Gardens, parks & flowers in Japan

Places in Japan of this type, by prefecture.

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• Farm Tomita Hokkaido
  Rolling fields of lavender and summer flowers in Furano, the classic purple view of Hokkaido.
• Fukidashi Park (Kyogoku) Hokkaido
  Spring water from Mt. Yotei gushes out at the foot of the mountain, about 80,000 tons a day. You can fill a bottle for free.
• Hokkaido University (Ginkgo Avenue) Hokkaido
  A leafy campus near Sapporo Station. About 70 ginkgo trees line a 380 m avenue that turns gold in autumn.
• Nakajima Park Hokkaido
  A green oasis in central Sapporo with a pond for rowing boats (late Apr–early Oct), a Japanese garden and the Meiji-era Hoheikan.
• Shikisai-no-Oka (Biei) Hokkaido
  A 15-ha hillside flower garden in Biei planted in bands of colour, with the Tokachi mountain range behind. Blooms run from tulips in spring to salvia in autumn.
• Fujita Memorial Garden Aomori
  A Taisho-era villa garden near Hirosaki Castle with a hillside garden borrowing views of Mt. Iwaki, a Western-style house with a café, and a lower pond garden.
• Seibien Garden Aomori
  A Meiji-era Tsugaru-style garden with a pavilion that is Japanese on the ground floor and Western on the upper floor.
• Tsuru-no-Mai Bridge Aomori
  A long wooden triple-arched footbridge over Tsugaru Fujimi Lake. On clear days Mt. Iwaki rises behind it.
• Koiwai Farm Makiba-en Iwate
  The visitor area of one of Japan’s largest private farms, below Mt. Iwate. Meet sheep and horses, try farm dairy food, and see historic barns listed as Important Cultural Properties.
• Tenshochi Park (Kitakami) Iwate
  A riverside park on the Kitakami River with a 2 km avenue of cherry trees, one of the three great cherry spots of Tohoku. Carp streamers fly over the river during the festival.
• Minamisanriku Memorial Park Miyagi
  A 6.3 ha park in Shizugawa where the former disaster-prevention building is preserved. A hill of prayer looks over the rebuilt town.
• Shiroishi River Hitome Senbon-zakura Miyagi
  About 1,200 Somei-yoshino cherry trees, many over 100 years old, line the Shiroishi River between Ogawara and Funaoka. The snowy Zao peaks rise behind them.
• Former Ikeda Family Garden Akita
  The garden of the Ikeda family, one of Tohoku's three great landowners, and Akita's first national Place of Scenic Beauty, with one of Japan's largest snow-viewing lanterns and an early reinforced-concrete Western-style house.
• Kisakata Kujukushima Akita
  Once a lagoon of islets visited by Basho, the area was lifted by an 1804 earthquake; the old islands now stand as small pine-topped hills among rice fields.
• Tsuruoka Park Yamagata
  The park on the site of Tsurugaoka Castle, seat of the Sakai lords of Shonai for about 250 years, with moats, stone walls, old cedars and about 730 cherry trees.
• Hanamiyama Park Fukushima
  Flower farms on a Fukushima City hillside where about 70 kinds of blossoms, such as plum, cherry and peach, open in turn each spring; a photographer called it a paradise.
• Miharu Takizakura Fukushima
  A weeping cherry tree estimated to be over 1,000 years old, one of Japan's three great cherry trees; its pink blossoms cascade like a waterfall, giving it its name.
• Nanko Park (Shirakawa) Fukushima
  A lakeside park opened in 1801 by lord Matsudaira Sadanobu for people of every class. Paths circle the lake with views to the Nasu peaks.
• Oyakuen Garden Fukushima
  The Aizu lords' strolling garden around a heart-shaped pond, borrowing the surrounding hills as scenery, with a herb garden that gave it its name.
• Sukagawa Peony Garden Fukushima
  A peony garden begun in 1766 by a herbal medicine merchant growing peonies for their roots; the only peony garden designated a national scenic place, with 7,000 plants of 290 varieties.
• Hitachi Seaside Park Ibaraki
  A hill covered in sky-blue nemophila in spring, and round red kochia bushes in autumn.
• Kairakuen Garden Ibaraki
  One of Japan's three great gardens, with about 3,000 plum trees that bloom before the cherries.
• Koga Kubo Park (Koga Sogo Park) Ibaraki
  A large park around a restored marsh, with the site of the Koga Kubo lords' residence. About 1,800 flowering peach trees bloom in spring.
