Fountain of eternal youth

This area contains the largest of the garden ponds, fed by a waterfall tumbling over azalea-clad boulders. The area is enclosed by bamboo and pine, with copious planting of camellias and Japanese maple. The pond here reminds us of another Japanese legend recounted  by Hearn, The Fountain of Eternal Youth.  This is about a forest pool where those who drank of the water grew young again.

The Garden of Peace and Harmony represents Hearn’s happiness in family life and his literary success in his adopted home of Japan.  Having faced extreme hardship in his early career, he rose to become a respected professor in the University of Tokyo, and achieved international acclaim for his published work.

One of the most momentous events of his life was the birth of his first son, Kazuo, in November 1893. This event anchored him in Japan.  Hearn, the nomad and the loner, had finally settled into family life.  Though his letters show that he often yearned to revisit his friends in America, he remained in Japan, a devoted husband and father to his four children.