Katsura Imperial Villa arranges shoin buildings, teahouses, and a pond garden in a sequence designed for changing views. Developed over decades in the early Edo period, it is a refined example of architecture opening onto nature.
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The buildings do not face the garden as a single formal facade; they step and turn around it. Katsura Imperial Villa was developed as a detached palace by Prince Toshihito and later expanded by his son, Prince Toshitada.
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- Katsura was built as a detached palace by Prince Toshihito.
- Its present form developed over roughly 50 years, from 1615 to about 1662.
- The garden includes four teahouses arranged around a pond.
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