Tokyo Now #16: Traditional Japanese gardens in Tokyo (north-east area)

There are still nice gardens.

As previous report, there are many “Kaiyushiki” (circuit style) gardens in Tokyo. I would like to introduce 2 gardens and 1 park in the northern area in Tokyo. “Rikugien gardens”,” Kyu-Furukawa Gardens” and “Askayama Park”.

Rikugien Gardens is another garden which was donated by the Iwasaki family. It was originally built by a “Daimyo” (feudal load) in 1702, and purchased by Yataro Iwasaki, a founder of Mitsubishi conglomerate, in 1868. After that it was donated to the city of Tokyo in 1938. This is a typical daimyo garden and you can enjoy 88 scenes which simulate the world of Chinese and Japanese classical poems.

Kyu-Furukawa Gardens is close to Rikugien Gardens. It was a house of Furukawa conglomerate in the beginning of 20^th century. It is rather compact comparing to Rikugien Gardens, but you can see a Western style house, Western rose garden, and Japanese garden the same time. This garden is designated as the National Site of Scenic Beauty.

Asukayama is a small hill located about 10km north of Tokyo Station. It is a park adjacent to Oji Station.

300 year ago, the era of Tokugawa Shogunate (Samurai’s government), one Shogun planted 1270 cherry trees opened it to the public as a cherry blossom viewing spot. People brought their lunches and enjoyed one day picnic.

Time went by, about 150 years ago, the era moved from Shogunate to Modern government lead by Emperor Meiji, Asukayama became one of the first public park in Japanese with Ueno and Asakusa. It is still well known as a popular place of cherry blossom.

If you have a chance to come to Tokyo, why don’t you visit Gardens and Parks with various tastes surrounded by skyscrapers.

by TFWT PA&C