The historic garden named Shinsen-yen, of immense scale, was laid out in the reign of the Emperor Kwammu (782-806), who transferred the capital to Kyoto, only a small portion of which now remains as Omiya Park in Kyoto, merely to recall the past splendour of the once famous garden. Emperor Saga (810-823) in one of his gardens created a pond fed by a waterfall, and after his retirement from the throne, he had another garden made with water gushing through rocks shaded by pine trees and adorned with various kinds of flowers. Extravagant was the garden of the villa in Kyoto which belonged to Minamoto-no-Towru. Not only was the water of the Kamo River led into his spacious garden, in which was reproduced the scenery of distant Shiogama, where salt is made, but he caused gallons of sea water to be carried daily from the shore of Naniwa many miles away, in order to enjoy the smoke issuing from the gables while the salt was boiling. It may be known from this and from many other examples of gardens then made that, whatever their origin in Nippon, they have been greatly modified and come to express the taste of our people. However, a formal and symmetrical style of architecture still prevailed and the main garden was laid put on the south side of the house, invariably with hills and a pond with island connected by two bridges, the nearer of which was arched, to allow boats to pass under.
