Tokugawa-en Garden

photo by kazppi77 · CC BY 3.0

photo by full moon69 · CC BY 3.0

Destroyed in the 1945 bombings, it reopened as a Japanese garden only in 2004.

It began in 1695 as the retirement residence of Tokugawa Mitsutomo, second lord of the Owari branch, and became the family's official residence in 1889. The nineteenth head of the family donated it to the city in 1931; the garden opened to the public in 1932, but the great air raid of 1945 destroyed almost all of it. It remained an ordinary park for decades, until in 2004 it was rebuilt from scratch as a Japanese garden in the pond-stroll style (池泉回遊式), with Ōsone Falls and Lake Ryūsen.

The garden covers 2.3 hectares next to the Tokugawa Art Museum, on the site of the former Ōsone residence. Together with these two, the complex tells the history of the Owari branch of the Tokugawa from the seventeenth century to the present day.

ℹ️ 10:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed on Mondays (or the following day if Monday is a public holiday) and at the end/start of the year. Tickets: adults about 300 yen; a combined ticket with the Tokugawa Art Museum is available.

🚉 Ozone · 11 min walk

Sources: tokugawaen.aichi.jp · tokugawaen.aichi.jp

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