• Suigo Itako Ayame Park (Iris Garden) Ibaraki
  A riverside iris garden in the water town of Itako. In June the irises bloom and boats with brides are rowed along the canal.
• Ashikaga Flower Park Tochigi
  A 150-year-old wisteria spreads like a purple ceiling. Famous winter illuminations too.
• Rakusan-en Garden (Obata) Gunma
  Gunma's only surviving daimyo garden, made by the Oda lords of Obata; the pond garden borrows the surrounding hills.
• Tsutsujigaoka Park (Tatebayashi) Gunma
  An azalea hill tended since the Edo period, with over 10,000 shrubs of about 100 varieties, including trees thought to be 800 years old.
• Ancient Lotus Park & Rice Paddy Art Saitama
  A park of ancient Gyoda lotus that bloom from mid-June to early August. From the 50 m Gyoda Tower you look down on the huge rice paddy art next door.
• Gongendo Park (Gongendo Cherry Embankment) Saitama
  One of Kanto's best-known cherry spots: about 1,000 Somei-Yoshino trees line a 1 km embankment above rapeseed blossoms, followed by hydrangeas in June and red spider lilies in September.
• Hitsujiyama Park Moss Phlox Saitama
  Over 400,000 moss phlox plants paint a hillside in pink and white stripes.
• Kinchakuda Manjushage Park Saitama
  A purse-shaped river flat on the Koma River in Hidaka where red spider lilies turn the woods crimson in late September.
• Musashi Kyuryo National Government Park Saitama
  Japan's first national government park, 304 ha of wooded hills with ponds and wetlands. Flowers bloom through the seasons, and there are big play areas for children.
• Ogose Plum Grove (Ogose Bairin) Saitama
  One of the Kanto region's three great plum groves, with about 1,000 trees including an old tree said to be over 670 years old.
• Soka Matsubara (Landscapes of Oku no Hosomichi) Saitama
  A pine-lined walk in Soka linked to Basho's travel diary "Oku no Hosomichi". It is one of 13 sites designated together as a national Place of Scenic Beauty.
• Tove Jansson Akebono Children's Forest Park Saitama
  A free park born from letters exchanged with Finnish author Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins. Fairy-tale buildings such as the Mushroom House are scattered through the woods.
• Tsukinoishi Momiji Park Saitama
  A small park in Nagatoro named after a haiku stone by Takahama Kyoshi. In November about 50 large maples are lit up at night at the height of the autumn colors.
• Ushijima Wisteria (Tokaen) Saitama
  A wisteria said to be about 1,200 years old, trained over a 300 m² trellis in a 2-hectare pond garden in Kasukabe.
• Mihama-en Garden (Makuhari Seaside Park) Chiba
  A pond-and-stroll Japanese garden in Makuhari's seaside park, framed by high-rise towers, with a tea house serving matcha.
• Hama-rikyu Gardens Tokyo
  A former shogun's bayside villa garden. Its tidal pond still takes in seawater from Tokyo Bay, and a teahouse on the island serves matcha.
• Koishikawa Korakuen Garden Tokyo
  A stroll garden begun in 1629 by the first lord of the Mito Tokugawa and completed by Mitsukuni, the oldest surviving Edo daimyo garden. Scenes of Japan and China surround a large central pond.
• Mukojima-Hyakkaen Gardens Tokyo
  A flower garden made by an antiques dealer in the early 1800s with plants from classical poetry, unlike the big feudal-lord gardens.
• Rikugien Garden Tokyo
  A stroll garden laid out from 1695 around a large pond, recreating 88 scenes from classical waka poetry. Known for its weeping cherry and autumn colours.
• Shinjuku Gyoen Tokyo
  A large garden with Japanese, English and French sections and about 900 cherry trees.
• Tonogayato Garden Tokyo
  A strolling garden built into a valley on the Musashino terrace edge: a bright lawn above, a spring-fed pond and bamboo grove below.
• Ueno Park Tokyo
  A large park known for cherry blossoms and Shinobazu Pond, with major museums and Ueno Zoo inside.
• Sankeien Garden (Yokohama) Kanagawa
  A large Japanese garden created by businessman Hara Sankei, with historic buildings moved here from across Japan, including a three-storey pagoda.
• Former Saito Family Villa Niigata
  A 1918 guest villa of a Niigata merchant family, where each room opens onto a stroll garden laid out on the old sand dunes.
• Shimizuen Garden Niigata
  The stroll garden of the Shibata lords' former villa, with a large pond shaped like the character for water and tea houses around it.
