The designer of the Shugakuin Imperial Villa is retired Emperor Gomizuno-o (1596- 1680), he did the landscape design of the Upper Villa and Lower Villa. The designer of the Katsura Imperial Villa - Prince Toshihito, was his uncle. In 1629, Tokugawa Shogunate – actual governor of Edo, intensified the opposition and interference of the imperial household, the emperor became a puppet. Feeling deep resentment and Emperor Gomizuno-o suddenly abdicated. In order to overcome his sorrow of his tragic political life consequently he learnt about Buddhism and especially through studying Zen and way of tea, he was much happier engaging in atheistic activity (Mori, 1955). In pursuit of his atheistic retirement life, he …show more content…
The construction of Upper and Lower Villa started in the same year and basically completed in 1659 (Seiko, Takahiro, 2016).
The Mid-level Villa were built in 1680s, where was previously the palace of Princess Ake (25 July 1634 – 18 November 1727), eighth daughter of retired Emperor Gomino-o. It is trusted that the palace converted to a nunnery from 1682 onward and to be called the Rinkyuji temple. The building which known as the Rakushiken, which was part of Princess Ake's former palace(Mori, 1970 p.78 & Wada, 1963 pp.131-135 ); Nevertheless it was absorbed into a part of imperial villa during the Meiji period (in 1885) (Mori, Muraoka, Nakamura & Ōhara, 1974).
The development of Katsura Imperial Villa is more complicated than Shugakuin. Katsura was built in the early Edo