Matsunaga Kinenkan (松永記念館)
Matsunaga Yasuzaemon (松永安左ヱ門), 1875-1971, was an important Japanese industrialist, art collector and tea ceremony master. He led power companies such as the Kyushu Electric Railway and the Chubu Electric Power Company. At the age of sixty, after his businesses were nationalized, he retired and took the Tea name Jian (耳庵), follow your ear after sixty, from the Analects of Confucius.
In 1946, he moved to the Odawara area and built a house called Rōkyosō (老欅荘) “Old Zelkova Villa ”, on a wooded hillside in Odawara Itabashi (小田原板橋). The house included a tea room, “Shōkatei” (松下亭), where he hosted tea ceremonies for many other famous connoisseurs. In 1959, he built an Art Gallery, to display his collection of important antiques. In 1979, the buildings and garden were donated to the city of Odawara, and from 1980 onwards, the Matsunaga Memorial Hall (松永記念館)
has been used as part of the Odawara Cultural Museum for special exhibitions. (In 1980, Matsunaga’s antiques were moved to the Fukuoka Art Museum).
In 1986, two tea houses (Yōuan, 葉雨庵, from Minami-machi, and Uyaku-tei, 烏薬亭, from Odawara), were repaired and moved to the south corner of the garden. On the second floor of the main Memorial Hall, visitors can enjoy a short tea ceremony thanks to the Odawara Tea Ceremony Federation. Additionally, Rōkyosō, 老欅荘, Matsunaga’s home in Odawara Itabashi, was restored in 2000 and opened to the public in 2001.
Surrounding the Matsunaga Memorial Hall, the garden landscape is expertly maintained, and in 2007 the garden was included in a list of 100 Best Japanese History Parks (日本の歴史公園100選). A large pond is home to water lilies, yellow iris and Japanese carp koi (錦鯉). Below Matsunaga’s house, an old, towering zelkova tree survives as a reminder of the Rōkyosō (老欅荘) “Old Zelkova Villa ” name. Next to the main Memorial hall, a large red rhododendron that an eighty-year-old Matsunaga brought back from the UK still blooms in late April — mid-May. Elsewhere in the garden, large Lindera strychnifolia shrubs were apparently planted by Matsunaga himself. This is the origin of the tea house annex name: Uyaku-tei (烏薬亭). (In Chinese medicine, the dried root of this tree is called crow medicine, and has been prized as a miracle longevity cure. Interestingly, Matsunaga Jian lived to 96 years of age!).
DIRECTIONS: From the Odawara Railway Station, the Hakone Itabashi Station (箱根板橋駅) is the first stop on the Odakyu Line towards Hakone Yumoto. From the Hakone Itabashi Station exit, a road directly across leads to the main street of Itabashi after about 200 m. Turn left here and walk for another 330m., passing shops on the left such as the Bonjour Bakery, and the famous hand-prepared Shimoda Tofu Shop (下田豆腐店). Further up the main street on the right-hand side, a large dark building is the former home and factory of the Uchino Soy Sauce enterprise (内野家と醤油工場). Next, on the right is a vertical sign pointing towards the Matsunaga Memorial Hall (松永記念館入り口), and a short walk of about 180 m. along this minor road leads to the entrance on the left, just after a dense boundary hedge (free admission).
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