Rikugien, traditional Japanese garden with mountain view in the middle of Tokyo

Prison? No, It’s a traditional Japanese garden

Around this garden, lots of modern buildings are very crowded with concrete building. You cannot imagine there are nature garden near here.

In such a crowded building place, there is something surrounded by tall wall like a prison.

Please compare garden wall and actual prison wall.

 

If you see this garden from sky, this place is quadrangle. And this qualdrangle area is green.

 

This quadrangle prison wall place is one of the biggest & historic Japanese traditional garden places.

 

Before you enter this garden, you are in the modern buildings, but after you enter this garden, you feel like coming to hiking in natural field.

 

If you are walking in this garden, you forget you are in the center of Tokyo.

It’s a really amazing experience.

 

Designed for poet.

This place is famous as the Waka Poetry Garden, Old Japanese style poem poetry garden.

Because this landscape is designed based on the famous 88 scenenary in Japanese old poem.

It means each tree, rock, trail, hump, slope, pond are carefully arranged and trimmed and maintained by first class landscape gardeners.

 

To reproduce such original scene, they make even mountain in this area.

In the middle of Tokyo, you can enjoy Mountain View surrounded natural field.

 

 

Tea rooms

Interestingly, in the garden, there are several traditional tea room that is old Japanese wooden house. This is Japanese traditional tea room (Chaya).

And you can experience Japanese old style tea ceremony there.

A tea house or tea room is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. Although its function varies widely depending on the culture, tea houses often serve as centers of social interaction. Some cultures have a variety of distinct tea-centered houses or parlors that all qualify under the English language term “tea house” or “tea room.”

 

 

These tea room is bit formal place. but there are more casual rest place or lots of bench.

So you can sit down at your favorite spot and enjoy the Japanese garden.

 

 

summerise

In this garden, you can enjoy lots of Japanese traditional poetry natural landscape. And experience tea ceremony even though it’s in central Tokyo.

 

 

 

If you want to know Japanese old traditional garden art, this will be good place for you.

But if you have no interesting in nature, you feel like being in prison, really.

Basic data

Location: 6-16-3 Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku 113-0021
Contact Information: Rikugien Gardens Administration Office tel: 03-3941-2222
Transport: 7-minute walk from Komagome (JR Yamanote line, Nanboku line). 10-minute walk from Sengoku (Mita line).
Closed: December 29 to January 1
Open: 9 am to 4:30 pm (gates close at 5 pm)
Admission:  General: 300 yen, Seniors 65 and older: 150 yen (Primary school and younger children / Jr. high school students living or studying in Tokyo: Free)
Free days: Greenery Day (May 4), Tokyo Citizens Day (October 1)

[wps_gmap address=”35.733370, 139.746514″]

About Night time light up Rikugien in Spring

Please check night time Rikugien in Spring too