Hotels near Shukkei-en Garden

Shukkei-en was laid out in 1620 for Asano Nagaakira, the feudal lord of the domain, and the name translates roughly as shrunken-scenery garden. It compresses valleys, mountains and forests into a circuit around a central pond, with a rainbow-arched bridge at its middle and tea houses at intervals along the path. The whole loop takes about 40 minutes at a slow walk.

The garden sits 1.3 km from the hypocentre and was destroyed in 1945, then used as a refuge by survivors, many of whom died there. Several trees survived and still grow, marked with plaques. Restoration work began in the late 1940s and the garden reopened to the public in 1951. Admission is JPY 260, and koi and turtles fill the pond in numbers.

Pro Tip: Walk the circuit anticlockwise, which is the direction the sightlines were designed for. The Seifukan tea house serves matcha for around JPY 500 and looks straight across the pond to the bridge.