The Ishigami site is a seventh-century palace site. A stone-paved open space with a square pond, surrounded by buildings of the palace of Empress Saimei, are noteworthy as garden remains unearthed at this site. The pond is about six meters square and 80 cm deep, with a stone wall embankment and pebble-paved bottom. The Mt. Sumeru stone, and an elaborate stone figure of an old man and a woman called the Sekijinzō stone, were uncovered at the site in 1902-03. Accordingly, the "pond of Ishigami" noted in thechronicle Nihon shoki, compiled in the eighth century, where the empress is said to have erected a Mt. Sumeru stone and entertained "barbarians," is considered to be this pond. It is located in the village of Asuka, Nara prefecture.
Japanese Garden Dictionary: A Glossary for Japanese Gardens and Their History
(C) 2010 by Ono Kenkichi and Walter Edwards. All rights reserved.
