Iidabashi "Koishikawa Korakuen" Award

#Valentine's Day 2025 Iidabashi "Koishikawa Korakuen" Fall Foliage Viewing This metropolitan garden located in Koraku, Bunkyo Ward, covers an area of ​​approximately 70,000 square meters, which is 1.5 times the size of the nearby Tokyo Dome. This garden was first built in 1629, at the beginning of the Edo period, by Yorifusa, the ancestor of the Mito Tokugawa family, and was completed during the reign of the second feudal lord, Mitsukuni (an alternative form of "country"). The style of the garden is a "migratory rockery and spring water garden" with a pond as the center. When building the garden, Mitsukuni adopted the advice of Zhu Shunshui, a remnant of the Ming Dynasty, and introduced famous Chinese scenic spots such as the Round Moon Bridge, West Lake Dike, and Xiaolushan Mountain in the architectural style. Even the name of the garden was taken from Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Tower Inscription": "Worry about the world before you worry about yourself, and be happy about the world after you are happy about yourself." Therefore, this place is also called "a deep mountain valley full of Chinese characteristics." In March 1952, "Koishikawa Korakuen" was designated as a "National Special Historic Site and Special Place of Scenic Beauty" in accordance with Japan's "Cultural Property Protection Law". So far, there are two places in Tokyo that have been given this dual title (the other is the Hama-rikyu Gardens), and there are only nine places in Japan that have been given this title protection. There are replicas of the characteristic attractions of the Kansai region in the park, such as the "Oizumi" representing Lake Biwa, the "Togetsukyo Bridge" and the "Oi River" imitating Kyoto Arashiyama. The reflections of the red leaves in this area are the most popular area. Although Koishikawa Korakuen doesn't have night maple leaves to admire like Rikugien, there are many kinds of flowers planted in this garden. You can enjoy cherry blossoms in spring, azaleas and irises later, red leaves in autumn, and plum blossoms in winter. You can enjoy seasonal flowers all year round, making it a tourist attraction suitable for visiting all year round. If you like the leisurely and unconstrained itinerary of traveling, coming here will make you forget the hustle and bustle of the world.