Segawa House
TokyoJostled by tall buildings on all four sides, this beautiful residence symbolizes the struggle to preserve the garden and architectural heritage of Japan in the heart of Tokyo. While works of art can be put inside a museum, gardens take up precious real estate. Many families less tenacious than the owners of the Segawa garden have had to relinquish their treasured gardens due to the high inheritance taxes in Japan, a country that has successfully combined a market economy with socialist policies. Even as efforts towards historic preservation have become more common in recent years, several notable buildings in Tokyo that were built during the Meiji period have been torn down in the last three decades. Although the Segawa house and garden have been designated as a Cultural Property by the Agency of Cultural Affairs, the financial burden of maintaining them still falls upon the owners who fortunately have the passion, wisdom and a sense of noblesse oblige to do this. They have also recently built a new building on part of the property that provides income to pay for the maintenance and taxes for the old house and garden.
The Segawa garden and the house were originally built in 1887, just as Japan was coming out of its feudal past into the Meiji period’s modernization. The original estate was much larger than it is today. Located close to the busy Kasuga Street, this exquisite house and garden are entered from a side street by passing under a multi-storied building, which now stands on what was the front garden of this estate. The gabled entrance of the house is visible from the street, a glimpse of an age of architectural grace seen through a tile-clad high-rise that represents the practicalities that define modern Tokyo. The new building’s architect is said to have chosen the color of its tiles to harmonize with the old building.
The stone path laid amid gravel from the entrance leads to two buildings. The gabled facade in the center is the guesthouse, designed to entertain important guests. The guesthouse is laid out in the zigzag plan to known in Japan as goose flight pattern or ganko formation, meant to afford views of the garden from the various points. Upon entering the guesthouse, one passes through the entrance hall to the Western style reception room that was also used for staging No plays in days gone by. This reception room leads to the large shoin style Japanese room with twelve and a half tatami mats, and two sides open to the garden. The garden was laid out so as to serve the guesthouse as well as the main house.
The main house, entered along the stone steps to the right, is approximately the same size as the guesthouse and is built on two floors. The Segawa residence was originally built for Koichi Furuichi in 1887. Koichi was a distinguished civil engineer and scholar during the Meiji and Taisho periods. Since many professors and doctors of the University of Tokyo lived in this area during the Meiji period, it was called “doctor’s town”. Western style rooms in homes, and Western motifs on metal hardware, were popular features of residential architecture at that time. Masayo Segawa, a medical doctor and the son-in-law of Furuichi, inherited the house and moved here when his own house was damaged in the 1923 earthquake. He loved the house and garden, and added a large tea room, the eight-mat Japanese style Buddha room, and the tea room named Isshi-an during the early Showa period. The house again escaped damage during the World War II bombing. Massayo’s son, Isao Segawa, was also fond of the house and added the moss garden from 1952 onwards, a feat that was considered impossible before this time. He made the tea arbor, named Tai-an, in 1959 for his wife under the guidance of the famous gardener Taiami Tanaka. Currently, this house and garden are being maintained by the members of the fourth generation of the Segawa family.
The garden is the integral part of the design of the main house as well as the guesthouse. It has been planned in a swirling pattern around the central mound on which there exists a sprawling old shinoki tree and several large rocks. This mound backs up against the wall and keeps the line of sight from being disturbed by the modern buildings behind it. From here a small rivulet meanders through the garden, and stone paths lead to the tea room and the tea arbor, the main guest room and the main house. The tea arbor is so positioned that once inside, one gets the feeling on floating on a boat along a rivulet.
The lush moss in this garden is rare in Tokyo, which unlike Kyoto and Kanazawa does not have a climate conducive to its growth. Isao Segawa had brought in moss of various types from all over the world to start this garden, and the species that successfully adapted to the Tokyo climate abound in this garden today. The predominant species of moss is from Okutama, the western mountain region of Tokyo, and is called chochin-goke. This sort of moss grows vining on top of itself, occasionally growing into a carpet as thick as five centimeters. Isao cared deeply for this moss and watered it personally every morning and every evening.
The Oribe lantern in front of Isshi-an tea room is one of the oldest styles of garden lanterns in Japan, and was first produced in the Momoyama period. Such lanterns are named after Oribe Furuta, the famed samurai tea master. These lanterns do not have a base and are planted straight into the ground.
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