Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Tokyo Area > Rikugien Rikugien（六義園 ） One of the most beautiful gardens in Tokyo, the Rikugien offers a quiet resting and strolling place in the hectic Tokyo life. It is situated in the quiet neighborhood of Komagome and Sugamo (Bunkyo ward), which...Continue Reading
This month we got the amazing opportunity to test one of TokyoTreat’s subscription boxes. Maybe you have already heard of these kind of boxes? If not, let me explain in few words. Over the last years, boxes with treats from Japan became quite popular. Most of them come as subscription...Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Tokyo Area > Kyū-Shiba-Rikyū Teien Kyū-Shiba-Rikyū Teien（旧芝離宮庭園） The Kyū-Shibarikyū garden is a former imperial garden in southern Tokyo. It is a typical pond strolling garden (回遊式泉水庭園) from the Edo period. The land it is built on was reclaimed from the Tokyo bay...Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Tokyo Area > Koishikawa gardens Koishikawa Korakuen（小石川後楽園） The Koishikawa garden, formally called Koishikawa-kōraku-en (小石川後楽園), is a small garden jewel in Tokyo. Well preserved from the Edo period (1603-1868), it is one of the oldest gardens in Tokyo. The daimyo and son of...Continue Reading
Top > Gardens Overview > Famous Gardens > Tokyo Area > Hamarikyū Teien Hamarikyū Teien（浜離宮恩賜庭園） The Hamarikyū garden is a large strolling garden directly next to Tokyo bay. It was built by the shogun Tokugawa in the Edo period (1603-1868). The garden’s ponds are connected to the Tokyo bay so...Continue Reading
The next garden element on my list is the stone lantern. Everyone knows the beautiful withered lanterns made of natural or hewn rocks. Today I want to talk about their origin and use in the Japanese garden. Origin Lanterns weren‘t always a garden element. They were invented in a religious...Continue Reading
The next garden element on my list is the water basin! I guess, the best-known examples for these water basins are the ones in front of Japanese shrines but also the ones in Japanese tea gardens. Both are meant to symbolically purify oneself before entering a special place. To fulfill...Continue Reading
What I always tried to find out was the relationship between the Treasure Ship (takarabune) with the Seven Lucky Gods (shichifukujin), and the Ship Stone (funaishi). Now that I stuck at home, I have time to investigate! Let’s start with a more or less short explanation of these three:...Continue Reading
Since I started working as a gardener in Japan, I saw one frightening trend in exterior design in Tokyo. Today I would like to talk about the slippery slope to concrete — why so many people cover their property with concrete and which problems might arise from this. But first,...Continue Reading
When I first came to Japan, I had very little money and always tried to save some by walking long distances within the city. This was when I found all these different garden styles which I didn’t see during my work as a gardener in Japan. Private gardens can’t usually...Continue Reading
