Located right next to Sanmon in Akatsuka, Itabashi is a beautiful garden, unlike any gardens I have seen in Tokyo.
Opened back in 1981 (Showa 56), the Akatsuka Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in Akatsuka’s hills and contains over 600 varieties of trees and plants. The location is also known as a Manyo Yakuyo Garden is a Manyo Botanical Garden which contains medicinal herbs.
In Japan, Many Botanical Gardens are numerous in each prefecture throughout Japan, in Tokyo there are five.
These botanical gardens have been written about in Man’yoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) back in AD 759 (Nara Period), the oldest extant collection of Japanese waka (poetry in classical Japanese). So, in Japanese culture, these gardens are treasured.
What I find interesting about this botanical garden, in Japan, it’s smacked dab between residential areas and in some instances, outside the gates, it does look like a park, but once you go inside, you find it to be one of the most tranquil places throughout Japan.
There is a small mountain where various wild grass can be seen. There are also perennials which change places frequently.
The botanical garden features Satoyama trees, various horticultural species, agricultural species, wild flowers that can be seen during the different seasons.
There is also a Japanese garden with bamboo groves, fences, lanterns and shishi-odoshi, which adds to the beauty of the location.
The Akatsuka Botanical Garden is taken care of and maintained by its caretakers and locked up, so no homeless or drunkards can sleep or destroy the garden or litter, which is what you seldom see at similar-sized Tokyo parks.
This area is the rose garden. Roses in front and wisteria trellis in the back. There are benches where you can just take in the beauty of the botanical garden. Also, there are interesting plants such as “Colinsonia Japonica” and “Davidia Involucrata”.
It’s always a pleasure to discover places like these in Tokyo that is carefully maintained but also offering so many seasonal plants and trees but also rare plants and medicinal herbs.
There are also numerous fruit trees and a coniferous trees such as Sugi, Spanish mackerel and various pine cones that are used as building materials.
Another place of relaxation is a main garden with a huge lawn and shade from zelkova trees plus a mountain of azaleas.
