Fodor's Expert Review Murin-an Garden

Ogawa Jihei (1860–1932), a leading landscape architect of the Meiji period, departed from tradition in developing this late-19th-century garden whose rolling expanses of English-style lawn represent the first use of this type of ground cover within a Japanese garden. The blending of Western and Japanese influences can also be detected in some of the architecture and interiors of this estate, once part of Nanzen-ji, that was commissioned by Arimoto Yamagata, twice Japan's prime minister in the late 19th century. The paths of Murin-an, a small but classic Meiji stroll garden, meander along converging streams and past a three-tier waterfall. The garden's southern section is almost always in shadow, creating wonderful contrasts.