• Asahi Funakawa “Spring Quartet” Toyama
  In early April, 280 cherry trees along 1.2 km of the Funakawa River bloom together with tulips and rape blossoms, against the snow-capped Northern Alps.
• Fugan Canal Kansui Park Toyama
  A canal-side park north of Toyama Station with lookout towers on Tenmon Bridge, canal cruises and seasonal evening lights.
• Tonami Tulip Park Toyama
  Main venue of the Tonami Tulip Fair, with about 3 million blooms of 300 varieties, flower murals seen from a tower and a floating flower bed.
• Kenrokuen Garden Ishikawa
  One of Japan's three great gardens. In winter, ropes protect the pine branches from snow in a cone shape.
• Utatsuyama Park Ishikawa
  A hillside park above central Kanazawa. From the Bokodai lookout you can see the Sea of Japan on clear days, and the night view is popular. It also has an iris garden and about 8,000 azaleas.
• Asuwayama Park Fukui
  A 116 m hill park in central Fukui with ancient burial mounds, small museums and about 3,500 cherry trees.
• Yokokan Garden Fukui
  Former villa garden of the Matsudaira lords of Fukui, with a large pond and rebuilt shoin-style rooms. A 10-minute walk from Fukui Station.
• Arakurayama Sengen Park (Chureito Pagoda) Yamanashi
  The famous postcard view: a five-story pagoda with Mt. Fuji behind it, after climbing 398 steps.
• Fuefukigawa Fruit Park Yamanashi
  A large prefectural park on a hillside above the Kofu Basin, with fruit orchards and a hot-spring foot bath. Known for its night view over the basin.
• Yamataka Jindai-zakura (Jissoji) Yamanashi
  A wild Edo-higan cherry in the grounds of Jissoji, said to be 1,800–2,000 years old and one of Japan's three great cherry trees.
• Daio Wasabi Farm Nagano
  A large wasabi farm in Azumino where you can walk among the wasabi beds, with views over the fields to the Northern Alps.
• Takato Castle Ruins Park Nagano
  A castle site in Ina whose 1,500 Takato Kohigan cherry trees, a local variety with pale pink blossoms, are praised as the finest cherry blossoms under heaven.
• Monet's Pond (Namonaki-ike) Gifu
  A small spring-fed pond in the grounds of Nemichi Shrine whose clear water, water lilies and koi resemble Monet's Water Lilies paintings.
• Neodani Usuzumi Cherry Tree Gifu
  A lone cherry tree said to be over 1,500 years old, 17.3 m tall. Its pink buds open white and turn a pale ink grey as the petals fall.
• Kakitagawa Park Shizuoka
  A small park on the Kakita River where spring water wells up all year. Decks look down on the springs, and a path follows the river.
• Kawazu Cherry Blossoms Shizuoka
  Deep pink early cherries line a river for 4 km, blooming a month and a half before ordinary cherries.
• Obuchi Sasaba Tea Fields Shizuoka
  Tea fields on the slopes of Fuji City with Mt. Fuji rising behind them, and no power lines or buildings in the view. One of Shizuoka's best-known photo spots.
• Shimoda Park (Shimoda Castle Ruins) Shizuoka
  A hilltop park above Shimoda port and town, on the site of the Hojo clan's Ushima (Shimoda) Castle. About 150,000 hydrangea bushes cover the slopes in June, and camellias bloom in winter.
• Obara Shikizakura (Obara Fureai Park) Aichi
  Shikizakura cherry trees bloom here twice a year, in spring and autumn. In autumn about 300 trees around the park flower pink among red maple leaves.
• Tokugawa-en Garden Aichi
  A strolling pond garden on the site of the Owari Tokugawa lord's 1695 retirement villa, next to the Tokugawa Art Museum. Waterfall, lake, peony garden and iris field.
• Urakuen Garden and Joan Teahouse Aichi
  A Japanese garden below Inuyama Castle around Joan, a teahouse built by Oda Uraku, a younger brother of Oda Nobunaga.
• Kitabatake Residence Garden Mie
  A Muromachi-period garden in the grounds of Kitabatake Shrine in the Misugi hills, combining a dry rock garden and a pond.
• Nabana no Sato Mie
  A large flower park on Nagashima with seasonal flower fields, the Begonia Garden greenhouse and a hot spring. From autumn to spring it hosts one of Japan's largest illuminations, with a 200 m tunnel of light.
• Kaizu Osaki Cherry Trees Shiga
  A rocky cape at the north end of Lake Biwa. About 800 Somei-yoshino cherry trees line some 4 km of the lakeshore road.
