Todoroki's Japanese Garden and Yazawa River

Since my last visit to Todoroki Valley was in autumn, I decided to walk through the Japanese Garden again. This time it was spring so the views would be different. 

The garden is mostly on slopes of the gorge so there are more steps through the pleasant greenery. 

This time I really enjoyed walking through the tall bamboo. Different from walking under tall pine trees, but just as nice. The sounds of the wind through the bamboo was wonderful.

Besides being a very nice strolling garden, the Todoroki Japanese Garden is a working garden with orange trees and other fruit and vegetables. It was originally designed in 1973. 

Since I wrote about this garden and the shrine to Buddhist Priest Kobo Daishi before, I will just share a photo of the chobubashi with camellias floating in it. 

Back out onto the walkway along the Yazawa River. 

At times, I felt like I was the only one here. Having the gorge all to myself, the feeling was of timelessness. To have all this space with the river and greenery, it was amazing.

The view from under the Tamazawa Bridge. 

The work on the promenades and riverbank protection was done between 1933 and 1936.

The use of river rock does make the walkways feel integrated with the valley and river. 

Golf Bridge is in sight. 

One last look before heading out of the gorge. 

A Garden at Todoroki Valley

Having reached the end of the Todoroki Valley, I began walking back to the train station. But first there was one more thing to see. These tall bamboo behind this wall were an indication of what I wanted to see. 

The wall led to the entrance of 日本庭園等々力, Todoroki Japanese Garden.  

The entrance led to many steps up what is the side of the valley. 

 But it wasn't a bad walk up. Especially with all the trees dressed in their autumn colors.

 This garden is a great place for an autumn walk in Tokyo.

There were other plants there. Like this Ardisia Crenata or Coral Bush.

And the amazingly tall bamboo. The light filtering down through the bamboo was very pretty.

 There were Japanese features, like these 灯籠, stone lanterns, next to a stream.

I would guess that the water in the garden comes from one or more of the springs that feed into Todoroki Valley and the river. 

Because they also grow 山葵, wasabi there, and wasabi needs good water to grow. 

It is a working garden also, with the wasabi and this citrus orchard. 

 There is also a shrine there, 稚児大師御影堂, Chigo Daishi Mieido. The statue is of Buddhist Priest Kobo Daishi, who is believed to have invented Japanese kana and also explored the valley below after having a vision. When he did, he discovered the springs there.

Having seen a bit of the garden I headed back to Golf Bridge and the stairs out of the ravine. It was a really beautiful place to spend the afternoon. But my day wasn't over yet.