Yuushien Garden, Shimane | Japan is Nippon

A pond-circling Japanese garden on Daikonshima, Japan's top island for peony seedlings. In spring 30,000 peonies cover the pond; indoors they bloom all year.

A waterfall tumbling into a pond among green maples at Yuushien — Photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Visitors in a dim tearoom looking out through wide windows onto the Yuushien garden — Photo: 663highland, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

A garden on an island of peonies and medicinal ginseng

Yuushien Garden is a Japanese garden on Daikonshima, an island in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture. Daikonshima sits in Nakaumi, a large lagoon, and produces more peony seedlings than anywhere else in Japan. It is also one of only three places in Japan where Korean ginseng (a medicinal root) is grown. Both have been cultivated on the island since the Edo period. Ginseng growing was started by the Matsue domain to shore up its finances, and it succeeded under the domain's lord Matsudaira Fumai, famous as a tea-ceremony master.

The garden was the dream of its first owner, Kadowaki Sakae, who wanted it to be a springboard for the island's industries. Work began in 1970, and the first phase took five years to complete. The name combines the character for shi (aspiration, from that dream) with one character from the name of his father, Yoshizo.

A stroll garden that mirrors the Izumo landscape

Covering about 12,000 tsubo (around 40,000 square metres; a tsubo is a traditional Japanese unit of area), the garden is a chisen kaiyu-shiki garden, a style designed for walking around a pond and enjoying the scenery as it changes, and it recreates the landscapes of the Izumo region. There are waterfalls and stone arrangements, and the highlights change with the seasons: peonies, but also Japanese irises and autumn leaves. The French travel guide Guide Bleu gives it three stars.

There is also a restaurant where you can eat while looking out over the garden, serving soba noodles from Daikonshima and dishes made with local ingredients.

Highlights through the seasons

The biggest draw is Chisen Botan (the peony pond), held around Golden Week (the run of holidays from late April to early May). Thirty thousand peony blossoms cover the surface of the garden's pond. In late October comes Chisen Tenjiku Botan, created together with Takarazuka in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan's top dahlia-growing area, when the pond is filled with dahlias (known in Japanese as tenjiku botan, literally Indian peony).

In summer there is a mist garden, and from autumn into winter the autumn leaves are lit up at night alongside Japanese-style illuminations. In the indoor garden, the Peony House, you can see peonies in bloom all year round, whatever the season.

Getting there

By car it is about 25 minutes from JR Matsue Station and about 40 minutes from JR Yonago Station. By bus, take a Matsue City Bus from JR Matsue Station for about 45 minutes, get off at Yatsuka-cho Yuushien Iriguchi and walk about 5 minutes.

Admission and opening hours vary with the season and events, so check Yuushien's official website before you visit.

Tips

In front of the entrance gate is a free area, the Village of Peonies and Unshu Ginseng, where you can sample Korean ginseng tea. There is also a rest area and a tourist information corner.
If you want to see the pond covered in peonies, aim for around Golden Week. At other times of year you can still see peonies in the Peony House.
The café in the garden also has menu items made with Korean ginseng.

Sources

Updated 29 September 2026. Opening hours and prices change, so check the official site before you go.

Yuushien Garden