Sunday, December 11, 2016

Shinjuku Gyoen

Shinjuku Gyoen is one of the largest parks in Tokyo. The park originated during the Edo period (1603 - 1867) as a feudal lords palace grounds. It converted to a botanical garden before being part of the Imperial family's who used it for recreation and visiting guests. After suffering complete devastation from WWII it reopened in 1949 as a public park.

The park consists of a traditional Japanese garden and tributes to traditional English landscape garden and a symmetrically arranged French Garden. There is also a magnificent greenhouse featuring tropical and subtropical plants and flowers. The park is extremely popular during spring when the cherry blossoms bloom as the park is home to a great number of these trees.

The English landscape garden has over 400 somei yoshino trees. The park is also popular in the autumn, especially the Japanese garden and Momijiyama (maple mountain)with its numerous maple trees.

Path walkway surrounding the park
Part of the path walkway around the park itself.
Park Entrance