The Western Style Building made of wood was constructed in 1896. It was originally created as a rest room for the emperor when he visited the greenhouse. Afterward, an extension was added and the building was used as a clubhouse for the golf and tennis played on the grounds. It escaped the damage of the war bombing, which allows you to see the actual architecture of that time period.
The building uses “stick style”, which was popular in America. The stick style refers to the columns of the building. The distinctive characteristic of this style was that support columns are placed on the exterior for design purposes. For example, the “X” shape column at the bottom of the windows, and on the outside of the wall where there is also columns. Registered as an important cultural heritage, this valuable building can be viewed from the inside on the second and fourth Saturday of every month.
The sounds of the city do not reach into Shinjuku Gyoen. At this quite spot, let’s try to listen to the sounds of nature that are usually drowned out by the city. The leaves rattling, the water flowing, the birds chirping. You can hear the sounds of the natural world. Close your eyes and try to trace where each of those sounds come from, which taken as one are all just the sound of nature.
Landscape is not just something you see with your eyes. In order to discover your mental scenery, an exploration of all five senses is needed.