Sengan-en
仙巌園
The villa garden of the Shimazu family, lords of the Satsuma domain. It uses Sakurajima as a garden rock and Kagoshima Bay as a pond, and it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site “Meiji Japan's Industrial Revolution.”
Sengan-en, also known as Iso Garden, is a villa built in 1658 by Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the 19th lord of the Satsuma domain. It covers about 5 hectares. Using the technique of “shakkei” (borrowed scenery), it treats Sakurajima as a rockery and Kagoshima Bay as a pond. It is one of Japan's most magnificent gardens using borrowed scenery and is designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty. Inside the garden are the Shimazu family's palace (guided tours of the interior are available for an additional fee), the Kyokusui Garden, the Cat Shrine (which honors a cat that helped determine the time during the military campaign in Korea), and a bamboo grove in the Southern style, said to be the origin of Japan's Moso bamboo.
Next door is Shuseikan, the mechanical factory site built by the late-Edo lord Shimazu Nariakira as part of his “Shuseikan Enterprise” to pursue modernization. It displays Satsuma kiriko (cut glass), cannons, and shipbuilding technology. Together with the Reverberatory Furnace ruins, it was added to the World Heritage list in 2015 as part of “Meiji Japan's Industrial Revolution.” The Satsuma kiriko workshop in the garden allows visitors to watch the glassmaking process. At the garden teahouse, try the “Ryobo-dango,” grilled mochi skewered on two bamboo sticks.
Admission, including Shuseikan, costs about ¥1,600. Open 09:00 to 17:00.
Getting there: Take the City Sightseeing Bus from Kagoshima Chuo Station for about 30 minutes, and get off at the Sengan-en-mae stop.
Opening hours
09:00–17:00
Nearby sights
- Ishibashi Memorial Park
- Nanshu Shrine & Cemetery
- Kagoshima City Aquarium (io world)
- Tsurumaru Castle Ruins & Reimeikan
- Statue of Saigo Takamori
- Shiroyama Observatory
- Tenmonkan
- Terukuni Shrine