Japanese Garden, Nansouty
Overview
The Japanese Garden of Nansouty is a private Japanese-style garden at 8 rue de Marmande in Bordeaux. The Société d’Horticulture de la Gironde identifies it as Jardin Japonais de Nansouty, created in 1993 by Jean-Claude Bendrell, and describes it as a Nara-period-inspired Japanese garden set in the centre of an eighteenth-century private residence.
History
The garden was created in 1993 within the courtyard / garden space of an eighteenth-century hôtel particulier in the Nansouty district of Bordeaux. Its design is explicitly presented as a reference to the Nara period of Japanese history, 710–794, a period associated in garden histories with early Buddhist, Chinese-influenced symbolic garden forms. The garden is described as a garden of prayer and meditation, intended as a symbolic miniature of the world.
The site has remained private rather than becoming a municipal garden. Older horticultural information states that visits were possible only by prior arrangement, and notes that it was closed in 2015. More recent cultural listings show that the garden has continued to open occasionally for organised visits. In 2025, Bordeaux Métropole listed guided visits and meals at the garden in April, while the French Ministry of Culture’s Rendez-vous aux Jardins 2026 programme lists open-visit slots on 6–7 June 2026, confirming that the garden is still active as a private garden with limited public access.
Design features
The garden is described as an accidenté Japanese garden, meaning a rugged or relief-based composition, inspired by the Nara period. It contains a nineteenth-century carved and polychrome teak tea pavilion with a copper-clad pagoda roof, encircled by a natural, winding watercourse. The 2026 Rendez-vous aux Jardins listing also mentions a Japanese pagoda built as a reproduction of an eighth-century model.
Garden elements
Buildings
Waters and islands
Stones
Current status
Extant private Japanese garden in central Bordeaux. It is visitable only during special openings or by arrangement, including occasional Rendez-vous aux Jardins and local guided-visit events.