Heritage Tea Garden
of the Three Modern Tea Masters
Hakuun-do Tea Garden was established by Takashi Masuda (called "Don-no" in the Tea Ceremony) in 1910s. It was inherited by Tomitaro Hara (called "Sankei") in 1922, and inherited by Yasuzaemon Matsunaga (called "Jian") in 1940. They are well known as leaders for Japanese economic growth in the first half of 20 century. Not only that, they also made a great contribution to the tea ceremony culture. That's why they are called "Three Modern Tea Masters".
Feature of the
Tea Ceremony Rooms
Hakuun-do tea garden consists of 4 houses including a waiting room. They are based on the concept of houses for mountain people quietly living in a deep forest, the tea ceremony places are placed among large rocks. This is one of the unique features of this garden since most of the tea gardens are located on flat land. In addition, while these tea ceremony places follw the traditional construction concept of Wabi-Chaseki, they also reflect the free ideas of the Modern Tea Masters. This stands for achieving the freedom from the limitation given by tradition, and also harking back to the origin of the tea ceremony. As a result, Hakuun-do Tea Garden and its tea ceremony places have been recognized as an invaluable place which represents the style of the modern tea ceremony.
■ Hakuun-do
– a Tea Room in a rural house by Don-no
This is a characteristic example of the concept, "a tea room in a rural house", which was in fashion among the Modern Tea Masters. It has an 8-tatami tea ceremony room making use of old materials from a mountain farmhouse. The concept of a fireplace with borderless tatami was completely free and different from what had been traditionally expected for the tea tools used in this room. The alcove posts were made from old Japanese oak timber under Jian.
■ Fusen-an
– Designed by Rodo Ogi
This is a 2-tatami tea ceremony room with a 4.5-tatami waiting room. This waiting room also provides the functions to be used as an attendants' room. The eaves were made lower and longer to reduce natural light entering inside, which eliminated the need for "Nijiri-guchi", the crawl-in entrance to the tea room. This place was built with many ideas in detail free from tradition.
■ Taiji-sai
– a Living Room with tea ceremony
This part was created by Sankei, the second owner. The kanji "大" engraved on the mountain can be seen from the terrace, and there is an art frame with Don-no's calligraphy work "対字斎" in it. This consists of an 8-tatami tea ceremony room and 4-tatami preparation room.
■ Yori-tsuki
– a Waiting Room with a Stone Furnace
This is a room with an "Oribe" style wall and floor, and an oblong stone furnace. It is an 4-5 tatami room, but the edges of two tatamis were cut out along the curved tree on the outside.
■ Hakuroku-to
– a Rock Bath attached to the Tea Ceremony Houses This is a hollowed-out rock, made when Don-no was the owner. The second owner Sankei named this bath Hakoroku-to. The art frame is kept in Taiji-sai.
To see inside of Tea Ceremony Houses
Admission Fee ¥750 for Tea Ceremony Houses, with serving Japanese Tea and Sweets. The reception is located in Hakuun- do Tea Room. It is free to see Hakuun-do Tea Garden, the outside of Tea Ceremony Houses.