Kyu-Furukawa Garden

This garden surrounds a majestic stone mansion built in the Meiji Era, right after Japan opened to the West in 1868.

The grounds below the house are still an age-old Japanese garden with a pond, stone lanterns, and tea house.

But the garden surrounding the mansion has been terraced into formal European-style rosebeds

The Japanese garden’s azaleas mark the transition between east and west…

before the gently graded paths descend toward the pond…

inviting us in with its clipped evergreens and stone bridges…

and steppingstone paths that wind past waterfalls, lanterns, and a teahouse.

all planted to highlight the changing seasons. The roses come into full bloom in…

June

and the Japanese maples turn gorgeous colors in 

November

along with the stately gingko trees.

Kyu-Furukawa Garden
Open: Every day
Hours: 9:00 – 17:00
Admission: ¥150

MAP

And here are the other places I take my friends when they come to town

Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly e-magazine Japanagram, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had