In these times of intense heat, you cannot refuse a stroll to a Japanese garden. And even if the greenery of Tokyo is far from having enough strength to refresh us it is, at least, very relaxing to the eyes. Let’s go to the Gardens of Koishikawa Korakuen!
Hasuike: Lotuses
Koishikawa Korakuen is a garden of the Edo period and therefore, it is one of Tokyo’s oldest garden. It was named Korakuen after a poem encouraging the ruler to take care of the happiness of his people. That is why it is not a coincidence if it is right next to Tokyo Dome, a kind of general entertainment and amusement park with a roller-coaster, a big wheel, a stadium, etc. Well, it is better to go there with earphones to cover your ears :p
This is the Full Moon bridge – Engetsukyo – which reminds the old bridges that we can find in China.
Tokyo’s Ricefields
The garden contains small rice fields which are very unusual in Tokyo. They were added to the garden by Tokugawa Mistukuni – a Japanese governor of Edo period – to show to his son’s wife the difficulty of the farmers’ life. Nowadays, primary school children maintain the rice fields. The rice is planted in May and harvested in September.
Kuhachiya
This small house, located in a corner of the garden, represents an old sake house of the Edo period. Its name comes from the saying of time which says that the sake is better if the cup is 90% full in the afternoon and 80% full in the evening.
The Inner Garden
Formerly called Uchi No Oniwa, the inner garden contained a small bookshop in its center. Now it is gone but the garden kept its original set-up. This place is not the most popular of the park and I did not see many pictures about it. Nevertheless, it is my crush of the day and without this one there would probably not be any article! Let’s appreciate the beauty of this enchanted place.
Do you have any favorite gardens in Tokyo? Don’t hesitate to share a few photos in comments 🙂
Translated by Domi Ushi.
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Recommended the inner garden, but didn’t show a picture.. How mean ^_-
Oh, there are photos of it 🙂 All the last ones 🙂
Ah, I made a mistake.. You didn’t mean the 内庭, which also means “inner garden”..
I thought, you referred to this one..
https://abload.de/img/img_3687a0qty.jpg
Beautiful photo set Jordy. You captured the garden very well. Some how you manage to capture the place and not the people. I can never seem to do that.
Thank you! You should look for the right time at the right place… and it will work, magically 🙂