Nationally-Designated Place of Scenic Beauty, the Former Ikeda Family Gardens

Huge Japanese style gardens of the Ikeda family which is known as one of the three-biggest landlord families in Tohoku region. The scenic gardens were the first nationally-designated Place of Scenic Beauty in Akita prefecture. It is located in the middle of a rural area, and the shape of the land is hexagon like a turtle shell which was patterned after a family emblem of the Ikeda. The gardens were created in the Taisho period (1912-1926) and designed by Yasuhei Nagaoka, a designer of Senshu Park. The garden is also said to have magnificent trees and especially beautiful when the leaves turn red.

The main garden centering on a pond is a Japanese traditional style called Kaiyu-shiki garden (a circuit style garden which featured a path around the ground), a giant stone lantern with a tripod of 4 meters- high and a white western style building of the Taisho period are surrounding the pond. The Western-style building was used for the Ikeda family’s private library and was an extravagant structure with its exterior covered in white porcelain tiles and luxurious Japanese Kinkara leather wallpaper.

In an inner garden used for a private space for the family, some ruins such as three warehouses and a kitchen still remained. Bokujo-tei was built at the former main building, the present emperor once visited there to have a rest when he was a crown prince, the building became a place for events such as a tea ceremony. The warehouses used for stock of rice or miso paste became an exhibition space.