Kenroku-en is often labelled as one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan. With a reputation like that, there is no need to have a marketing department to lure visitors to its doorstep. Moreover, it has an intriguing name. Translated into English, Kenroku-en means “Six Attributes Garden”. Most gardens I know (not that I know a lot) are named after a place, a person, or their defining characteristic. A garden with the name “Six Attributes” just tugs at your sense of curiosity.

What are the six attributes?

So, what are the six attributes that the Garden is named after? According to Li Gefei, an 11^th Century Sung Chinese in his book, “Record of the Famous Gardens of Luoyang”, the six attributes refer to the essential elements of a perfect landscape garden. They are:

1. spaciousness
2. seclusion
3. watercourses
4. panoramas
5. artifice
6. antiquity

Lest you think this is just a laundry list of landscape architecture principles, it is actually underpinned by ancient oriental philosophy—in particular, the idea that nature is an interplay between opposite elements or forces. In the six attributes, if you arrange them in pairs, the attributes in each pair require opposite or contradictory conditions to exist.

Take “seclusion”, which implies being hidden, shadowy and enclosed. In contrast, the attribute “spaciousness” requires opposite conditions—open, bright and voluminous. Consider another pair, “watercourse” and “panoramas”. “Watercourse” requires the presence of flowing streams, water features and lakes, which by nature exist on low lying land, hardly conducive to view expansive “panoramas” normally visible only when one is on high ground. Finally, manifestation of the attributes “antiquity” and “artifice” can be conflicting. “Antiquity” suggests the primordial, of land untouched and a sense of sacredness. “Artifice” requires human intervention which naturally spoils any virgin landscape.

Though I have not read Li Gefei’s treatise, the opposing attributes in each pair suggest that as the Universe is governed by the balance of opposites, so the perfect garden must follow the same principle. Thus, to enjoy the Garden we should reflect on the paradoxical nature of the Universe, that each entity in it incorporates contradicting dimensions.

The Garden itself

Kenroku-en is not a very big garden—about the size of 10 football fields or one-eighth of the Botanic Gardens in Singapore. It is possible to “see everything” in less than an hour.  However, we planned to spend the whole morning, and perhaps the early part of the afternoon walking leisurely to admire the scenery, sip a bit of matcha at a teahouse and try to appreciate how the six elements are expressed.

Unfortunately, the weather was not very cooperative. It was windy and very cold, almost biting. The sky was overcast, the sun trying to get out, reminding me of typical cold, gloomy UK weather when I was a student touring the Lake District. My face was half wrapped in my scarf, and I was glad to have my earmuff with me. Taking pictures with my touchscreen phone with gloves on is impossible, this is when you long for the traditional button-pressed single purpose camera.

A picture-perfect Pond

Not far from where we entered the Garden (from the Kanazawa Castle side), there was a small congestion at the bridge leading to a gorgeous body of water—the Kasumigaike Pond. As I approached, I could see the famous Kotoji Lantern in the foreground (so-called because its two supporting legs resemble the bridge of a koto, a Japanese string instrument), a small tortoise-shape island (named Horaijima) in the middle and, the Uchihashitei tea house at the far end. A picture-perfect view so quintessentially Japanese.

This scene must have been snapped millions of times by tourists far and wide since the camera was invented. Of the six attributes, watercourse, artifice and spaciousness were obviously present in this magnificent scene. Panorama, antiquity and seclusion—their respective opposites, lie somewhere else in the corners of our imagination.

I wished I could stand there longer to take in the view, but I have to be mindful of other camera-toting visitors waiting for their turns to shoot their masterpieces. That is the problem with modern tourism today. There is no time to really enjoy beautiful views as hordes of tourists push you along to the next spot. It is so alike our click-click-click Internet-driven life today.

Lingering air of Spring Festival

The Plum Grove at the end of the Garden was busy with visitors admiring the plum trees and flowers. It must be way past full bloom as there were more bare branches than flowers on the trees. On closeup, the plum flowers looked sturdy, proud and courageous on the leafless branches, like stoic beauties standing tall against the cold, stark, evil weather. Though the lunar New Year was over more than a month ago, the plum blossoms still evoked in me a festive air of celebration, due probably to imprinting on the minds of Chinese children of the association between plum blossoms and lunar new year by frequent pictures of the flower on cash-filled new year red packets we received.

The rest of the scenic spots

We walked through all the other spots described in the Garden map, braving the chilly air and frequent blasts of cold wind. If we have not read the guide, we would not know that an ordinary-looking fountain with only a single sprout is the oldest in Japan and operates naturally by the pressure of the water body in the adjacent Kasumigaike Pond which is on a higher level.

The guide also listed the Gankobashi (Flying Wild Geese) Bridge, constructed from a few slabs of stone strewn across the narrow stream. It was so named because the stone slabs were arranged in the shape of a flying geese formation. The bubbly stream under it winds through the eastern side of the garden, passing through a few quaint bridges and brushing against shrubs, pebbles and stones on both banks. This, together with the other streams and ponds made up the “watercourse” attribute of the Garden. The sight of water is never far from where we walked, thus giving the Garden a unifying structure that is sublimely satisfying.

Does Nature need help?

One view that stood out both inside and outside the Garden was the huge cones of ropes hanging down from pine trees. The ropes were tied to branches of the trees during winter to prevent them from breaking under the weight of snowfall. Maybe it is necessary to do this to preserve the branches, but they do spoil the scenery. Shouldn’t we allow Nature to take its course and let the branches fall or crack as they may, I wondered? Perhaps the ropes are considered as “artifice”, one of the six attributes. If so, it is a bit too domineering.

Soon, the morning was over, but the sky was still downcast. Our original plan was to have a leisurely lunch at Miyoshian restaurant in the Gardens and then continue our walk. The restaurant looked so serene and enticing on the Internet, it would be a pity to miss it—and that was exactly what happened. Though we found the location of the restaurant, we could not see any patrons. Perhaps it was closed for the day. So, we went to one of the eateries lining the street outside the Gardens and had Jibuni—bowl noodles in thick starchy sauce, much like the lor mee we have at home. As expected of Kanazawa cuisine, it was topped with gold leaves. Quite delicious, especially in cold weather.

What a difference sunlight makes

Just as we sucked in the last strands of jibuni noodles, the sun came out unexpectedly. Delighted, we rushed back into the Garden to revisit the scenic spots. The Kasumigaike Pond looked different, more gorgeous as it bathed in the sun’s golden light. It was like looking at a colour photograph after years of knowing its black-and-white version. Alas, the sun went away as quickly as it appeared, and the grey, frigid mood dominated the garden once more.

As lovely as the Garden is, it’s beauty can only be fully revealed when the Sun favours it with a cloak of resplendent rays. If we want to discover and enjoy the six attributes in more depth, we will have to come again when the sun, cloud, wind, rain, temperature and season (another six attributes) are in harmonious conjunction.