In the Meiji period, there are new tendencies of creating gardens, tendencies considered to begin with the garden Murin-an, made in Kyoto by the gardener Ogawa Jihei the 7th , under the detailed instructions from the owner,the statesman Yamagata Aritomo. In this paper I attempt to extract the aesthetic sense of Aritomo in relation to the natural elements,by analysing his travel diary “Hazakura Nikki”.

Yamagata Aritomo writes“Hazakura Nikki”in 1867, during one of his trips to Kyoto. It is published in 1891, 3 years before the construction of Murin-an, and republished as a part of the volume“Gansetsu Yamagata-kō Ikō” in 1926, showing that at least for Aritomo, if not for the society in general, the content of “Hazakura Nikki”was still valid after 60 years from it's first publication.

In this presentation, I will analyse the natural elements that appear in Aritomo's diary, such as the stream and the mountain, in particular Higashiyama mountain; I will examine the context in which they appear aiming to grasp Aritomo's ideal image about these elements. Next, I will connect this results with the way the river and Higashiyama mountain are incorporated in the design of Murin-an. Thus, I will attempt to shed light on the attitude towards nature shown in this garden, attitude that spread ulterior through the entire Japan.