More of Mejiro Teien

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.

Mejiro Teien

I did not expect the Japanese garden in Ikebukuro to be open. So I was very surprised when the gate, Nagayamon, was open. So I was finally able to enjoy Mejiro Teien, also known as Mejiro Garden. 

Upon entering through the white plastered gate, the first sight was this amazing weeping sakura tree.

Not just amazing in it's size, but the placement was perfect. 

A really wonderful way to accent the views of this garden with it's large pond. 

Even in the cold, with the grey sky, the garden was beautiful. 

Flowers were beginning to bloom while there were patches of snow all about. It was like experiencing winter and spring at the same time. 

Mejiro Teien is a Japanese strolling garden with a path that circles the large pond. So I walked along that, taking in the various views along the way. 

One portion has stone steps going up a hill. The feeling was like walking up a mountain trail. 

Across the way was a hexagonal gazebo where a couple in traditional Japanese outfits were having their photos taken. 

Up on the hill were a number of sculpted black pine trees, giving the image of trees shaped over time by blowing winds. 

 I finally reached the point of the path where the stone "beach" was. Water was flowing over stones next to it.

 The image was a mountain stream flowing into the pond.

With water that flowed from a waterfall.

The views at this point were so beautiful. 

Even larger pine trees here. The feeling was of a forest. 

With that lovely waterfall.

I will have a bit more about the garden in my next post. Because even though this garden is small, there is so much to see.

One Last Look at Rikugien

Did I mention that Rikugien has a lot of old trees? And some are sakura trees? They do. 

Rikugien also has many amazing views. Because it was created that way. 

Even though the water flowing through the river into the pond is salt-water, there are fish swimming there. 

With the flowing waterways, there are a number of elegant bridges.  This is Yamakage Bashi. The walk there is called Sasa-no-michi which means Cobweb Way.

 The river is Zenkei no Nagare, Mountain Stream. 

 And hidden in the leaves are beautiful little tea houses, placed to give the best views of Rikugien.

It really did feel like walking along a mountain stream flowing through a forest. Very relaxing and calm feeling. 

Up on Tsukiyama the view was gorgeous. You can see how spare crowds were, even before Tokyo shut the gardens. I hope they will reopen, perhaps just limiting the number of people who can go in. It was a welcome relief to visit here.

I tried out my iPhone's panoramic camera. I think it turned out okay. 

Meanwhile back on lower ground, I headed towards Naka-no-Shima, the island in the pond. 

Two large stones make up Togetsukyo bridge. The name comes from a Waka poem about viewing the moon moving across the sky. Yes it is the focal point of one of the 88 views. 

There was a guard rushing people across the bridge, but I still had to take a photo of Daisensui pond with Naka-no-Shima in the middle, while I was crossing.

It is amazing the variety of views that can be found in Rikugien. 

No question that they achieved creating 88 beautiful views. 

Rikugien is definitely one of the best Japanese strolling gardens that I have visited. I'm glad I went during the day. It was a beautiful walk that uplifted my feelings during this time.