is an urban garden located in

Sumida, Tokyo is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Sumida City. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 257,300, and a population density of 18,690 persons per k ...

. The garden was created by a merchant, and is different from ''

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, and therefore it not a "traditional

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 ...

" in the proper sense of the term. It is the only surviving

flower garden A flower garden or floral garden is any garden or part of a garden where plants that flower are grown and displayed. This normally refers mostly to herbaceous plants, rather than flowering woody plants, which dominate in the shrubbery and ...

from the

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 ...

. ''Mukōjima'' comes from the region's old name, ''Hyakkaen'' was chosen to mean "a garden with a hundred flowers that bloom throughout the four seasons". The garden covers an area of about 10,886 m².

History

In 1804, Sahara Kikū, a native of

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of the i ...

and a wealthy dealer in antiques purchased land near the Sumida River called the "Taga Yashiki" and planted 360 ''

ume ''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, long ...

'' trees given by his friends such as

Ōta Nanpo was the most oft-used penname of Ōta Tan, a late Edo-period Japanese poet and fiction writer. Ōta Nanpo wrote primarily in the comedic forms of '' kyōshi'', derived from comic Chinese verse, and '' kyōka'', derived from '' waka'' poetry. Ōta ...

and Shibutsu Ōkubo in emulation of the famous "umeyashi" plum gardens at Kameido.The garden was initially called the "Shin-Umeyashiki" or the "Hanayashiki", and was named the "Hyakkaen" in 1806. Sahara established a

literary salon A salon is a gathering of people held by an inspiring host. During the gathering they amuse one another and increase their knowledge through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "ei ...

, inviting poets and painters to his garden, which evolved between 1804 through 1830 to include collections of flora found in the ancient Japanese poetry such as the '' Man'yōshū'' and in the Chinese ''

Shi Jing The ''Classic of Poetry'', also ''Shijing'' or ''Shih-ching'', translated variously as the ''Book of Songs'', ''Book of Odes'', or simply known as the ''Odes'' or ''Poetry'' (; ''Shī''), is the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, co ...

'' to provide inspiration. The gardens also included ponds, pathways and various rustic buildings. This was a reflection of the emergence of the bourgeoisie in Edo as a strong social class, and its attempt to improve its social standing by the patronage and cultivation of various ''bunjin'' — writers and artists with literary tastes. Over thirty stone monuments were erected in various locations around the gardens, inscribed with poems produced by members of this literary cortiere. However, with the rapid industrialization of the area following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

and the growing pollution of the water supply to the garden, it gradually fell into disrepair. The garden suffered extensive damage when it was inundated during the Great Sumida River Flood of 1910. In 1938, in order to preserve the garden for posterity, the owner donated it to

Tokyo City was a municipality in Japan and part of Tokyo-fu which existed from 1 May 1889 until its merger with its prefecture on 1 July 1943. The historical boundaries of Tokyo City are now occupied by the Special Wards of Tokyo. The new merged gove ...

and it was officially opened to the general public as an admission-charged garden in 1939. The garden burned down in the Great Tokyo Air Raid in 1945 and was considered a total loss. Plans were considered to convert the site into a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

stadium. However, the garden was restored in 1949. In 1978, it was designated as a National Place of Scenic Beauty and also a National Historic Site under the terms of the Cultural Assets Preservation Law. The garden is an 8-minute walk from Higashi-Mukōjima Station on

Tobu Isesaki Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by the private railway company Tobu Railway, extending from Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen Station in Saitama to Isesaki Station in Gunma Prefecture. The Isesaki Line can refer to the entire section between Asakus ...

, or a 13-minutes walk from Keisei Hikifune Station on

Keisei Line {{Infobox rail line , name = Keisei Main Line , native_name = 京成本線 , native_name_lang = ja , color = 005aaa , logo = {{KSLS, KS, 50 , logo_width = , image = Keisei-Series3000-3042.jpg , image_width = 3 ...

Gallery

File:Mukujima hyakkaen - entrance-winter2014.jpg, Entrance File:Mukojima2.jpg, Pond File:Mukojima3.jpg, Well File:Mukojima6.jpg, Japanese calligraphy File:Mukojima5.jpg, Zig-zag bridge

References

External links

Official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukojima-Hyakkaen Garden Gardens in Tokyo Sumida, Tokyo Places of Scenic Beauty Historic Sites of Japan 1804 establishments in Japan

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links