Koishikawa Korakuen: Tokyo's Oldest Garden

Tokugawa Yorifusa started the garden. He was the eleventh son of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the first lord of the Mito Domain, one of the three senior Tokugawa branch families (the Gosanke) that supplied heirs when the main line needed one. A garden built by a man of that rank in the shogun's capital was meant to be seen as one.

His son Tokugawa Mitsukuni finished it and gave it its character. Generations of Japanese schoolchildren know Mitsukuni as Mito Komon, the wandering magistrate. He was as much a scholar as a lord. He commissioned the huge historical compilation Dai Nihon-shi (Great History of Japan), supported Confucian learning, and invited Zhu Shunshui, an exiled Ming dynasty Chinese scholar, to serve at his domain in Mito and later to advise on the garden's design.

You can still see what Zhu Shunshui added. He brought in Chinese garden ideas, like the Full Moon Bridge and a version of Hangzhou's West Lake, and the mix of Japanese and Chinese landscape traditions is what gives the garden its look. Even the name comes from him. 後楽 (kōraku) is taken from the Chinese maxim "the wise man is the last to enjoy pleasures and the first to bear hardships", a line from the Song dynasty statesman Fan Zhongyan's well-known essay "On Yueyang Tower" about leaders putting the public first. Mitsukuni named the garden after that ideal.

Koishikawa Korakuen is a kaiyū-shiki-teien (回遊式庭園), a strolling garden. It's meant to be walked: the view changes with each step along the path, and there's no one spot where you see it all. Other traditions work differently. The "borrowed scenery" gardens (shakkei-teien) frame a view in the distance, and dry stone gardens (karesansui) are meant to be contemplated from one fixed place.

The garden is laid out around several connected, spring-fed ponds, with hills on the western and northern sides. The ground varies enough to hold small versions of several famous landscapes. Japanese gardens of the period often did this, treating the garden as a compact copy of the known world's famous scenery.

Engetsu-kyō (円月橋, Full Moon Bridge). This stone arch near the center of the garden is a perfect semicircle, and its reflection in the water completes the full circle the name promises. Zhu Shunshui is credited with the design, which brought the Chinese method of semicircular stone arches into a Japanese garden. It's one of the most photographed spots here and one of the most plainly Chinese.

Seiko no Tsutsumi (西湖の堤, West Lake Causeway). The long earth embankment across part of the central pond copies the Su Causeway at West Lake (Xihu) in Hangzhou, a landscape Chinese painters and writers have celebrated for centuries. Mitsukuni put a Japanese version of it inside his own walls.

Tsūten-kyō (通天橋, Bridge to Heaven). The red lacquered bridge in the northern part of the garden is modeled on the Tsūten-kyō bridge at Tōfukuji Temple in Kyoto, which is famous for the maples that cover it in November. Japanese maples surround the copy here too, and in autumn foliage season it's the busiest spot in the garden.

The Rice Paddy. In the southwest corner, garden staff plant a small rice paddy each spring and harvest it in autumn, and it really does grow rice. Farmland in a lord's garden was a deliberate choice that fits the name. The Confucian ideal in 後楽 puts the welfare of ordinary people first, and planting rice, the base of Japanese farming, in an aristocrat's garden tied the lord to that. Planting is in late spring (early June) and harvest in autumn (late September or October). When the stalks are green and the water shines between the rows, it's one of the strangest and most memorable views in the garden.

The Tōtōmi-zaka (遠江坂). A small hill in the western part, planted with plum trees, stands in for the landscape of Tōtōmi Province (modern Shizuoka Prefecture), another piece of geographic miniaturization. Its plums are among the first in the garden to bloom, usually from late January into mid-February, before spring has started anywhere else in Tokyo.

The garden has clear seasons, and knowing them tells you when a visit pays off.

Plum (January to February): The Tōtōmi-zaka plum grove and a second group of plums near the west entrance bloom from late January through February. Few people know about plum season here, so the crowds stay small while Shinjuku Gyoen and Ueno are still bare.

Cherry (late March to early April): The cherry trees are thickest around the central pond and the causeway. With water reflections, stone bridges, and old pines behind them, the photos come out far more interesting than shots on a park lawn. Peak bloom gets busy, though less so than other well-known spots.

