Day 10 and our last full day in Tokyo before we head off to Nikko for the third segment of our trip. We didn’t realize this during the initial planning of the itinerary, but there is a garden situated beside Tokyo Dome City and thus an easy 5 minute walk from our hotel. We would be also visiting Rikugien garden already on Day 10, but upon seeing the sunny if also chilly weather today, we decided to squeeze in a visit to the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in the morning too after a breakfast at Excelsior Cafe (just opposite Suidobashi Station, and a convenient 3 minute walk from our hotel).
According to the venue’s notes, the garden was originally built by the founder of the Mito branch of the Tokugawa Clan, and was completed during the reign of the second domain lord, Mitsukuni. The style of the garden is traditional Japanese, with ponds and man-made hills centering on the pond. While building the garden, Lord Mitsukuni invited advisors from China, and their input is reflected in the garden too.
Importantly, this garden is not normally visited by tourists, and at the time we visited at 9AM, there was barely perhaps just half a dozen other persons also visiting. Admission fee is 300 yen, while Peter entered for free.
Pictures!
This is by no means the most beautiful garden I’ve seen in the country: I think the Okayama Korakuen still has that distinction, and for sure elegance it’d be the Adachi Museum of Art – I visited these two in 2019 and just recently in September this year respectively. But importantly, the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden is uncrowded and not along the path of most international visitors. So, if you’re in the vicinity, it’d be worth a look!
Continued in the next post: our visit to Rikugien garden!