2014-02-17

Sankeien Garden in Yokohama, Japan

Sankei Garden is a traditional Japanese-style garden in Yokohama, Japan. The garden is popular for its cherry blossoms, ume blossoms, and the changing leaves in autumn. Tomitaro Hara, known by the pseudonym Sankei Hara, built Sankeien Garden in 1902-1908; he was a silk trader.

Almost all of its buildings are historically significant structures bought by Hara himself in locations all over the country, among them Tokyo, Kyoto, Kamakura, Gifu Prefecture, and Wakayama Prefecture. The city of Yokohama has declared ten properties as important cultural properties, and it has designated the remaining three as Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan. In World War II, some properties were damaged badly. In 1953, the garden was donated to the City of Yokohama, which entrusted it to the Sankeien Hoshokai Foundation. The garden was restored almost to its pre-war condition in five years. The total surface area of the garden is 175,000 square metres, and it features ponds, streams, and undulating paths designed by Sankei Hara, as well as many historical buildings, such as Tomyo-ji, the former three-storey pagoda originally constructed in Kyoto in 1457 and relocated in 1914, and the former Yanohar House, which was originally the private residence of the Yahohara family.

First Image by Flickr User Nikon Eyes