Name: Jôrakuen  Jorakuen Photo: Lynn Perry   Alternate Name: Jorakuen  Kanji:   Address:   Mailing Address:   City: Fukushima-shi  State: Fukushima-ken  Postal Code:   Country: JAPAN  Latitude/Longitude: lat=37.75; long=140.48333 Find Gardens Nearby Phone: +81.(0)24.591.1304  Fax:   E-Mail:   Contact:   Designer(s):   Construction Period: -   Public/Private: PUBLIC  Hours: Closed December 1 - March 19.  Admission: Adults: 400 yen; Children: 200 yen  Added to JGarden: 5/7/2000  Last Updated: 1/19/2003  JGarden Description: This 25,000 sq meter garden is one of Fukushima's most beautiful and took 25 years to construct. Jorakuen is a composition of trees, water and stone set against the Azuma mountains. The entrance is a tree-enclosed path, but the garden opens up to is full expanse after the first bend. A large pond dominates the center of the garden with pines, stone and small islands highlighting it. An azumaya and a tea house are also located around the edge. Seasonal interest is provided by rhododendrons (shakunage), butterbur (yamafuki), a wisteria trellis (fujidana) and a beautiful lotus marsh (hasunuma). Parking: 50 cars Access----From JR Tohoku Line/Shinkansen Fukushima Station, bus to Fujimi restaurant stop then 15 minute walk. Follow Route 115 from Fukushima toward Aizu and watch for the sign. Is also accessible from the Fukushima-Nishi interchange of the Tohoku Expressway.

A Pair of Stones Two chunks of gray-green stone, their shapes grotesque and unsightly, wholly unfit for practical uses -- ordinary people despise them, leave them untouched. Formed in the time of primal chaos, they took their place at the mouth of Lake Taihu, ten thousand ages resting by the lakeshore, in one morning coming into my hands! Pole-bearers have brought them to my prefectural office where I wash and scrub away mud and stains. The hollows are black, deeply scarred in mist, crevices green with the rich hue of moss. Aged dragons coiled to form their feet, old swords stuck in for the crown, I suddenly wonder if they didn't plummet from Heaven, so different from anything in this human realm! One will do to prop up my lute, one to be a reservoir for my wine. The tip of one shoots up several yards, the other has a hollow, will hold a gallon of liquid! My five-stringed instrument leaning on the left one, my single wine cup set on the right, I'll dip from the hollowed cask and it will never go dry, though drunkenness long since has toppled me over. Every person has something he loves, and things all yearn for a companion. More and more I fear that gatherings of the young no longer will welcome a white-haired gentleman. I turn my head, ask this pair of stones if they'd consent to keep an old man company. And though the stones are powerless to speak, they agree that we three should be friends.   Bai Juyi [Po Chu-i]   772-846