With twelve years of professional landscaping experience under her belt, Anika Ogusu is your perfect guide to the world of Japanese gardens. Her love of nature began early, in the woods near her childhood home and the garden of her grandmother’s house. During her teenage years she developed a strong interest in Japanese culture, and after university she decided to […]
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What comes to mind when you think of Japan? Is it the skyscrapers and blinking lights of central Tokyo? Or is it the simple beauty of a moss-covered stone lantern beside a red maple tree? What amazes visitors to Japan is that these two very different views can exist side-by-side. Tokyo is a paradise for Japanese garden fans, but to […]
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If you are planning to travel outside of Tokyo and would like to take a tour through gardens in other areas of Japan, we can make it happen. Our guide can travel to meet you at a garden of your choice in Japan, so long as it is reachable within one day (Kyoto, Hamamatsu, or Hakone, for example) from Tokyo. […]
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What are power spots, you may ask? We all know of England’s Stonehenge, the great Egyptian pyramids, Machu Picchu in Peru… These mystical places have spoken to the human soul for generations. While these are amazing structures, they are merely markers made by human hands. What were our ancestors trying to tell us? Power spots are the sacred places of […]
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Koishikawa Kōrakuen （小石川後楽園） The Koishikawa Korakuen garden is, maybe, the best example for an Edo period daimyō strolling garden. Tokugawa Yorifusa, the eleventh child of Tokugawa Ieyasu and head of the Mito clan, started to build his residence and garden here. His son Tokugawa Mitsukuni completed it in 1669 as a garden with Japanese and Chinese elements. This garden is […]
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Kiyosumi Teien（清澄庭園） The story tells, that the Kiyosumi garden was once part of the businessman Kinokuniya Bunzaemons property, who lived during the Edo Period (1603 – 1868). However, during the Meiji period (1868 – 1912), the Garden was remodeled by Iwasaki Yataro, the founder of Mitsubishi. Iwasaki purchased several gardens, but Kiyosumi garden was his stage to showcase special stones, […]
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Shinjuku Gyoen （新宿御苑） The Shinjuku Gyoen is one of the biggest parks in central Tokyo. It features three different garden sections: a Japanese garden with ponds connected by a river, a formal French garden with roses and an alley of plane trees, and an English Landscape garden. During the Edo period (1603 – 1868), the park was built adjacent to […]
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Rikugien （六義園） The Rikugien garden is dedicated to Waka poetry and resembles the six rules of Waka. Built during the Edo period (1603 – 1868), it showcases the typical features of a daimyō strolling garden. Later, it was purchased by the founder of Mitsubishi, who added to his taste here and there, but let the original structure almost untouched. This […]
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Tonogayato Garden (殿ヶ谷戸庭園) The Tonogayato Garden is a relatively new landscape garden. It was constructed between 1914 and 1916 (Taisho period) at the edge of the 25 km long Kokubunji rift line. The manager of the early Mitsubishi Group and later Vice-President of the South Manchurian Railway, Eguchi Sadae, bought the land in Kokubunji and has his garden and residence […]
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Kyū-Shibarikyū Garden （旧芝離宮庭園） The Kyu-Shibarikyu garden is most interesting because it was built on reclaimed land from Tokyo Bay in 1658. The daimyō Ōkubo Tadatomo had his residence here. Although it is an Edo period strolling garden, it resembles the style of Samurai-style architecture more than that of a daimyō garden. Until the end of the Edo period, the owner […]
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