Rikugi-en (Japanese: 六義園) are a Tokyo metropolitan park in Bunkyō-ku (文京区). The name Rikugi-en means Garden of the Six Principles, referring to the six elements in waka poetry, based on the traditional division of Chinese poetry into six categories.
The construction of Rikugi-en took place between 1695 and 1702, and was built by the permission of the fifth Tokugawa shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (德川綱吉).
Rikugi-en has a big pond, most of the tourists just stay around the waterside. The weather is quite nice today, the pond looks like a big shiny jade.
Rikugi-en had been neglected for many years. The founder of Mitsubishi bought the garden in 1878 and donated it to the Tokyo City government in 1938 after restoration.
Beside the rock garden and the pond, the little forest around is also worth seeing.
In the forest there is only Choumeizai, he doesn’t expect that there are so many different kinds of green in the world.
There is a small tea shop inside Rikugi-en, a good place to take a break and enjoy the serenity of Japanese garden.