• Kyorinbo Temple Shiga
  A small temple said to be founded by Prince Shotoku in 605, hidden in a bamboo grove. Its moss-covered rock garden, attributed to Kobori Enshu, turns red with about 300 old maples in late autumn.
• Makino Metasequoia Avenue Shiga
  A 2.4 km road lined with about 500 tall metasequoia trees — green in spring, orange in autumn.
• Arashiyama Bamboo Grove Kyoto
  A path through towering green bamboo, near the famous Togetsukyo Bridge.
• Philosopher's Path Kyoto
  A canal-side walk of about 2 km between Ginkakuji and Nyakuoji Shrine, lined with some 400 cherry trees.
• Wazuka Tea Fields Kyoto
  Rows of tea bushes climb the hillsides all the way to the summits in this Uji tea village. The town's tourist office looks out over the Kamatsuka tea fields.
• Expo '70 Commemorative Park (Tower of the Sun) Osaka
  A huge park around the strange and powerful 'Tower of the Sun' by artist Taro Okamoto. You can go inside.
• Awaji Yumebutai Hyogo
  A complex designed by architect Tadao Ando at the north of Awaji Island, known for its terraced flower garden of 100 beds on the hillside.
• Kokoen Garden Hyogo
  Nine connected Japanese gardens on the site of the old west residence of Himeji Castle, with the castle as a backdrop.
• Isuien Garden Nara
  Two strolling pond gardens, one from the Edo period and one from the Meiji era, that borrow Mt. Wakakusa, Mt. Kasuga and the roof of Todaiji’s Great South Gate as scenery. Entry includes the Neiraku Museum.
• Nara Park Nara
  Over 1,500 free-roaming deer that bow for rice crackers, among ancient temples and shrines.
• Aragijima Rice Terraces Wakayama
  Fan-shaped rice terraces on a bend of the Arida River in the mountains of Aridagawa, seen from a roadside viewpoint.
• Bandoko Garden Wakayama
  A lawn garden on a cape surrounded by sea on three sides, once a lookout post of the Kishu domain. It looks out over Wakaura Bay and a shore of rare green Kishu schist.
• Kannon-in Temple Garden Tottori
  An early Edo-period pond garden built for the Ikeda lords on a natural slope; you view it from the temple hall while having matcha.
• Tottori Hanakairo Flower Park Tottori
  One of Japan's largest flower parks at the foot of Mt. Daisen, with a 1 km covered walkway, a big greenhouse and lilies shown all year.
• Sesshu Gardens (Ikoji & Manpukuji) Shimane
  Two temples in Masuda with stone gardens attributed to the ink painter Sesshu (15th century): Ikoji's pond garden built around a crane-shaped pond and turtle island, and Manpukuji's garden expressing the Buddhist world of Mt. Sumeru.
• Yushien Garden Shimane
  A large Japanese stroll garden on Daikon Island in Lake Nakaumi, known for peonies all year and a pond filled with 30,000 blooms around Golden Week.
• Daigo-zakura Cherry Tree Okayama
  A lone 18 m Azuma-higan cherry on a hill above a mountain village, said to be 700 to 1,000 years old. Legend says Emperor Go-Daigo admired it in 1332, hence the name.
• Okayama Korakuen Garden Okayama
  One of Japan's three great gardens, with wide lawns, ponds and a black castle in the background.
• Raikyuji Temple Garden Okayama
  An early Edo-period dry garden by Kobori Enshu in Takahashi, known for its wave-like clipped azaleas set against Mount Atago.
• Ushimado Olive Garden Okayama
  A hilltop olive farm opened in 1942 with about 2,000 trees and views over Ushimado's coast, nicknamed Japan's Aegean Sea.
• Ini Rice Terraces Hiroshima
  324 stone-walled rice terraces in a mountain hollow of Akiota, seen from a viewing deck; green in summer, golden before the September harvest.
• Ozekiyama Park Hiroshima
  A hill park in central Miyoshi with over 500 cherry trees and red maples in autumn. The summit looks over the Gonokawa River and the town, on the site of a castle built after the Battle of Sekigahara.
• Shukkeien Garden Hiroshima
  A strolling garden of the Asano lords of Hiroshima, laid out in the early 1600s around a pond with bridges and tea houses, near the city center.
• Higashiushirobata Rice Terraces Yamaguchi
  Rice terraces looking out over the Sea of Japan on the Mukatsuku Peninsula. From May to early August, the lights of squid-fishing boats sparkle offshore beyond the paddies after sunset.
