Mifuneyama Rakuen has something most gardens lack: a wall. The garden spreads across the foot of a sheer rock mountain, and behind every maple stands grey stone instead of open sky, so the colour has a ground to sit against and nowhere to dissolve. The peak runs mid-November into the first ten days of December, moving a little with the weather.

The grounds were laid out in the Edo period at the direction of the local lord, over roughly three years, following the shape of the land rather than correcting it. Two centuries on, it reads as landscape first and planting second — the mountain was always going to be the main wall of the room, and the garden simply furnished it.

In autumn the day splits in two. Daylight hours run from eight until half past five; then an evening session from half past five until ten, when part of the garden is lit and the pond doubles whatever colour stands above it. Look up at the rock while the sun is out. Look down into the water after dark.

Takeo Onsen station is about five minutes away by car, with a free shuttle during the festival period, and parking is free, with room for a hundred and fifty cars. One garden, two faces, and the wall behind them holding both. Stay through the changeover and you get the whole performance.