This garden is located in the countryside of Yokote Basin. Its premises are shaped like a floating island. This garden is regarded to have exceptionally high visual and academic value as a garden designed by Nagaoka Yasuhei, a pioneer of modern landscaping and was designated as the first National Place of Scenic Beauty in Akita Prefecture in February 2004.
cultural property : historic sites and places of scenic beauty as natural monuments
type : places of scenic beauty
1, Takanashi Aza Ooshima, Daisen-shi, Akita-ken 014-0805
Tel：0187-62-6257
The Ikeda Family was the village head of Takanashi, Daisen City, Akita Prefecture, from the mid-Meiji Era until World War II. The family has been known as one of the Three Major Landowners of the Tohoku Region, along with the Honma Family of Yamagata Prefecture and Saito Family of Miyagi Prefecture. When the residence built by the 13th head of the Ikeda Family, Buntaro, collapsed during the earthquake in 1896, the family consolidated and organized their land in cooperation with the government’s farmland consolidation and expanded their residence site. The garden was created with the help of Nagaoka Yasuhei, the founder of modern landscaping, which was completed for the most part during the Taisho Era.
The garden is located in the central section of the Senhoku Plain, surrounded by vast countryside with the Ou Mountains to the east, Mt. Jingu-ji-dake to the west, and Mt. Chokai to the southwest, all of which are visible in the distance from the garden. The main part of the garden has an island at the center and a shallow garden pond with a large Yukimi-doro (legged stone lantern) on its western shore, and water flows around these features to create unique layout of the garden site.
The enormous lantern, 4m high and approximately 4m wide at its top, makes it an impressive main scenic component.