A young kid was running around the pond in the Shinchi Garden at the back of Yasukuni Shrine

The Yasukuni Jinja Shrine is famous for the Yushukan, where the Zero fighter plane is on display, but there are other facilities on the grounds. There is a waiting room for worshippers, a library called Yasukuni Kaiko-Bunko, and a sumo wrestling arena. Among these facilities, the Shinchi Garden is a little surprising. If you go to the back of the building, you will find a pond garden with three teahouses built around a pond.

In Japan, gardens are often created in shrines and Buddhist temples. They are spaces to represent the world of gods and Buddha. For example, casually placed stones represent the standing Buddha, expressing a world other than this world. Many Buddhist temples in Kyoto, such as Ryoan-ji Temple, Ginkaku-ji Temple, and Kinkaku-ji Temple, are famous for their gardens within their premises. But if there is even a tea ceremony room in the garden, it is a bit different story. Rather than representing the world of gods and Buddha, I think they are built for the people living in the present. If people dressed in kimono were to hold a tea ceremony in a tea room, it would look like a mundane world filled with traditions and customs.

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