Sengan-en & the Shimazu Clan

Exploring Kagoshima’s History

When push comes to shove, my absolute favorite thing about traveling in Japan is the nation’s long and undeniably palpable history. While it often requires one do a bit of digging, reverberations from Japan’s feudal era can still be felt throughout the country. For example, the bullet trains traveling to Kyoto follow an important trade route known as the Tokaido that has been utilized for hundreds of years. These echoes of the past can be found just about everywhere in Japan if one looks hard enough. Yet, there remain some places where the historical connections are far more tangible. One such location is the beautiful Sengan-en. Located down in Kyushu’s southernmost prefecture of Kagoshima, these gardens is the perfect addition to the itinerary of any history buff and/or cultural connoisseur.

Now to properly understand the significance of Sengan-en, you’ll need to first understand a bit about the Shimazu clan as the two are inexorably linked. While I won’t bore you with a full historical exposé of their many accolades, know that this clan ruled over much of southern Kyushu for nearly 700 years. Allegedly, the Shimazu clan hails from the illustrious Minamoto family. Its progenitor, Shimazu Tadahisa, is said to be a son of the first Kamakura shogun, Minamoto-no-Yoritomo. For much of history, the Shimazu clan enjoyed an…