Shotoen Garden

Shotoen Garden on Shimo-Kamagari Island in Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture, was created to honor the island's historical role as a rest stop for Korean diplomatic envoys traveling to the shogun's court in Edo during the Edo period. The garden follows classical landscape design principles: raked gravel, sculpted pines, ornamental ponds, and stone arrangements. A small museum on the grounds holds artifacts related to this diplomatic history, including reproductions of the elaborate ships used by Korean envoys. The island setting, reached by bridge from the mainland, gives the garden a quiet, removed feeling, and the combination of horticultural craft and maritime history makes it worth the detour.