common.

The museum here is on the ancient method of making iron and swords, and Okuizumo was a major centre. In the Orochi myth Susano discovers a sword in the tail of the dead serpent and this went on to be one of the Three Imperial Regalia.

Tatara, a kind of forge used to make iron from iron sand, the method used in Japan, was said to be introduced from mainland Asia, and once again the myths suggest that it was Susano who brought the technology over from Korea. A shrine south of here near Izumo Taisha attest to this.

later I will post on the fascinating history of iron and swordmaking on display in the museum, but in the meantime you may enjoy a wild and dramatic display of Orochi in videos of our local kagura.

The previous post in this series exploring Okuizumo was the Yokota Folk Museum.

Yokota Folk Museum

 

Sometimes referred to as a folklore museum, sometimes a local history museum, the Yokota  Museum is housed in a traditional thatched farmhouse that was moved to its current location and re-assembled.

It is located in the south of Yokota, a small town in the Chugoku Mountains of Okuizumo in Shimane.

The farmhouse was originally built in the very early 20th century, but was built in the traditional way. It now has glass windows.

It belonged to a relatively wealthy land-owning farmer and has 4 large tatami rooms.

Outside is a small Izumo-style garden.

The interior of the house is decorated in traditional style, and various everyday items, including clothing, is on display and the kitchen area has both a kamado, traditional cooking stove, and an irori, sunken hearth. The room is also filled with traditional utensils.

In the ancillary building are lots of traditional farming equipment, tools, machines, and clothing.

There are occasional workshops on making a varirty of things out of straw. While I visited there were no staff on hand to explain anything, and the signage was only in Japanese.

Entry is free, and while it might not be worth making a journey just to see it, if you are in the area visiting some of the other attractions, it is worth checking out.

The previous post in this series exploring the remote Okuizumo region was Inada Shrine and the Myth of Princess Kushinada. For a post on another traditional farmhouse, check Nagaoka Family Farmhouse.