Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens, Tokyo
My Dad flew in to visit me on June 29th and stayed for several days. I took him to Tokyo the third day he was here and showed him Akihabara, the huge electronics district, as well as Shibuya crossing, the famous street crossing. He also wanted to see a Japanese garden and so our morning was spent wandering through the lush landscape of Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens. This was my first large Japanese garden experience. Anson and I had previously wandered into another much smaller one in Tokyo before, quite by chance, and so I don't know the name of it. I theroughly enjoyed this garden and want to come back when their repairs are finished and it is in bloom in the springtime.
First, here is a map of the garden:
(Source link)
Following the path from the main gate we went right. The path took us by the large pond and through a wooded area. The paths throughout the garden were an interesting combination of stones, smooth river rocks mixed with cut stone and a variety of colors.
The light that filters through the little leaves is so beautiful.
We saw immediately that the park was undergoing some major repairs. This upper pond was completely drained and they were adding stone to the edges and island to the right.
The Horai island. Inaccessible since there were no bridges leading to it. The back side was also under construction.
A rice paddy and wisteria trellis in the background. Little white butterflies where flitting around from flower to flower.
This ume plum grove I would love to see in springtime. The trees bloom beautiful pink blossoms.
One of my favorite spots. I'm standing on the bridge (below), sounds of water from behind me complete the serenity.
In many of the photos of it on the web it looks red in color but in person it is more orange red.
The ponds where full of fish all mouthing polite requests to be fed. All but a few were a muddy brown color that matched the bottom of the pond. I found this golden creature towards the end of our walk over the Togetsukyo Bridge.
I spotted just two flowers in this last pond but one was much too far away and the other hidden under the huge leaves.
A little tag in katakana labeling a tree. "モチノキ" reads "mochinoki" which is a type of evergreen tree.
And that concludes our adventure. I'll be making a print of the first featured image, so keep an eye out for it in my print shop.
Thanks for reading!