What other travelers are saying about Rikugien Garden
It's a good place. You can get experience from exploring the nature and history in same time, with cheap tickets too! The area is pretty big, and can give you fresh air even in the middle of summer (ngl summer in tokyo is so freaking hot) but it's feel nice here.
One of the most beautiful and serene Japanese gardens in Tokyo. It's beautiful at any time of the year. The tea house inside the garden serves match tea and traditional sweets with seasonal flavours.
The garden is peaceful, featuring a large central pond where turtles can often be seen. Near the entrance, visitors can pick up small, colorful paper umbrellas for free to enjoy a stroll around the park. By the pond, a small and charming teahouse offers the chance to taste green tea and traditional sweets for 10000 yen. It also sells handcrafted paper items. Just behind the teahouse, a small grassy hill provides a higher vantage point for viewing the garden. Please note: there are large mosquitoes in the area.
This garden is the model from Wakaura, a scenic place in Wakayama.
They put 88 scenic parts from Wakayama in this garden, and make it as the most worth to visit garden in Tokyo.
The entrance fee is ¥300
You might want to visit this garden in different seasons, and I suggest the most beautiful time is around spring and autumn.
They have a very scenic autumn leaves and an old big shidare sakura, also beautiful zen garden and pond inside.
A good walking trail, there are short rout for 30-40 mins walk or long route 60-70 mins walk.
Rikugien is famous for its shitare Sakura or willow Sakura. There is night light up event going on right now. It is very grand and I think it’s larger than the one at Ueno Park entrance.
Inside park it is also beautifully designed. There were some camellia blooming. But I don’t like one thing though. Since winter just passed so the grass is still yellowish dry. I hope spring will bring some lushes of green into the garden azalea and hydrangeas please come back quickly. I am not sure if they have these flowers since this is my first visit to this garden.
Rikugien Garden was constructed around 1700 by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, a daimyo (feudal lord) and close associate of the fifth Tokugawa shogun, Tsunayoshi. It was designed to reflect the themes of famous Japanese poems, creating a landscape rich in literary and aesthetic significance.
The name "Rikugien" translates to "six poems garden." It signifies the garden's design inspiration, which is based on the concept of representing scenes from famous poems, particularly those that depict natural landscapes and seasons.
Rikugien Garden is known for its scenic beauty, featuring a large central pond, several hills, walking paths, and a network of streams and bridges. The garden is a prime example of a "strolling garden," where visitors can enjoy the changing scenery along the paths.
The best times to visit are during the cherry blossom season in spring (late March to early April) and the autumn foliage season (late November to early December). During these periods, the garden showcases its most spectacular scenery.
Rikugien Garden is easily accessible by public transport. The closest subway station is Komagome Station, served by the JR Yamanote Line and the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line. From the station, it's just a short walk to the garden.