• Joeiji Temple Sesshu Garden Yamaguchi
  A Zen garden said to have been made by the ink painter Sesshu for the Ouchi lords about 500 years ago, viewed from the temple hall.
• Mohri Garden and Mohri Museum Yamaguchi
  The former Mori family mansion in Hofu, now a museum, set in a large Meiji-Taisho garden of ponds, islands and bridges.
• Ritsurin Garden Kagawa
  A large stroll garden of ponds, bridges and carefully shaped pines below a green mountain.
• Shodoshima Olive Park Kagawa
  A hillside park above the sea with about 2,000 olive trees and over 130 kinds of herbs. The live-action 'Kiki's Delivery Service' set is now a shop.
• Zenigata Sand Coin (Kotohiki Park) Kagawa
  A huge Edo-period coin drawn in the sand of Ariake Beach, 122 m across, that looks perfectly round from the Kotohiki hilltop viewpoint. It is lit up every night.
• Garyu Sanso Ehime
  A villa built by a wax merchant around 1897-1907 on a scenic bend of the Hiji River in Ozu, with fine craftsmanship and a tea hut built over the cliff.
• Saijo Uchinuki Springs Ehime
  Around 3,000 artesian wells called uchinuki bubble up across Saijo. Walk the town and drink from public taps.
• Tenshaen Garden Ehime
  A stroll garden around a pond built for a retired Uwajima lord of the Date family, known for its bamboo and wisteria.
• Makino Botanical Garden Kochi
  A prefectural botanical garden on Mount Godaisan honouring Kochi-born botanist Tomitaro Makino, with over 3,000 kinds of plants on about 8 ha and a tropical greenhouse.
• Monet's Garden Marmottan in Kitagawa Village Kochi
  A garden in Kitagawa village recreating Claude Monet's garden at Giverny, the only one allowed to use the name 'Monet's Garden', with a water lily pond and arched bridge.
• Kawachi Fujien Wisteria Garden Fukuoka
  A private wisteria garden in Kitakyushu with about 22 varieties. Its 80 m and 110 m wisteria tunnels are the highlight, and some 700 maple trees turn red in autumn.
• Ohana (Tachibana Residence) Fukuoka
  The former residence of the Tachibana lords of Yanagawa, with a white Western-style hall, a 100-mat main hall and the pine-ringed pond garden Shotoen. The whole estate is a national Place of Scenic Beauty.
• Ohori Park Fukuoka
  A large city park built around a pond that was once part of Fukuoka Castle's moat, with a 2 km lakeside path and rental boats.
• Uminonakamichi Seaside Park Fukuoka
  A large national park on the sandbar between Hakata Bay and the open sea, with flower fields, lawns, an animal area and cycling paths.
• Kunen-an Saga
  The villa and garden of Saga industrialist Itami Yataro, built over nine years from 1900. Famous for autumn leaves and moss, it opens to the public only a few days each spring and autumn.
• Mifuneyama Rakuen Garden Saga
  A large strolling garden made by a Takeo lord at the foot of the cliffs of Mt. Mifune, famous for cherry, azalea and autumn colours.
• Ogi Park Saga
  A garden laid out by the first lords of the Ogi domain, with about 3,000 cherry trees and a huge hedge clipped into a square.
• Shimeiso Spring Garden Nagasaki
  A late-Meiji villa whose rooms jut out over a pond fed by about 3,000 tonnes of spring water a day, with colourful carp. In Shimabara's 'town of swimming carp'.
• Suizenji Jojuen Garden Kumamoto
  An Edo-period strolling garden of the Hosokawa lords around a spring-fed pond, with a miniature Mt. Fuji and a Noh stage.
• Heiwadai Park Miyazaki
  A hilltop park above Miyazaki city with the 37 m Peace Tower and a woodland garden of about 400 replica haniwa clay figures.
• Izumi Crane Observation Center Kagoshima
  An observation hall on the Izumi plain, where over 10,000 hooded and white-naped cranes spend the winter. You can watch them feed and fly from the rooftop deck.
• Kanoya Rose Garden Kagoshima
  One of Japan's largest rose gardens, spread over 8 ha of hillside park in Kanoya, with themed gardens. Roses peak around Golden Week in early May.
• Sengan-en Garden Kagoshima
  A lord's garden that 'borrows' Sakurajima volcano as its hill and the bay as its pond.
• Shikinaen Garden Okinawa
  A second residence of the Ryukyu royal family, with a stroll garden where the view changes as you walk around the pond.

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