Tatsuda Park and ruins of Taishō-ji

photo by Simasakon · CC BY-SA 3.0

The mausoleums of the Hosokawa lords and a tea room after a design by Tadaoki.

From the bus stop you walk up a sloping road to the Taishō-ji, the family temple of the lords of Kumamoto, now in ruins. In the grounds stand the ‘four mausoleums’ (四つ御廟): the tombs of Hosokawa Fujitaka and his wife, and of his son Tadaoki with Gracia. Further on is the Kōshōken tea room, from 1923.

Throughout the Edo period the Taishō-ji was the family temple of the Hosokawa, lords (daimyō) of Kumamoto: the one where the ancestors rest. With the separation of Shinto and Buddhism in the early Meiji years the temple was closed and the place became a family villa; since 1955 the garden has been lent to the municipality, which opens it to the public. On 28/11/1995 the park, together with the Kitaoka site (the ruins of the Myōge-ji, in another part of the city), was declared a national historic site (史跡, shiseki) under the name ‘Tombs of the Hosokawa Lords of the Kumamoto Domain’ (熊本藩主細川家墓所). Among the ‘four mausoleums’ is that of Gracia, Tadaoki's wife, a Christian, who died in 1600. The Kōshōken tea room (仰松軒) dates from 1923, to designs by Tadaoki; the stone washbasin (chōzubachi) there is, according to tradition, the one Tadaoki used in Kyoto and that Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the tea master Sen no Rikyū are said to have used too. According to the municipality, the park also holds one of the three tombs attributed to Miyamoto Musashi in Kumamoto; it is not known which of the three is the real one.

ℹ️ Reopened on 11/09/2026 with closed areas: the municipality has cordoned off part of the park around the lanterns and gravestones damaged by the earthquake of 28/07/2026 (municipality page updated on 15/09/2026; the map of the areas is an image PDF, not readable as text, so it is not known which tombs can be reached). Open 8:30–17:00, entry until 16:30; ticket 200 yen from high school up, 100 up to junior high; closed 29 to 31 December. ⚠️ A municipality list of 02/10/2026 gives it as closed on Mondays, the park's own page does not: check before going. Bus to the stop 立田自然公園入口, then about 10 minutes on foot (municipality; Jalan counts 15, uphill); free car park of about 30 spaces, narrow road for coaches.

🚉 Tsuboigawa-koen · 19 min walk

Sources: city.kumamoto.jp · kumamoto-guide.jp · kumamoto-guide.jp · kumamoto-guide.jp · ja.wikipedia.org · ja.wikipedia.org

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