Koishikawa Botanical Garden

Bunkyō, Japan, Japan

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Koishikawa Botanical Garden is a 16‑hectare (40‑acre) botanical garden and arboretum in Bunkyō, Tokyo, operated by the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Science and recognized as Japan’s oldest botanical garden.

It was founded in 1684 as the Koishikawa Medicinal Herb Garden by the fifth Tokugawa shogun, Tsunayoshi, and later became a center for modern botanical research after the Meiji Restoration. The garden cultivates about 4,000 plant species, with notable outdoor collections of camellias, cherries, maples, Japanese primroses, bonsai trees, and alpine plants, plus a classic Japanese landscape garden, a glasshouse, and the Shibata Memorial Hall.

It is especially attractive in spring for the cherry blossoms and plum blossoms, in summer for irises, and in autumn for colorful maple foliage. The garden is open 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. (admission until 4:00 p.m.; glasshouse 10:00–3:00 p.m.), closed on Mondays (if Monday is a national holiday, the following Tuesday is closed), and closed December 29–January 3; admission is about 500 yen for adults.