Murin-an

Murinan is the villa of Aritomo Yamagata, which was built over a period of three years from 1894 (27th year of Meiji).

Murinan, located just west of Nanzenji Temple, is a masterpiece of Kyoto, consisting of a vast garden and three beautiful buildings: the main building, a Western-style house, and a tea ceremony house.

The garden is a pond garden with bright lawn and Biwako Canal, and is considered a forerunner of modern Japanese gardens.

Yamagata chose this place as his villa in Higashiyama due to political and financial moves. Murinan was also the place where “Murinan Conference” was held, and became a stage for exchange of historical dignitaries.

Murinan Building and Garden

Murinan consists of a one-story wooden main building of sukiya style, a tea ceremony room of Yabuuchi-style Tsubamean, a two-story brick Western-style building, and a vast garden.

The garden was created by the seventh generation Ueji, and is regarded as one of the three best gardens in Yamagata.

The spacious grounds, with bright lawns and the Biwako Sosui Canal, influenced other gardens with its beauty.

The garden was created in accordance with a new naturalistic view of the garden, with its dynamic flow, rather than the symbolism of the previous gardens, in which ponds were used as the sea and rocks as islands.

It is the only garden in the Nanzenji villa complex that is open to the public year-round and is designated as a national place of scenic beauty.