This is one of the Daimyo gardens from the early Edo Period along with Koishikawa Koraku-en. It was created when the first house in Edo for the Okubo Family, who was a lord of the Odawara Domain, was constructed during the Genroku Era. It was taken over by the Shimizu Family, then by the Kishu Tokugawa Family. The Department of the Imperial Household owned the garden in 1875 and it became Shiba Rikyu (the Imperial villa in Shiba) the following year. It was designated as a National Place of Scenic Beauty by the Cultural Properties Protection Law in 1979.

cultural property : historic sites and places of scenic beauty as natural monuments　
type : places of scenic beauty

1-chōme-4-1 Kaigan, Minato-ku, Tōkyō-to 105-0022
Tel：03-3434-4029

Home page : https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/kyu-shiba-rikyu/index.html

Okubo Tadatomo, a lord of Odawara and a member of the Shogun’s Council of Elders, received a reclaimed land by the ocean from the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1678. The garden was constructed along with the first house in Edo for the Odawara Domain on that land during the Genroku Era. Gardeners were summoned from Odawara to create a garden in the house and it was named “Rakuju-en.” The owners changed several times from the end of the Edo Period to the beginning of the Meiji Era. The Department of the Imperial Household owned the garden in 1875 and it became Shiba Rikyu (the Imperial villa in Shiba) the following year.
The main portion of the garden is a large pond with winding shorelines including capes and coves. There is an island in the middle of the pond and there are bridges on both the east and west sides of the island. Traditional landscaping methods are used in various ways such as stone arrangements simulating the Horai mountain on Nakajima (the central island), landscape with a Tsukiyama (artificial hill), and the ways the stones are arranged and the bridges are built.
This is one of the remarkable gardens that demonstrate the landscaping methods of Daimyo gardens from the Edo Period.

The garden uses the southeast plateau of Mt. Asuka and a slope that is part of the southern plateau. The construction started in 1917 (the Taisho Era) and it took two years to complete the stroll garden with a path on the slope at the bottom of the plateau and the lowland. It is considered to be a typical garden in modern Tokyo as it maximizes the natural geography of Tokyo such as plateau, slope and lowland.

cultural property : historic sites and places of scenic beauty as natural monuments　
type : places of scenic beauty

1-27-39 Nishigahara, Kita-ku, Tōkyō-to 114-0024
Tel：03-3910-0394

Home page : https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/kyu-furukawa/index.html

This is a garden created by Furukawa Toranosuke in the Taisho Era. It is located in the southeast of Mt. Asuka which is in the eastern edge of the Musashino Plateau and it skillfully uses the plateau, the slope in the south and the lowland in the garden. There is a Western-style formal garden with a European-style main building on the plateau in the north of the premises. A stroll garden is landscaped on the slope of the plateau and the lowland in the south. There are a tearoom and its tea garden in the east of the premises, thus, there are 3 elements in this garden, namely a Western garden, Japanese garden and tea garden.
The Western garden and the main building were designed by Josiah Conder and constructed in 1917. Ogawa Jihei VII (also known as Ueji) of Kyoto designed the Japanese garden. It was designed to maximize characteristic geographies of Tokyo and exhibits an amazing harmony of Japanese and Western styles by incorporating traditional methods and modern techniques.  This is a valuable garden which retains original features created in the modern Tokyo.

It is a stroll garden with grove and pond, and it optimizes abundant natural surroundings such as the slope in the south of the Kokubunji cliff line, a spring on the edge of the cliff line and a growth of miscellaneous trees on the slope. The “Jiro Benten” pond inside the garden is also selected as one of the Famous 57 Springs in Tokyo. It was designated as a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 2011.

cultural property : historic sites and places of scenic beauty as natural monuments　
type : places of scenic beauty

2-16 Minamichō, Kokubunji-shi, Tōkyō-to 185-0021
Tel：042-324-7991

Home page : https://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/park/tonogayato/index.html

There is a terrace cliff on the southern edge of the Musashino Plateau, which runs from east to west, called “Kokubunji Gaisen.” Small valleys carve the terrace here and there and spring water seeps out from gravel around the bottom of the cliff line, which is called “Hake”. The Tonogayato garden was built in a modern villa. It uses the landform of the cliff line, the springs, and tasteful growth of miscellaneous trees such as Japanese red pines (Pinus densiflora) and sawtooth oaks (Quercus acutissima), which are native to Musashino. The premises are on the east side of the plateau which extends towards the south. It covers the area from the flat ground on top of the plateau to the area with springs in the lowland, and there is a sloping ground along the cliff in the middle with an elevation difference of more than 10 meters.
There are four areas in this garden: a Western garden with a large open grass field on top of the plateau located in the southeast of the main building and a carriage drive that connects the gate to a roundabout in front of the entrance which is in the west of the main building; forests of Japanese red pines, Japanese maples and bamboos; a sloping ground along the cliff covered with Veitch’s bamboos  (Sasa veitchii); and a Japanese garden centered around the Jiro Benten pond which uses the water from the spring at the bottom of the cliff. They are all connected with paths, stone steps and Nobedan pavements, etc.

This was used as a residence and studio of ASAKURA Fumio who was a master of Japanese modern sculptures. There is a rooftop garden on the art studio building which was used for his creative work and teaching younger artists. This is a valuable example of green rooftop gardens on ferroconcrete buildings which started around the beginning of the Showa Era. The entire premises, including the buildings, received recognition as a National_designated Place of Scenic Beauty.

cultural property : historic sites and places of scenic beauty as natural monuments　
type : places of scenic beauty

7-18-10 Yanaka, Taitō-ku, Tōkyō-to 110-0001
Tel：03-3821-4549

Home page : www.taitocity.net/zaidan/asakura/

ASAKURA Fumio was a master of Japanese modern sculptures and this garden is in his old residence and studio in the residential area of Yanaka, Tokyo. He lived there and used the studio for his own creative work and teaching younger artists until his death in 1964.
The current art studio and Sukiya-style residential building were constructed when the house was renovated in 1935. The courtyard is surrounded by buildings on all four sides. It is quite small (10 m long from north to south and 14 m long from east to west) and a pond (water surface) occupies most of it. Some stones are arranged in the pond and visitors can enjoy deutzia in spring and Japanese maples in fall. Various ornamental stones and plants create a profound waterscape. The rooftop garden on the art studio building is also a valuable example of green rooftop gardens on ferroconcrete buildings which started around the beginning of the Showa Era.
ASAKURA opened the ASAKURA School of Sculpture using his house and studio. The rooftop was used daily by Asakura’s students to grow vegetables and learn about gardening.