Leaf 110 – Garden Poems
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This is the third poem in my
sequence on Koishikawa Kōrakuen Gardens (see also, Leaf 108
& Leaf 109).
Of the three remaining ‘Daimyō
Gardens’ in Tokyo, Koishikawa Kōrakuen is perhaps the most varied in
terms of its landscaping. I have visited both Rikugien and Hamarikyū
on several different occasions and each are well-worth visiting, but they are
very different gardens.
Rikugien will always remain a
special place for me, because in my mind it is associated with my earliest
visits to Japan – when it was one of the first formal Japanese gardens which I
visited. And later on, I took my parents there – because they had heard about
it having seen it featured on a TV programme back in the UK, when the
well-known British gardener, Monty Don, visited Rikugien in two different
seasons.
Hamarikyū,
I recall I first visited after exiting from a riverboat ride down the Sumida
from Asakusa with a group of friends; again, on one – perhaps even the first –
of my early visits to Japan. I later went back without such lively and populous
company in tow and so I was able to enjoy it at a more leisurely pace, where I
recall crossing its pond via a distinctive zig-zagged wooden plank
bridge. And, after which, I strolled on to look at the nearby Nagakin Capsule
Tower – which was by then in a very sorry and rusted state – now long since
gone, sadly.
Koishikawa Kōrakuen,
however, is perhaps my favourite. In terms of its location, it is very
accessible – happily not too far from the Jimbocho ‘book town’ region of Tokyo,
which I often frequent. I very much like Kōrakuen’s landscaping and the
fact that it is so densely wooded with gentle, purling channels of water
throughout, making for a cooler atmosphere than say Hamarikyū. Plus,
its sculpted hills make for a more interesting and lively walking tour, one
which affords views from various elevations. I am sure it will probably become
one of my more regular haunts here in Tokyo. Not least in order to see how it
changes through the seasons; but also, how – hopefully – it might help to
inspire further poems to add to this initial sequence of three.
Subtracting slivers of sky
– riverine reflections rebound,
across a ribbon-cut conduit.
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Two more poems have since been
added to this sequence. They will appear on this blog as Leaf 141 on 7th September
2025.
