Murin-an Garden

This guide to Murin-an Garden in Kyoto opens on an April afternoon in 1903, when four of Meiji Japan's most powerful men, including retired field marshal Yamagata Aritomo, shut themselves in a small room above the garden with no secretaries and no official record. It traces why Yamagata built this canal-fed garden of streams, a waterfall and open lawns specifically for private conversation, and what the design was meant to hide from view. Notice how the open sightlines leave nowhere for anyone to eavesdrop.