RIKUGI-EN

Description

Essentials about Rikugi-en in brief

Together with Koishikawa Kōrakuen, Rikugi-en (Rikugi Park) is the most important and probably the most beautiful landscape garden in Tokyo. The garden was created around 1700 for the fifth Tokugawa Shogun. Directly translated, its name means “Garden of Six Poems”, which is why the park also depicts 88 scenes from famous poems in miniatures. Rikugi-en is one of the finest examples of an Edo period terraced garden with a large pond in the center surrounded by man-made hills and small woods through which a network of paths runs.

The history of Rikugi-en

Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, a close confidant of the fifth Shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, received a gift of land from the latter in 1695 on the northern edge of Edo, on which he established a secondary residence and, by 1702, a changing garden. Its name refers to the six principles of Chinese poetry. These six principles were adopted by Japan and adapted to waka poetry. Yanagisawa studied them and recorded his views in the “Rikugien no ki”. At his request, court nobles in Kyoto composed 12 waka on specific places in the garden.

After Yanagisawa’s death, the garden fell into disrepair. At the beginning of the Meiji period, the property was acquired by Mitsubishi founder Iwasaki Yatarō, who had the garden restored and surrounded with a high brick wall typical of the period. In 1938, the Iwasaki family donated the garden to the city.

The grounds of Rikugi-en

The park was designed as a miniature landscape with heaped-up hills and bodies of water. 88 particularly beautiful places in the park have been given names that refer to places in Japan, China, places in songs or simply to ancient times.

In the large pond in the middle of the park is the usual “inner island”, which can be reached via a bridge. On the island there are two mounds called “Imoyama” and “Seyama” which symbolize man and woman as a couple. Furthermore, there is a small “Island of Bliss” (“Hōraijima”) in the pond. A “Floating Turtle Bridge” (“kame-ukihashi”), consisting of humpbacked islands, leads to it. A “stretching dragon” (“Garyū seki”) can also be seen in the pond. The shore of the pond is varied with “tidal harbor” (“Deshio no minato”), “seagrass shore” (“Tamamo no iso”) and “spring shore” (“Fukiage hama”).

The highest elevation in the garden is the “Wisteria Pass” (“Fujishiro tōge”). The narrow, winding “spider path” (“Sasakani no michi”) leads up to it. In the southwest part of the park, stones are placed in a water-bearing ditch, the “Mizuwake ishi”. There is also the “plover bridge” (“Chidori-bashi”).

Rikugi-en is spacious, so you should allow a good hour for a walk along all the paths of the park. Along the trails there are also several tea houses, where you can take a break with a pot of tea.

Rikugi-en is especially beautiful in autumn, when the leaves of the hundreds and hundreds of maple trees begin to change color. Particularly good vantage points to view the park in all its glory are the river at Tsutsuji-chaya teahouse, Togetsukyo Bridge and Fujishirotoge viewpoint. But Rikugi-en is also well worth a walk in spring, when the many flowers, especially the azaleas, and the Shidare cherry trees begin to bloom.