Kirk with some news that both interested and frustrated me.
First, though the article doesn’t explain it, I learned that the bronze statue is of Naoko SHIRANE (白根直子), a member of the very famous and powerful Mitsui family (think of the bank, the manufacturing enterprises, etc.). She’s not from Kumamoto but it seems that she took an interest in and helped promote the sister relationship between Kumamoto and San Antonio:
https://shiranefoundation.org/about/
Another thing I learned is that the garden was designed by Kiyoshi Yasui, who modeled it after the Katsura Imperial Villa (桂離宮) in Kyoto. As the name “Imperial Villa” implies, this place is for the private use of the emperor and his family. I don’t know if it’s ever possible to get inside to take a peak at it but I suspect that the garden in San Antonio may be actually be an easier way (if you’re in Texas at least) to get a sense of the beauty of the Imperial Villa.
Now for the frustrating part of the article. It says “Modeled after a garden at Emperor Kiyoshi Yasui’s summer residence,” promoting Yasui to emperor. Here’s what I tried to write about that in a comment:
— start quote — Here’s a quote from the official website: “Designed by the Emperor’s gardener (and corporate CEO) Kiyoshi Yasui, this 85’ x 85’ garden is modeled after one at the Emperor’s summer house — which required special permission. "
https://www.sabot.org/explore/featured-attractions/
Actually, even the “Emperor’s gardener” distinction is not quite right. It seems to be true that Yasui played an important role in the renovation of the garden at the Katsura Imperial Villa, but that doesn’t mean that he was employed primarily as the “Emperor’s gardener.”
By the way, it does seem to be the case that the Katsura Imperial Villa that Yasui worked on was the model for San Antonio’s garden. Here’s a source in Japanese:
https://www.mofa.go.jp/mofaj/gaiko/local/page22_003550.html — end quote —
I made an ID and password so I could post to the page but it didn’t work. I’m not sure of the cause but that made the experience all the more frustrating. Still, since I may have an opportunity to visit San Antonia some day, I was glad to learn a bit more about the garden. :)
