World Famous Landscapes: Seisonkaku Villa

Seisonkaku is a villa that the 13th lord of the Maeda family built for his mother in Kenrokuen Garden in 1863. Fine techniques in a wide variety are used for the inner pillars and walls of Seisonkaku. These techniques include a wooden panel with openwork carvings of flowers and birds and a coffered ceiling for the guest chamber called "Ekken-no-ma." From these, visitors will know the status of the then Maeda family. Furthermore, Seisonkaku exhibits articles with a long and distinguished history, such as dolls for the Japanese Girls' Festival and furniture.

The Seisonkaku is a large Japanese villa in the city of Kanazawa, built in 1863 by Maeda Nariyasu (1811–1884), 13th daimyo of the Kaga Clan, as a retirement home for his mother Shinryu-in. A collection of her personal effects is open to the public.

It is one of the few buildings in Japan to display the possessions of a daimyo family in their original surroundings. The main floor is built in the buke-shoin style, with a formal guest chamber Ekken-no-ma, and a traditional covered walkway (engawa) which opens onto a beautiful small garden. 

The walkway, named Horsetail corridor, is famous for being 60 feet long, with no supporting beams holding up the roof. The roof is supported with a cantilever that extends 30 feet back into the building, a Meiji-period architectural innovation. The first floor showcases extensive architectural uses of artwork, from painted screens and doors to stained glass imported from the Netherlands.

A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity, sometimes transferred to the Church for reuse as a monastery. Then they gradually re-evolved through the Middle Ages, into elegant upper-class country homes. In modern parlance 'villa' can refer to various types and sizes of residences, ranging from the suburban "semi-detached" double villa to residences in the wildland–urban interface.

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