Suizen-ji Garden, Kumamoto

Suizen-ji Garden, the other main attraction in Kumamoto. Built by the Hosokawa Family in 1636, as a tea retreat for the family. Today it has been declared by the National Government as a historic site of scenic beauty. It is really really beautiful and ZEN


We arrived early in the morning to catch the morning sun, but most of all to avoid the crowd...wat's the fun in photography when there's too many people? Oh it really depends, if you want humans in ur pic like at a busy street then u need to be there at peak hour like the busy crossing at Shibuya Tokyo....

Otherwise...if u want to have this huge humongous beautiful ZEN garden to urself....please come early :))) Since we needed to be early, we didn't have our breakfast and hopped over here via the friendly city tram. Public transportation in Japan is really efficient and so so easy to use...:))))

We the human beings didn't have breakfast...but the animals must!!! so we fed them breakfast first :))) Notice the calmness right at this moment....so ZEN so lovely so quiet......watch the next few pics.

Their breakfast was some sort of cereal thingy and it smelt so good :))) Prollie I was very hungry then....but once I was scrunching the paperbag retrieving their food....the ducklings swam like olympics champions and sped over at their fastest gear...all the Koi fish came over!!!!

and the frantic manic feeding frenzy began!!! The ducks the pigeons the fish all of them were fighting for food.

GAH!!!!! the pigeon came and attack my food!!! I mean technically it's their food...but all the animals were so hungry!!!

WAHHH go away go away!!! JS was so eppy snapping away instead of helping me to shooooo those birds away. I was almost in tears

T_T
"That stupid pigeon attacked me u know!!!!" *sob sob sob*
JS: "WAHHHAHAHA no it did not...it just wanted ur food...just feed them!! why were u clutching it so close? it's not money u know? wahahahahahaha u were so cute and farnie!!!"

T_T how could u find it hilarious watching your loved one being attacked? *sob sob sob even louder*

Then JS brought Monkey to this shrine...to pray for safety and never be attacked by pigeons anymore!!!!

-_-" yea yea yea....u could have helped me during the attack instead of shooting pics. He defended that it was a "kodak" moment. Okie...if it is....please submit for competition and see if those pigeons gonna vote for ur pic or not. Hmph!!!!

Wash ur hands everytime before u enter any shrines/temples...next rinse ur mouth and spit it out.

The Izumi Shrine is where all the Hosokawa Family members were enshrined. 

Monkey prayed hard...no more attacks by pigeons!!! only me get to attack Les Pigeons on my plate...especially those roasted ones!!! yum yum yum

Notice the huge rope above me...it symbolized the clouds...with the white paper as lightnings. I know u didn't notice, bcoz u were bz looking at my huge ass -_-

This beautiful strolling garden is best enjoyed at a slow speed walking anti clockwise to the other end. It was created and landscaped to mimick the important road Tokaido connecting Kyoto and Edo. So all the 53 important posts were re-created here

Behind JS is the miniature of Mount Fuji. If you studied Japanese history, you will recall all the 53 posts as you stroll along this huge garden.

There's even a Noh theater house here...during summer time, there's performances.

Monkey was still traumatized by the attack earlier...BAHAHAHAHAHA
It's so beautiful and easy to get carried away just by enjoying the beauty and landscape of Suizen-ji Garden.

Of coz u must have tea here!!! after all the Hosokawa Family built this huge place just to enjoy the scenery and their tea and sweets!!!!



So we sat for quite a bit, chatting bout our next destination bcoz this holiday was coming to an end soon. Enjoyed the early morning sun and winter breeze, yummy tea made by the charming tea operator here who doesn't speak a word of english but made our morning so so lovely. 

Surprisingly Kumamoto is really a quaint city. When we mentioned to friends we will be headed there, it was rather an unpopular destination. But mind you, Kumamoto has got the most centenarians in the world. All the water in the city including pipe water were of natural spring water!!! Their diet is so unique you will find it weird *ok will blog about their food soon*

When it comes to Kumamoto it's all about their agriculture. With such high mineral and rich water....even richer volcanic soil, all the produces are of high quality. Think the beautiful strawberries and all the sweet tomatoes!!! :)))))))))))

We were glad that we came here and found peace :))))
*ok maybe except the pigeons -_-*