Ritsurin Garden is a large stroll garden built over roughly one hundred years by successive Matsudaira lords of the Takamatsu Domain. Featuring six ponds and thirteen artificial hills, it is designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty by the Japanese government — a distinction ranking it alongside Japan's three most celebrated gardens. Highlights include the Kikugetsu-tei pavilion, the arched Enge…

The site of Ritsurin Garden is believed to have hosted a garden as early as the late 16th century. According to tradition, the original garden was laid out by the local lord Nishijima Hachibe during the Sengoku period. In 1642, Matsudaira Yorishige became the lord of the Takamatsu Domain and took ch…