Complex beauty made by the magic of a simple line in the Katsura Imperial Villa

There were two pictures on the wall of an architectural design office that I visited.



The upper one is the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, who was a globally famous architectural designer (For him Simon & Garfunkkel sang;”So long, Frank Lloyd Wright”). Another was the Katsura Imperial Villa. These two pictures were the same in that both were architecture surrounded by woods. Nonetheless I felt that these two pictures were similar but different except for the styles of western and Japanese. I didn’t know the reason why the owner of this office adorned these two pictures, but these pictures hit upon an idea in my mind to visit the Katsura Imperial Villa in order to resolve my curiosity.

After several months my wife and I stood at the entrance in front of the Katsura Imperial Villa on a Saturday morning in February. It was a little bit cold but there were already about forty people waiting. Half of them had reservations including us, the other half had non reservation. People without reservation didn’t know whether they could enter or not. Everyone was quiet, it fitted in the ambience there. The Katsura Imperial Villa is managed by the Imperial House Agency. Four staff members wearing business suits welcomed us at the gate. It makes a different atmosphere from other sightseeing places in Kyoto. 

Here is nearby the Katsura River on the west side of Kyoto city. The Katsura Imperial Villa was built for the purpose of a rest place for the Imperial families in the early Edo period of the seventeenth century.

The viewing time came and two of us and about thirty other people entered into the waiting room. A monitor in the room showed an explanation video of the Katsura Imperial Villa with English subtitles. Both of us could understand the basic origin and structure of this place. Among the visitors there were two foreign couples and they had guide-phones on their ears. A staff began to guide us to the garden.

The Katsura Imperial Villa contains a complexly formed big pond with a lot of small bridges and there are many houses surrounding the pond. We walked silently in one line along the narrow pavement. A staff explained the features of each houses in front of it. Foreigners could understand with guide-phones.

We were attracted by each favorite craftsmanship of each house. We looked at slightly changing sights from different points. And we took pictures at many places. Both of us chatted about the details and the beauty of the Katsura Imperial Villa to each other.The more the time passed, the deeper we felt the beauty of the Katsura Imperial Villa. After an hour of this tour my wife and I loved it there.

I will explain the traits of the Katsura Imperial Villa. The first trait is related to the birth time of the Katsura Imperial Villa. At that time in the nineteenth century Japanese basic cultures, naturalism, Imperial noble literacy, Zen and tea ceremony, were matured. And they were concentrated there. However Momoyama’s gorgeous golden culture which achieved its peak during the Toyotomi Government time wasn’t invited there. The second trait was for whom. It was for the Imperial families who wanted to enjoy it there. They hated the rude mode of the samurai.

These two traits created two basic concepts of the Katsura Imperial Villa ; one is simplicity and the other was frugality. In addition these two concepts crystallized the subtraction law of Japanese beauty.


On the other hand innovative designs were added. Many traditional cultures and innovative designs built up a complex Villa. The complexity against the simplicity. The innovative designs against the frugality. These many characteristics built a ton of seeing spots at the Katsura Imperial Villa.



After my visiting to the Katsura Imperial Villa, but it might not seem like it, I thought that the two pictures in the architectural design office were the same as the simplicity of lines of the houses. These houses and woods got complexity by a simple line, but the points of complexity were different from each other. The complexity made by Frank was on his house. On the contrary the one of the Katsura Imperial Villa was on the woods. Please look at the upper picture where woods with a pond can be seen from the windows of the dark house in the Villa. The woods are affluent, aren’t they? However it is my feeling and it is not an established theory.

When you come to the Katsura Imperial Villa you should enjoy it by your own feeling. The Katsura Imperial Villa has various features of beauty. Then I can say with confidence that you can find many beautiful scenes along your sense of beauty from the Katsura Imperial Villa. And if you remember my blog you will recognize a kind of depth made by the mysterious method of a simple straight line.

If you want to visit the Katsura Imperial Villa you should check the web-site of the Katsura Imperial Villa beforehand. By all means you should reserve your viewing time.

Katsura Imperial Villa

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