Engetsu-kyo Bridge in Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens

Tsutenkyo - Koishikawa Korakuen - DSC09300

The is a large

urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

in the

Koishikawa is a district of Bunkyo, Tokyo. It consists of five sub-areas, . In Koishikawa are located two well regarded gardens: the Koishikawa Botanical Garden (operated by the University of Tokyo) in Hakusan, and the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in Kō ...

neighborhood of Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. The

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desi ...

dates from the early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

. and is one of three surviving ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' gardens of the many that were created during that period, the others being the Rikugi-en and the Hama Rikyū gardens.

History

The Koishikawa-Kōrakuen was constructed in 1629 by

Tokugawa Yorifusa , also known as Mito Yorifusa, was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Biography Known in his childhood as Tsuruchiyomaru (鶴千代丸), he was the eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun with his concubine, Ka ...

, the 11th son of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

and ''

'' of

Mito Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Hitachi Province in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.Tokugawa Mitsukuni , also known as , was a Japanese daimyo who was known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. He was the third son of Tokugawa Yorifusa (who in turn was the eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu) and succeeded him, becoming the sec ...

who named it "Korakuen" with the advice of the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

scholar Zhu Zhiyu and inspired by descriptions of

Yueyang Tower Yueyang Tower () is an ancient Chinese tower in Yueyang, Hunan Province, on the shore of Lake Dongting. Alongside the Pavilion of Prince Teng and Yellow Crane Tower, it is one of the Three Great Towers of Jiangnan. Yueyang Tower became famous ...

in Chinese literature and poetry. This is the same inspiration for the

Kōraku-en is a Japanese garden located in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture. It is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, along with Kenroku-en and Kairaku-en. Korakuen was built in 1700 by Ikeda Tsunamasa, lord of Okayama. The garden reached its modern ...

garden in Okayama after which the Koishikawa garden is named. The gardens cover an area of more than 70,000 square meters and are planted with

plum blossoms ''Prunus mume'' is an East Asian and Southeast Asian tree species classified in the ''Armeniaca'' section of the genus ''Prunus'' subgenus ''Prunus''. Its common names include Chinese plum, Japanese plum, and Japanese apricot. The flower, lon ...

cherry blossoms A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generall ...

, azaleas, irises, and other flowering plants, and contain ponds and monumental stones. The gardens were the property of the Mito Tokugawa until 1869, when the final ''daimyō'' of Mito,

Tokugawa Akitake was a younger half-brother of the Japanese Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu and final daimyō of Mito Domain. He represented the Tokugawa shogunate at the courts of several European powers during the final days of Bakumatsu period Japan. Biography ...

surrendered the property, together with his mansion, to the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

. The new government assigned the property to the

Ministry of the Army The , also known as the Ministry of War, was the cabinet-level ministry in the Empire of Japan charged with the administrative affairs of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). It existed from 1872 to 1945. History The Army Ministry was created in ...

, who constructed an artillery factory on a portion of its grounds. However, much of the garden was preserved, and Emperor Meiji and other high officials used the garden as a reception area for foreign dignitaries. In 1923, it was designated as a National Historic Site and also as a Place of Scenic Beauty with the designations promoted to "Special National Historic Site" and "Special Place of Scenic Beauty in 1952". It was also renamed Koishikawa Kōrakuen to distinguish it from the Okayama Kōrakuen the same year. A

baseball stadium A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

was constructed in 1937 on the site of the former Tokyo Artillery Factory for the main purpose of

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

, and was the main baseball stadium in Tokyo until the construction of the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of th ...

. An amusement park (Korakuen Yuenchi) and a multipurpose hall ( Korakuen Hall) were also constructed within the grounds.

Gallery

File:Autumn colours of leaves at Koishikawa Kourakuen IMG 3863.jpg, Autumn colours of leaves at Koishikawa-Kōrakuen File:Autumn colours of leaves at Koishikawa Kourakuen IMG 3870.jpg, Autumn colours of Daisensui (big pond) File:Koshikawa Kourakuen Sakura.JPG, Spring in the park File:Koshikawa Korakuen - scenes - 2021 11 12.ogg, thumbtime=1, Scenes from inside the park, 2021 File:Koishikawa Korakuen (2008.09).JPG File:Koishikawa Korakuen - Benzai-Tenno-Miya.jpg File:Shiraito Wasserfal.jpg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koishikawa-Korakuen Bunkyō Gardens in Tokyo Special Places of Scenic Beauty Special Historic Sites 1629 establishments in Japan

History

Gallery

See also

References