津山まちじゅう博物館

Shurakuen Garden was originally built in the early Edo Period (1603–1868).
It is located about 500 m north of Tsuyama Castle, and the grounds were originally roughly 300 by 300 m, though half that size today. These grounds are centered around a large pond, designed to be walked around. The pond covers most of the garden’s area, and has islands that divide it into four sections. Additionally, the garden incorporates the mountains in the distance as a “borrowed landscape” element.

Most of the garden consists of a long pond that runs from north to south, with four islands inside it. From north to south, they are named Kirishima, Nakajima, Ukijima, and Momijishima.
Bridges connect Nakajima to both sides of the pond, and at the northern end of the island lies Seiryoken rest house.
Ukijima was originally connected to the eastern side of the pond, but today it is a freestanding island.

Water flows in from the north, running between the miniature hills to create the feel of being deep in the mountains, then goes down a small waterfall. The garden also has a waterfall-style stone arrangement that has been kept particularly well preserved the Edo period (1603–1868), forming the main landscape on the northern side.

To provide a sense of variety within the falling water, there are notches carved into the stone over which the waterfall flows — a one-of-a-kind artisanal touch.

The northeastern part of the garden features a 210 m long winding stream, a feature not seen on old maps.

However, historical records describe a “Winding Stream Poetry Gathering,” where attendees would compose and share poems as they sat by the stream. This was held in 1870 by the son of the Tsuyama Domain’s final lord, suggesting that the stream was built by around then.

Today, Winding Stream Poetry Gatherings are still held here, in honor of the celebrated haiku poet Saito Sanki, who hailed from Tsuyama.

Photographs from the Meiji Era (1868–1912) show Yohokaku, but it is unclear if the building here today is the original dating back to the Edo Period (1603–1868).
A guest house was built in 1897 at the location shown on old maps, but it was eventually demolished after falling into disrepair. The current guest house building was built in 1970, using the reconstructed second floor of the ryokan inn Taikakuro, which was dismantled and moved here from the Kyomachi district of Tsuyama.