Kyu-Shiba-rikyu Gardens

Hamamatsucho, Tokyo, Japan — After visiting an organic festival, I visited Kyu-Shiba-rikyu Gardens with Canadian Mike and his Japanese girlfriend Kumi. This small park is one of about 12 official gardens throughout Tokyo. I intend to visit all of them and have visited about 4 so far. We found this park on a mild, late Saturday afternoon. We had it mostly to ourselves, maybe 4 other couples traipsed around its wintery barrenness, yet we were far from alone as many animal friends were more than happy to see us.

We first noticed all the common pochard ducks (aythya ferina) on the central pond. Such ponds are typical in all Japanese gardens and parks. … Grabbing our attention, though, was a mass of coy-type fish. In particular a whole bunch were swarming into a small nook in the pond’s edge, all pushing strongly against the fish in front of them to get to the edge. At the very edge, lying calmly and unphased, was the largest of all the fish, looking ghostly in its pale color and glazed eyes. I thought of it as the alpha fish. (see video below)

From this bustle, we walked on to the remaining, docile parts of the park, a perfect semi-oasis from the city towering all around. Though the city was not at all out of sight, like most parks and gardens in Tokyo, a strong sense of nature still pervaded over all. I was quite taken with this small park, so much so that I took 71 photos and 3 minutes of video in all!

All the flora was not barren though, as I found a small hillside of stately yellow flowers that looked like mini-daffodils. Before taking our leave, I went off on my own and watched some more fish swim, and stare at the shimmering reflections of the surrounding skyscrapers upon the pond’s rippled surface.

…

RELATED POSTS:

• Kyu-Furukawa Gardens [photos]
• Inokashira Park Ride
• A return to Shinjuku Gyoen, & the City
• Hanegi Park, then Shinjuku Gyoen, then Ginza