Korakuen Garden (Okayama)
Korakuen Garden was built in 1700 (Edo period) by Tsunamasa Ikeda, a feudal lord of Okayama. It spreads in 144,000 square meters, and more than 10 historical houses are located. It has retained its original appearance since Edo period. There are a variety of flowers in all seasons such as cherry blossom, iris, autumn foliage, plum and so on.
Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden
With 58.3 hectare in size and a circumference of 3.5 km, Shinjuku Gyoen blends three distinct styles such as French Formal Garden, English Landscape Garden, and Japanese Traditional Garden. So, you can enjoy not only Japanese traditional garden style, but also Western ones.
Because there are many kinds of trees and plants in Shinjuku Gyoen, you can see beautiful scenery anytime. In my opinion, the best season of this garden is spring. Although Japan is famous for cherry blossoms in the spring season, they only bloom for a short while. However, you can enjoy cherry blossoms for a long time at Shinjuku Gyoen (from mid-February to the end of April) because there are 65 species of cherry blossoms.
Kiyosumi Gardens
Designed in “Kaiyu-style” to facilitate wandering around, Kiyosumi Gardens is also very characteristic of Japanese traditional gardens from the Edo Period. Although Japan also has another type of traditional garden, people began to build more Kaiyu-style gardens from Edo Period onwards. Like other Kaiyu-style gardens, Kiyosumi Gardens has a big pond in the center of it, and you can enjoy this pond walking along the paths that snake around it.
In this garden, you can also walk on the rocks around the pond. These rocks are called “Iso Watari”. Walking on the rocks gives you a different view from the paths, and more surprisingly, these rocks are located carefully so that the scenery you can see changes at every step. Although it is absolutely exciting and enjoyable to try Iso Watari, be careful not to fall into the pond.
Rikugien Gardens
Rikugien Gardens was made in 1695 by a feudal lord named Yoshiyasu Yanagisawa. He was deeply passionate about literature, so this garden was created based on the theme of “Waka” poetry. It is said that this garden is characteristic of the famous gardens of Edo Period.
Rikugien contains more than thirty thousand trees and a myriad of beautiful plants. In the autumn season, you can enjoy brightly-colored red and yellow fall foliage, which are beautifully illuminated at night. This garden is also famous for hydrangea in the rainy season in June.
Similar to other Japanese traditional gardens, Rikugien has a historical building that is used as a Chaya, which means traditional teahouse in Japanese. After walking around the garden, you can take a rest and view the beautiful pond while drinking hot Matcha and eating Wagashi (Japanese traditional dessert).