Iris and Wisteria (May): Irises bloom around the ponds in late May, and a small wisteria trellis near the center flowers at the same time. Fewer people come for these.

Lotus (July to August): Lotus covers parts of the pond through July and August. Summer heat doesn't flatter the garden, but early morning is pleasant before the humidity builds, and the gate opens at 9:00 AM.

Autumn Maple (late October to late November): This is the peak. The maples around the Tsūten-kyō bridge turn deep red and orange from late October through November, usually at their best in early to mid-November. The red bridge, the leaves, and the dark water under them are the picture everyone associates with Koishikawa Korakuen. Come on a weekday if you can.

Winter (December to February): In winter the branches are bare and the garden is quiet, and with the leaves gone you see the stonework best. When snow does fall on Tokyo, it settles on the old stones and the pines, and an early-morning visit is worth it.

Iidabashi Station (JR Sobu Line, Tokyo Metro Tōzai/Yūrakuchō/Namboku Lines): West Exit, 8 minute walk along the park approach.

Kōrakuen Station (Tokyo Metro Marunouchi/Namboku Lines): Exit 3, 8 minute walk.

Suidobashi Station (JR Chūō Line): 6 minute walk to the east gate. It's the quicker way in from the JR network, though the western entrance from Iidabashi is the traditional main gate.

Primary school children and younger get in free. The entrance takes major credit cards.

Tokyo Dome, right next door, brings a lot of people into the area for its restaurants, shops, and the Prism Hall entertainment complex. On event days (baseball games, concerts) the streets outside the garden get packed. Step inside and it goes quiet straight away. The walls and the drop in level (the garden sits a little below the street) block most of the noise, and it takes about 30 seconds after the gate for the stadium sound to fade.

The garden opens at 9:00 AM, before most Tokyo Dome events start, so a 90-minute visit in the morning gets you out before the big crowds show up.

Koishikawa + Iidabashi: Kagurazaka, the canal-side district by Iidabashi, has excellent cafés and restaurants and is 10 minutes north on foot. The garden plus a slow lunch in Kagurazaka is an easy central Tokyo half-day, with a walk through the old streets in between.

Koishikawa + Nezu Shrine: Both are in Bunkyo Ward and linked by the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line. Tokyo's oldest garden and the best intact Edo-period shrine complex fit together as a historical morning. Each has water, old trees, and buildings that survived when most of their contemporaries didn't.

Koishikawa + Yanaka: Yanaka is about 40 minutes on foot or a short train ride from the garden's east entrance. It pairs the garden's planned, historic landscape with Yanaka's lived-in old-town streets.

If you want the history behind the garden, from the Confucian idea in its name to the political weight of the Mito domain and Zhu Shunshui's influence on Japanese thought, Timeless Tokyo goes into that kind of cultural history. Infinite Tokyo lets you build any custom day around gardens and culture in central Tokyo.

Is Koishikawa Korakuen the same as Korakuen (the amusement park)?

No. Korakuen Amusement Park (後楽園遊園地, now called Tokyo Dome City Attractions) is a separate place next to Tokyo Dome. Koishikawa Korakuen (小石川後楽園) is the historic garden. People mix them up because of the shared name and because both are by the same station. The garden entrance is clearly signed: look for the stone gate and the green signs on the south side of the Tokyo Dome complex.

When is the best time to visit?

Autumn (late October through mid-November) for the maples around the Tsūten-kyō bridge. Late January through February for the early plum blossom, one of the quietest and loveliest times in the garden. Cherry season in late March and early April is beautiful but busier, and any season is worth a visit.

How long does a visit take?

Sixty to 90 minutes gets you around at a relaxed pace. A strolling garden works best slowly, because the views come one by one along the path. Add 30 minutes to sit somewhere and take it in, which is what the garden was built for.

Can I visit Koishikawa Korakuen and Tokyo Dome on the same day?

Yes. The garden and the Tokyo Dome City complex are on the same city block. A morning in the garden and lunch at one of the Dome complex restaurants works well. Stadium tours and the amusement park need their own tickets. If there's a baseball game that day, do the garden in the morning before the pre-game crowd gathers around the stadium.