This beautiful modern park covers the site once occupied by the garden called Mukusa-no-Sono, belonging to Yanagisawa, a favourite of the Shogun Tsunayoshi Ko. This noble was famous as having risen from the rank of a petty court chamberlain to that of the wealthiest territorial Daimio. The grounds, as extended by their present owner, cover nearly a hundred acres, and comprise,�the lake-garden immediately facing the residence; a winding stream, the banks of which are thickly wooded; numerous plantations of pines, cedars, and other evergreens; groves of blossoming trees; orchards of fruit trees; a duck pond; a vegetable garden; and a model farm. The lake view shown in Plate XXII. is remarkable for its serene and unassuming grandeur. In other gardens of this class a multiplicity of detail, in the form of hillocks, spherical bushes, rocks, and lanterns, creates a restless finical effect which is here altogether absent, being replaced by a dignified repose and stately simplicity. The lawns surrounding the ornamental water are adorned with some magnificent old pine-trees of picturesque shape, and of a size rarely found in such numbers in a single garden; and these, together with a colossal stone lantern, a few shrubs, and rocks judiciously and sparingly arranged, impart a noble scale to the foreground of the composition. In the background may be observed a high Standing stone constituting the central feature of the view, but not in this case connected in any way with the water-supply of the lake. The cascade is at the eastern extremity of the lake, tastefully designed to suggest a mountain torrent. In the middle of the wide expanse of water may be seen a group of rocks arranged to form an open archway, in imitation of the hollowed sea-rocks which are seen at various places near the Japanese coast. The lake is also furnished with a pretty wooded island connected to the shore by a simple curved bridge of timber and wattling covered with earth. A single garden hill of considerable height, thickly planted with camellias, azaleas, pines, and oaks, forms an important feature of the background, and commands a fine view of the surrounding garden.
