Tanshoen

Statue of Shimazu Hisamitsu at Tanshôen

• Japanese: 探勝園 (tanshouen)

Tanshôen is a public park & garden in Kagoshima, located adjacent to Terukuni Shrine, and just below the foot of Shiroyama (the former site of Kagoshima castle).

Originally established as a daimyô garden within the ni-no-maru outer precincts of Kagoshima castle, the garden was famous for its hillside waterfall, stone bridge, and lake. In 1857, it became the site of the first Morse code telegraph message ever sent in Japan on Japanese-made equipment, as a message was sent from the garden to the inner precincts of the castle, over 600 meters away.

In 1917, monumental bronze statues of Shimazu Nariakira, Shimazu Hisamitsu, and Shimazu Tadayoshi, designed by Asakura Fumio, were erected in the garden.

References

• Plaques on-site at Tanshôen.