{Inter} Cultural Japan

Daichiji is one of those great Shiga prefecture temples, that lie far from the beaten track and offer their own private universe. The difficulty of getting there is fully rewarded by the experience. On a hot summer day, cicadas shrilling around us, we visit the Horai or Paradise Garden of Daichiji to see the ship of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune sail one an imaginary ocean… Daichiji means the Temple of the Great Pond, and there lies indeed a large pond next to the temple. However, the pond forms no part of the garden for which Daichiji is now famous, a kare-sansui dry landscape garden with a huge, sculpted azalea hedge. The temple attributes the garden to Kobori Enshu, but as is so often the case, this attribution can not be proved and big names tend to work as magnets, especially in Japanese art history. The garden lies in front of and on both sides of the Shoin, encircling it. You might also say that the Shoin juts out into the ocean of sand that the garden symbolizes. In the middle of that garden sits a big, clipped hedge resembling the round hull of an old-type Japanese ship.

[Main hall of Daichiji]

The Clipped Hedge
Inside the hull, other hedges have been clipped to look like sails, and a couple of square hedges could be figures standing on the boat. These are said to represent the Seven Gods of Good Fortune. Behind the boat, hedges have been cut into an undulating pattern mocking angry waves. The woman who has let us into the temple - perhaps the priest’s wife (most Japanese priests are allowed to marry) - stresses the resemblance with European gardens, asking me if it helps my appreciation. I agree that the way some of the azalea bushes have been cut - for example, the square block shapes on the imaginary boat - do remind me of Western gardens. In the West, nature is cut and forced into sometimes rather unnatural shapes. In Japan, the original shape is brought out by the gardener (the same comparison can be made about the Japanese and Western cuisine - the former brings out the original taste of the ingredients, the latter subjugates all delicate taste by one, dominating sauce).

[The green hedge]

A Green Orgy
The garden may have changed shape over the centuries - in fact, there are only a few really squarely cut bushes -, but it is beautiful as it is now. The huge green hedge seems to embrace the viewer sitting on the jutting-out platform of the Shoin. The green tumbles into the room, and lifts you up with its freshness. It makes you forget the sultry heat. In spring, when the azalea hedge is in bloom, the scene may be even more gorgeous, but we prefer the softness of green to the aggressive splashes of red. Behind the Shoin is another smaller garden, with carefully placed stones and a pine tree that, seen from a low, sitting position resembles a crane flapping its wings to take off for the skies. Here too, the underground water zither has been placed: a vault in which purposely-falling water drops create a cool sound effect. The temple has placed a microphone in the vault so that the serene music can be heard in the hall, and even echoes through the dusky temple where we finally repair to be with a peaceful Shaka statue. But it is that big green hedge that remains with us when we leave, that seems to scoop us up as if it really were a ship and about to sail with us to Horai, to Paradise.

Address: Nasaka, Mizuguchi-cho, Shiga-ken.
Tel. 0748-62-0396

Access: In Kusatsu (on the Biwako Line from Kyoto) change to the Kusatsu Line. Get off at Mikumo. The temple is 15 min. by taxi; or 20 min. by bus bound for Tamura Jinja, get off at Nasaka Nichiden-mae, then walk 15 min. 9:00-17:00.

Other sights in the vicinity are: Zuisenji, a temple with beautiful statues that can also be reached from Mikumo Station (bus bound for Omi Hachiman, get off at Iwane Higashiguchi and walk 30 min.); Rakuyaji, a quiet temple further down the same line; the pottery village of Shigaraki is also not far away.