There was already a bench here. A lonely iron seat at a bend in the stroll garden, beneath an old willow, with a clear view across the pond to the Manor beyond. Someone had placed it there for a reason — the spot had always been worth pausing at.

The azumaya grew from that pause. A machiai of sorts — a point of rest in the garden's circuit — where the iron bench became a broad timber deck, large enough to lie on in summer, to take tea in the morning, to watch the water. The structure is built from willow, barked chestnut logs, and hewn acacia, using sukiya joinery techniques. It feels provisional, close to the ground. Above it, a large roof opens wide.