[Place] Yokohama Sankeien Garden
[Visitors] A British family of three
[Attendant] 1 KSGG member
[Language] English
It was a cold and rainy day. So I picked up two indoor spots to look around for the British family who now live in the Philippines, an everlasting summer land.
1) Former Yanohara House 【Important Cultural Asset】
The farmhouse used to be owned by the Yanohara family, and is built in the Gasshotsukuri style with a thatched rafter roof. The house originally stood in Shirakawago village, a UNESCO’s world heritage site known for its settlement of Gasshotsukuri buildings. Former Yanohara House was relocated to Yokohama Sankeien Garden in order to preserve it. First the visitors saw the roof and the entrance of the house from outside. They noticed a shikidai (wooden deck to park a palanquin) by the front doors, and were surprised to find that the farmers were very rich. They carefully walked up the steep stairs to the attic of the house and examined how the roof was built. They were amazed to see that the roof was assembled without nails. Back downstairs, the visitors said “Wow!” when they saw a wood fire burning and smoking on an irori (traditional Japanese hearth) dug in a wood floor room.
From the farmhouse the British family went to the Sankei Memorial through the Outer garden. On the way they paid attention to a plum tree and its trunks in uncommon shapes, and took a lot of pictures of the tree and its budding flowers. They also liked the murmuring sound of a stream and a small waterfall. The Britons enjoyed the walk for a while and almost forgot the chilly weather.
2) Sankei Memorial
Having warmed up in the Sankei Memorial building, the British family looked through the exhibits there. They learned that Sankei Hara, the founder of the garden, was not only a successful businessman who made his fortune in Yokohama, but also an artist and a generous patron of painters and calligraphers, and kept company with famous literary persons. In the Japanese tea room in the building, the family enjoyed a casual tea ceremony and tasted matcha (powdered green tea), that they strongly wanted to try out. The visitors were grateful to listen to how to prepare the tea with a bamboo whisk.