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(Seasonal Tea Sweets Day） Taisho 大暑(Most Sweltering)
Spend a truly Japanese afternoon with appropriately seasonal sweets in a room decorated with seasonal flowers. At Murin-an, you can savor the season’s blessings with all your senses. Tomorrow’s theme is ” Taisho” (大暑), Most Sweltering season in Japan’s 24-season calendar.
Enjoy sitting next to our new flower arrangement in the main house while exploring the delicate taste of wagashi (Japanese sweets) balanced by the pleasantly bitter taste of matcha tea, and also enjoying the soothing view of the garden.
First-come-first-served, there is only a limited availability of tea sweets, which are exclusively created for Murin-an garden.
Date: July, 20 Saturday
Fee: 1000 yen (+Entrance fee. No reservation required)
*limited number /day, first-come-first-served
Tel・Fax 075-771-3909
All our confectionery belong to a limited edition produced exclusively for Murin-an.
https://murin-an.jp/events/seasonal-event-20190720/
(Staff Eyes) Pruning the Chinese Bayberry Tree
To the southwest of the 8-tatami mat space of Murin-an’s main building, there is a slightly elevated mound where a single Chinese Bayberry tree grows. We pruned this tree little by little to preserve it feeling of balance. After clipping some branches, our gardener took a look at the tree to adjust its appearance.
Pruning the Camellia Japonica and Japanese Andromeda
We pruned the Camellia Japonica and Japanese Andromeda.
Here are some pictures of our gardener pruning the area around the garden path leading from the teahouse to the three-step waterfall. He gave a trim to these trees whose flowering periods have ended and whose leaves were growing shaggy. Now you can see the fruit on the Camellia Japonica and Japanese Andromeda peeking out from between their branches. Soft sunlight poured onto the ground, creating a feeling of brightness in the garden.
The Garden Seen as a Whole! Learning How a Garden that is a Nationally Registered Place of Scenic Beauty is Managed and Nurtured
The Garden Seen as a Whole! Learning How a Garden that is a Nationally Registered Place of Scenic Beauty is Managed and Nurtured
On the afternoon of July 15 (Mon.), we learned about Yamagata Aritomo’s garden vision and the background behind Murin-an’s construction by using documentary materials in the second floor of Murin-an’s main building. In the latter half of the event, we had all our participants experience a little bit of the work that our gardener does at Murin-an.
Murin-an Wildbird Mini-Lecture
On the afternoon of July 17 (Wed.), we gave a mini-lecture on the Little Grebe in the 8-tatami mat space of the main building. We explained how this bird looks for food using webbed feet that differ from that of other waterfowl and about its relationship to Lake Biwa. We also had a fun time incorporating a quiz into our lecture.
Weekend Garden Guide
On the afternoon of July 14 (Sun.), we gave a tour of the garden amid light drizzling rain. As our participants walked around, our participants got to see a scene of gleaming green moss rather different than the garden’s usual scenery.
(Album) Murin-an Tea School
We held tea ceremony classes at Murin-an on July 12 and 13 (Fri. & Sat.). We not only had a tea ceremony lesson but also learned about how to remove and roll up the decorative scroll on the tea ceremony shelf. The instructor’s demonstration made it look easy, but it turned out to be a little tricky when we tried doing it ourselves.
The Gardener’s View
(Staff Eyes) Caring for the Lawn
Many wildflowers have grown up on Murin-an’s lawn. When we asked our gardeners about them during their work, they offered replies such as “the purple buds on the Viola inconspicuas are really swelling large,” and “although their still too small to see easily, there are many different species like violets and Chinese spiranthes growing.” So we took a nice, slow look for ourselves.
As we trained our eyes on the lawn, a little world unfolded before our eyes. Looking at Murin-an through the eyes of Yamagata Aritomo, its wildflower-loving original owner, can lead to all sorts of new discoveries.
The Gardener’s View
(Staff Eyes) New Buds on the Ring-Cupped Oaks
There are many varieties of acorn-bearing trees planted in Murin-an’s garden. During winter, the bud scales on these trees slowly grew into young leaves. The scaly patterns are still left on their roots. The reddish leaves finally turn a yellow-green before changing into robust deep green leaves. Having finished their role as a winter coat, the bud scales fall down to the ground.
The Gardener’s View
The Japanese Sweet Flag Blooms
There are plants with long and thin leaves on the edge of the water crossing stones.
Take a close look and you can see something on them just like long, thin baby corn…
Those yellow-green things growing toward the sky are actually flowers.
Several flowers grow together to form a single clump.
