Hama-rikyu Gardens 浜離宮恩賜庭園

Edo-period paradise connecting the sea and the land

Take a step into this beautiful Edo-period (1603–1867) garden with a teahouse built to look as if it were floating on the water and discover a world separate from the high-rise buildings of the city. The garden is located on the edge of Tokyo Bay, and is the only Edo garden to incorporate seawater into the garden's pond.

© Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association

The Hama-rikyu Gardens are built around a central pond known as the Tide Inlet Pond. In the middle of the pond is the Nakajima teahouse, where you can sit down to enjoy a cup of matcha tea throughout the year. The garden's pond is connected to the sea, and water flows in and out with the tide, meaning the park is in a permanent state of flux.
Throughout the park there are a number of plum and cherry trees, which blossom throughout spring. You can see autumn foliage from the middle of November, peaking between late November and early December.

The Hama-rikyu Gardens were opened to the public in April 1946, but served as a feudal and imperial retreat for several centuries before that. The gardens, almost as they are now, were completed during the time of the 11th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Ienari. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, they became a villa belonging to the imperial household, before being given to the city of Tokyo in 1945.