Seisonkaku: A Mother's Retirement Home in Old Japan.

Being GOATPoem #3.

Kanazawa¹, Seisonkaku²: a strong³, palatial villa.

The 13th lord of Kaga⁴ built this for his mom, and built deluxe⁵. There’s a reception hall⁶ and wainscots⁷. The south side has a garden⁸.

Looking out the window⁹ of the ajiro-no-ma¹⁰,

I think of Shinryu-in¹¹

listening in

on springtime’s uguisu¹².

…

This post is dedicated to my mom, who, along with a few other people, has almost single-handedly kept my writing career afloat. Mom, you are appreciated.

If you wish, dear reader, think about your mother at this time, or send her up a prayer (or call her).

1. Kanazawa is a medium-sized city, with a population of approximately 466,000, located in central Japan, west of Tokyo, and nestled between the Japanese Alps and the Sea of Japan. Once the capital of the Kaga domain (now Ishikawa Prefecture), Kanazawa is renowned for its traditional architecture, which includes the Higashi-Chaya Edo-period teahouses and one of Japan’s three great gardens, Kenrokuen (兼六園). The Seisonkaku villa is situated within Kenrokuen.

(Photo: scene of Kenrokuen garden)

2. Seisonkaku (成巽閣), literally meaning "House of the Tranquil Sun (or Southeast Mansion)," is an Edo period (1863) shingle-roofed residence built by Maeda Nariyasu as a retirement home for his mother, Shinryu-in (眞龍院). Seisonkaku uniquely blends two styles of Japanese architecture: the first floor is constructed in the aristocratic state chamber (buke, or samurai-shōin) style, while the second floor features the more fluid sukiya-shōin style. To provide his mother unobstructed access to Kenrokuen, Maeda Nariyasu razed his dead father’s house. Seisonkaku was designated an important Cultural Asset in 1950. All photography within Seisonkaku is strictly prohibited.

(Photo: First floor hall leading to the Turtle Room [the wainscots, which I have circled red, have browned with age])

3. Seisonkaku had the equivalent of a well-equipped modern surveillance system. The complex features a long raised wall surrounding it, hiding places for samurai guards, a gate, and specially designed floorboards that squeak like nightingales, ensuring that no one can sneak up on sleeping guests and residents.

(Photo: Seisonkaku’s largest gate. [homemate user YO742さん])

4. Daimyō Maeda Nariyasu (前田斉泰), who built Seisonkaku for his mother, was a staunch supporter of modernization. He established Ishikawa’s Nanao Shipyard after hearing news of American Commodore Perry’s threatening landing in Uraga. Nariyasu may have been a mamma’s boy, but he was not a gentle father. After his son Yoshiyasu failed to satisfactorily engage with rebels during the Kinmon Uprising against the Emperor at Edo Castle, Nariyasu placed Yoshiyasu under solitary confinement.

(Photo: Maeda Nariyasu [Wikipedia])

5. Seisonkaku villa comprises a half-acre (23,000 square foot) plot, with the main building featuring a 3,000 square foot floor plan. The first floor includes a reception room, living room, five painted rooms, numerous corridors, and two garden-viewing porches.

(Photo: Stairs leading to the second floor)

The second floor boasts three large reading rooms and four smaller rooms.

(Photo: Second floor “Nightingale Corridor”)

Each room is adorned with expensive woods: maple, camphor, zelkova, palm, mulberry, horse chestnut, and many more. Some of the interconnecting shōji (障子) sliding doors are decorated with paper painted with wisteria and butterflies. Most rooms feature iron hangers for mosquito nets. Modern Seisonkaku’s halls are lined with cases displaying Shinryu-in’s belongings: fans, makeup jars, and books.

(Photo: Woodblock Print Books displayed in the “Butterfly Room”)

(Photo: Mother Shinryu-in’s tiny tea set [KANAME INN TATEMACHI])

6. The reception room is an 18-mat structure with two alcoves on either side—one serving as a reading area and the other leading to a samurai hiding place (in case of emergencies).

(Photo: looking out from reception room)

Nariyasu enlisted the renowned Takeda Yugetsu to cut and paint the transoms connecting the upper and lower parts of the reception room with flowers and birds.

