Tsuruma Park

photo by Bariston · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by Bariston · CC BY-SA 4.0

Nagoya opened its first public park here on 19 November 1909: free and always open.

In 1909 the city opened its first park, and did so in two languages: to the west a European-style garden with flower beds and a fountain tower, to the east a Japanese strolling garden around two ponds. Anyone getting off at Tsurumai Station is already inside, because the park begins at the edge of the pavement. At the end of March people spread their sheets under the cherry trees, and after ten in the morning there is no spot left.

Tsuruma is the first public park that Nagoya created for itself, opened on 19 November 1909 in Shōwa ward. The design brings together a Western-style garden, with its main axis, the fountain tower and the bandstand, and a Japanese strolling garden around the Kochōga-ike and Ryūga-ike ponds. In 2006 it was included in the national selection of Japan's hundred historic parks. In 2009 almost all of its area was entered in the register of monuments set up by the cultural properties law, in the category of places of scenic beauty: this is a registration, that is, the lightest level under the law, and not a designation. The municipal tourism portal counts about 750 cherry trees.

ℹ️ The park is open twenty-four hours and there is no charge. The only building with opening hours is the municipal greenery centre, 9:00–16:30, closed on Mondays (if it is a public holiday, the following day), on the third Wednesday of the month and from 29 December to 3 January. Tsurumai Station, served by the JR Chūō Line and the metro, is on the edge of the park: you leave by exit 4 and you are inside. The three car parks charge a fee. In blossom season, between late March and early April, the cherry tree area fills up with picnic sheets.

🚉 Tsuruma Koen · 7 min walk

Sources: tsurumapark.info · tsurumapark.info

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