Continuing with my springtime walk around Mejiro Teien.
Which was also snowy. Mejiro Teien was designed in 1990 by Kunie Ito, in the style of a traditional Japanese walking garden. The main feature is the large pond that is surrounded by small landscapes which are viewed while people walk the circular path around the pond.
One of the architectural features is the hexagonal viewing pavilion that is suspended above the pond. There is a Mashiko ware piece at the top of the roof that has an image of a red bird. The red bird, akai tori, is a reference to a children's literature magazine, 赤い鳥.
The pond has many koi in it. Even in the cold weather they swam in the water that flowed into the pond from the four meter high waterfall. The pond is about 500 square meters and about 1.2 meters deep.
Continuing my walk I reached this very tall stone pagoda.
One of those many small landscape views and it was gorgeous. Thanks to the cloudy sky it made visibility of the pond clear and reflective.
The other reference to Akai Tori is the the tea hall, Akatori-an. It is also dated from 1990. The sukiya style building's architect was Toru Ozeki. The name also comes from the magazine, which was founded by writer Miekichi Suzuki in 1918. It sits on a stone wall next to the pond and the wooden tiled roof has Kitayama cedar from Kyoto. People are allowed to rent the building for events, tea ceremonies, photos and filming.
Near the pavilion there is another sakura tree.
Reaching the pavilion, I carefully sat for a few minutes, taking in the beautiful views while the snow slid off the roof.
After spending a bit of time in the garden, it was time to leave. Did I mention it was cold?
I could not resist taking a few more minutes enjoying this tree.
I imagine it looks glorious when the sky is blue. I would love to see this.
A pair of eastern spot-billed ducks arrived to enjoy the water.
One last photo from the garden.
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