Asia

[Visited: February 2024]

After getting off at Komagome subway station, it is a short walk to the northeastern corner of Rikugi-en garden. The entrance on that corner is closed, so I walk along the east side to the main entrance on the south. I read some background information about the garden and its history. In 1702, the samurai Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu designed the garden, dug a pond and built a hill here. It is a good example of Daimyo gardens famous from the Edo period. However, the gardens degraded after his death. The founder of Mitsubishi bought the garden in the 19th century, and restored it. They were donated to the city of Tokyo in the late 1930s, at roughly one third of the original size. It is still guided by the six elements of waka poetry, the traditional six categories of Chinese poetry.
The park is now very well maintained, and still revolves around the Japanese principle of beauty. In fact, it was designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty in 1953. The park consists of 88 miniature versions of scenes from famous poems. The first thing I see is a huge cherry tree, but it is still winter and the tree is barren. I start my tour of Rikugi-en in a clockwise direction. I immediately see the central pond of the garden, and several islets in it. I walk past various types of trees, and explanatory boards telling me more about one of the 88 scenes of poetry. It is an educative visit. I see the small islet of Horai-jima, where according to legend lives an immortal wise man. This kind of islet is included in Japanese gardens to desire eternal youth and immortality. Rikugi-en garden really has all kinds of landscapes crammed in a relatively small space in the middle of a metropolis.
I arrive at a creek, and when I follow the stepping stones upstream, I arrive at a small waterfall at Takimi-chaya. A pergola has been built here, allowing visitors to sit down and enjoy the peaceful and relaxing sound of water running down rocks. Continuing my exploration, I walk past stone stelae - there once were 88, but nowadays, only 32 remain. I walk through forest on gravel paths, and come to a small restaurant on the pond. Walking towards the main islet in the pond, I am ready to climb the highest hill of the park: Fujishiro-toge. Yes, named after the famous mountain, whose summit is supposedly visible from the top. At some 35 metres, the hill gives you great views over Rikugi-en garden and pond. I walk down on the backside of the hill, cross another bridge, and enter a somewhat wilder section of the park. I walk past the bridge to the little islet of Nakanoshima, but unfortunately the bridge is closed for visitors. I find tall bamboo at the end of the trail, and then arrive at the cherry tree once more. It has been a nice visit, and I decide to come back in another season, which will surely give me a different feel of the park - and surely more people.

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Rikugi-en Garden > Japan > Asia

[Visited: February 2024]

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