Shugakuin Imperial Villa

This guide to Shugakuin Imperial Villa in Kyoto opens with Emperor Go-Mizunoo's secret abdication in 1629, driven off the throne by a shogunate that stripped his power and, in the so-called purple robe incident, insulted the priests he had honored. It follows what he built instead, starting in 1655: a garden here where he placed every stone and tree himself. Climb toward the upper garden for the view he spent years arranging by hand.