(Photo: reception room transom [KANAME INN TATEMACHI])

The reception room also features a coffered ceiling fitted with an imported chandelier from the good old U.S. of A.

(Photo: Reception room. The American chandelier was imported in 1908 expressly for Emperor Taisho’s visit to Seisonkaku.)

7. Seisonkaku’s wainscoting completes the home. Paintings of sweet fish, seashells, tortoises, butterflies, pine trees, horsetails, and omoto (flowers similar to hyacinths) give each room its name: Sweet Fish Corridor, Seashell Corridor, Tortoise Chamber, Butterfly Chamber, Pine Tree Chamber, and Horsetail Garden. While faded with age, the subtle wainscot paintings at foot level lend personality and life to Seisonkaku that belies its outwardly genteel simplicity.

Additionally, some rooms feature paper shōji wainscoting, while one room boasts stained glass wainscoting depicting spring images of narcissus, violet, Amur adonis, kouhone (similar to water lilies), wisteria, bracken, and dandelion.

(Photo: “Pine Room” stained glass wainscot from Netherlands: [KANAME INN TATEMACHI])

8. Seisonkaku features two gardens: the Tsukushi (horsetail) garden and the Omoto (Rohdea japonica) garden. The Tsukushi garden is a flat-type garden, with a tree-lined stream as its principal focal point. In contrast, the enclosed Omoto garden showcases miniature hills and sprawling black pine trees.

(Two Photos Above: Omoto garden)

Adjacent to the Tsukushi garden, the pillarless, 30-foot-long corridor provides an unobstructed view of the greenery. This unique feature is a result of architectural design related to the spacing and protrusion of hangi (桔木: pine timbers) that support the eaves like a lever.

(Photo: Hangi fulcrum scheme [Incorporated Foundation Seisonkaku])

9. The three upstairs "snow viewing" windows feature glass panes imported from the Netherlands.

10. The ajiro-no-ma (網代の間) is the second of Seisonkaku’s three upstairs rooms. The first, pictured below, is the gunjo-no-ma (群青の間) reading room, or “ultramarine room”; its ceiling features a then-new blue hue invented by Jean-Baptiste Guimet. The gunjo-no-ma’s walls are made of sand, powdered limestone, and reinforcement material based on waste paper and liquid glue, all painted bright red with Indian bengala (hematite) and offset by a black color created from pulverized iron ore.

(Photo: second floor Ultramarine room)

Seisonkaku’s second upstairs room is the aforementioned ajiro-no-ma, or wickerwork room; the split, straight-grained cedar ceiling gives this room its name.

(Photo: wickerwork room [Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism League])

Displayed in this room is a “Gosho-doll” (or hibuse-ningyō, 火伏人形), meant to protect Seisonkaku from fires. Reportedly, the fire-protection doll did just that in old Edo Castle, which is why it was gifted to Shinryu-in for her new home: while Edo Castle almost completely burned down, the Gosho-doll’s room survived.

(Photo: Gosho-doll)

The third room is the etchū-no-ma (越中の間), so named because its cedar ceiling is made of wood imported from nearby Toyama (then called Etchū).

11. Shinryu-in (1787–1870), originally named Takako, lived in Seisonkaku during her retirement. She hosted guests, played the koto, strolled through Kenrokuen, read picture scrolls, and birdwatched in her golden years. Her father, Takatsukasa Masahiro, was the Chief Advisor to the Emperor in Edo, and he arranged her marriage to Maeda Narinaga, the wealthy 12th lord of Kaga. The Maeda family amassed around 1.2 million koku of rice—one koku is equivalent to 48 US gallons—and at that time, rice served as a form of currency.

After her husband’s death, Shinryu-in took the tonsure and became a nun, but she chose not to live in a sub-quarter of a Buddhist temple. She lived to be 83, allowing her to spend plenty of quality time with her grandchildren.

After some searching, I could not find any photographs or paintings of Shinryu-in herself. Maybe she didn’t want her photo taken?

12. The uguisu, or Japanese bush warbler (Horornis diphone), is a sonorous bird that heralds the first days of spring.

Video by サントリー公式チャンネル （SUNTORY）