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Yarimizu (Feeder Stream)......

Posted by
Japanalia (Yokohama, Japan) on 21 August 2009 in Lifestyle & Culture.

.........unearthed in pristine condition during excavation and research of the temple garden from 1950-1956.
The only extant Heian era (794-1192) feeder stream site in Japan; the other one, discovered at the site of the imperial residence in Nara, belongs to an earlier era.
The stream was designed in the style prescribed by the 11th century SAKUTEIKI (Treatise on Garden Making) to replenish the water of the pond.
Rounded river stones line the bottom. The course of the stream is punctuated by curves and carefully placed obstacles that direct and divert the flow of the water as it winds towards the rock formation at the edge of the pond.
Every spring, on the 4th Sunday in May, this beautiful stream which imparts such elegance to the Jodo-en (Pure Land Garden), is the site of an event called Gokusui-no-en, a costumed poetry festival so importnat to Heian nobility.Poet-contestants sit by the water's edge and compose poetry before a floating sake cup reaches them.