The Kyu-Shiba-rikyu Gardens is an urban oasis surrounded by buildings and railways. The land on which the garden is located was originally under the surface of the sea, but in the second half of the 1650s the area was reclaimed and changed owners several times through the ages, until it was granted to the City of Tokyo in 1924, and later opened to the public.

Kyu-Shiba-rikyu is a pond-centered stroll-type garden, the predominant style of the numerous daimyo gardens created during the Edo period. This format combines flat areas and miniature hills arranged around a central pond, thus creating a difference in elevation that gives visitors an opportunity to enjoy the scenery of the central pond from a variety of angles.

The greatest characteristic of the garden is the way it gives tangible form to the ideas and spirit of its first owner, Okubo Tadatomo. This is visible in the stonework of the embankment surrounding the pond. In most traditional Japanese gardens, embankments are made with smooth stones, but at Kyu-Shiba-rikyu, rough stones were used to solidify the banks of the pond.

The way in which Kyu-Shiba-rikyu was utilized changed through the ages, depending on the historical circumstances. In 1846, when the garden was the official residence of the Kishu branch of the Tokugawa family under the name “Shiba Oyashiki,” it was equipped with a battery and a swimming practice area, and served as a castle outpost at the forefront of the coastal defense. In 1875, the garden came under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Agency, and was used was a detached palace under the name “Shiba-rikyu.”

The maps of the area preserved at the Imperial Household Agency show that the garden occupied a territory of approximately 102,500 square meters in the early Meiji period. Today, however, it has shrunk down to 43,175 square meters. Nevertheless, Kyu-Shiba-rikyu preserves to this day the characteristic dignified beauty of traditional daimyo gardens from the Edo period.

The area of Tokyo Bay near the Kyu-Shiba-rikyu Gardens was called Shibaura (literally “grassy inlet”). Historical sources indicate that during the Edo period, Shibaura was extremely popular as one of Edo’s best fishing grounds, and its abundant reserves not only of seaweed, but also of fish, prawns, and shellfish gave rise to numerous fishing villages that flourished along the Shibaura coast.

The fact that, back in an age when there was no heavy machinery, people were able to reclaim such an expansive area using only manpower proves that the Edo period was a time of peace and stability. Had it been plagued by frequent wars, such an enormous project would have been impossible to complete, even over several generations.

Japanese original text: Yasuna Asano