Kenrokuen's Six Garden Attributes and the Understanding-and-Exploration Approach

Kenrokuen, in Kanazawa, has been claimed as the best of Japan's three most beautiful gardens as it incorporates all six features of a good garden stated in Chinese literature: spaciousness, seclusion, artifice, antiquity, use of water, and panorama. This garden is therefore preferred by Japanese and foreign visitors. Researches on environmental preferences have suggested that people tend to like the place they can understand and have opportunities for exploration. Understanding is accounted for coherence and legibility of the environment, whereas exploration requires complexity and mystery of the surroundings. This paper thus employs the understanding-and-exploration approach to examine Kenrokuen's six attributes and preferences.