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.

Walking through Rikugien

I couldn't help but start my posts about Rikugien Garden with that glorious weeping sakura tree. However, there are many beautiful trees in the garden.

Rikugien garden is about 320 years old, which has given the trees there a lot of time to grow. Of course some have been replaced, but some trees are likely to date from the time the garden was created.

Built from 1695 to 1702, Rikugien was designed as an Edo period daimiyo's strolling garden. There was originally a home there, and various buildings and tea houses have been added over the years.

The name Rikugien comes from the name for Chinese poetry, which is also how Japanese Waka poetry is constructed. 

Riku is six in Chinese, and the poetry is divided into six catagories. The name Rikugi-en means the garden of six elements. 

In total, there are 88 scenic spots throughout the garden, that reference these poems, places in Japan and historical moments.

Like many Japanese strolling gardens, there is a large pond. It is a salt water pond that water flows to from Tokyo Bay. There is a sluice gate that is used to keep the water in the pond at the same level as the tide changes.

In the pond there is an island, Naka-no-shima.

Another scenic view is the Horai-jima, the arched rocks.

Walking clockwise from the main gate I reached the Taikimi Chaya teahouse, which means waterfall viewing. It is a lovely place to sit and rest.

Back in 1878 the founder of Mitsubishi, Iwasaki Yataro, bought the garden. It had been neglected, so he began to have it restored. The current garden is one third of the size of the original. 

I reached Fukiage-chaya, the only tea house that was open and selling food. Other places in the garden were closed because of the virus. One of the treats was "Cherry blossoms monaca". Monaka are crispy mochi waffers with azuki bean jam or other filling.

Unlike most of the garden, there were a lot of people here. So I bought a bag of monaka and just spent a little time admiring the sakura trees, but not sitting and eating.

These beautiful sakura trees and the garden were donated to Tokyo City in 1938.

A less crowded space was the walk along Zenkei no Nagare, a river in the garden that flows into the pond.

Along the way is the Tsutsuji Chaya. The location is a place to view the flowering azalea that cover the hill. It was a little early in the year so they weren't blooming yet.

In some ways, the river reminded me of a moat. 

It is a long walk along the river, and there is still more to see. So I will have one more post about Rikugien. Because it was worth visiting during the daytime.

A Breath of Springtime at Rikugien Garden

March 26th, it was time for some serious sakura viewing. So off I went. On the way I passed by ろぜしろ道り, which translates to Rosé White Street. 

My destination however, was one of the best known for sakura gardens in Tokyo. 

Besides that, 六義園, Garden in Bunkyo is famous for being one of the most beautiful Edo style strolling gardens, with lush trees and sparkling water features.

In 2018 I had visited Rikugien at night because they light up the sakura trees. 

It was extremely crowded. Because of the virus, the garden was not holding the night time viewings. So I did not know how crowded it would be during the day. If it was bad, I planned on not staying. 

Thankfully the garden was very uncrowded. Even around the beautiful weeping sakura tree. And almost everyone was wearing a mask. It made my time in the garden relaxing and enjoyable.

And what a beautiful tree it is.

I looked forward to seeing the rest of the garden, since I had only been there before at night, and much was hidden in the dark. I hope to share a bit of this lovely place in my next post.