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.

In the Ravine

It would be hard to top my day at the beautiful Kyu-Furukawa Gardens, but I found a place the next day that was just as amazing. To do that, I took a train to Todoroki Station in Setagaya.

I walked a little ways through the nice neighborhood there. I might share photos from that later. For now, I was following signs and more to the place I wanted to see. Like this paver featuring the "Gorufu" Golf Bridge. 

 And here is the top of that bridge with lots of luxurious trees.

There was a map of the area and a temperature gauge. For the temperature up there, and down below. 

So was was down below? I had to go down these stone stairs. 

And what was down there was amazing. 

A blue green waterway surrounded by lush greenery. 

While there was stonework and other paving materials for the path, unlike a lot of the rivers in Tokyo, the Yazawa River is allowed breathing space while it flows through the Todoroki Valley. 

There were little waterfalls and over 30 springs feed water into the river. 

So many trees overhead. This place felt a little like a land lost in time. 

The serenity of the valley is not like anything I've experienced in Tokyo. It's a world away from the concrete and crowds. Yet it is not far from all that. 

There were bridges to cross when needed. 

And bridges for roads above to cross the valley. 

The stonework varied along the river. Perhaps changing due to the era each was placed there? 

There were various styles of bridges also. 

Some led to interesting places. I'll share that in another post or two. 

The valley finally tapers off into a neighborhood. 

But since the train station was at the other end, I walked back through the valley. 

 Did I mention ducks were also enjoying this beautiful place?

Back to where I started. But not without a few detours along the way. And a trip afterwards for dinner and more sightseeing. Which I will share in a couple more posts. For now, I can say that the Todoroki Valley is now one of my favorite places in Tokyo. I hope I can return again one day.