Katsurarikyu

On the west bank of the Katsura River, Katsura Rikyu is an imperial villa garden of some 69,000 square metres. Work began in 1615 and took several decades to complete. It is celebrated as an integrated work of garden and architecture together: a pond at the centre, with a shoin residence and tea pavilions arranged around it. Where Shugakuin Rikyu has an easy, pastoral air, Katsura is reserved and precisely ordered — and startlingly inventive wherever you look closely.