Parks & Gardens in Japan

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Parks & Gardens

Japan's gardens are an art form in themselves: carefully composed landscapes of ponds, stone, moss, and seasonal blooms designed for quiet contemplation. From grand feudal gardens to city parks, they shift beautifully with the seasons.

What are the three great gardens of Japan?

Kenrokuen in Kanazawa, Kairaku-en in Mito, and Korakuen in Okayama are traditionally ranked as Japan's three great landscape gardens, each stunning in a different season.

When is the best time to visit Japanese gardens?

Every season has its highlight: cherry blossoms and fresh greenery in spring, cool shade in summer, fiery foliage in autumn, and snow-covered scenes in winter. Spring and autumn are the most popular.

Visual Art

ARTE TOKYO

A new autumn and winter arts festival in Tokyo, with outdoor works, circus and night events across Odaiba, Hibiya and Marunouchi, and Yoyogi and Shibuya.

10 Oct – 31 Dec 2026Tokyo

Park & Garden

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

City park in Hiroshima built after the 1945 atomic bombing to mourn its dead and pray for peace, with the Atomic Bomb Dome, memorials and a museum.

Hiroshima

Illumination

Okinawa Tropical Illumination

Illumination event set in a botanical garden featuring handmade warm lights creating a tropical resort atmosphere with new light displays this year.

23 Oct 2026 – 23 May 2027Okinawa

Park & Garden

Rikugien Garden

One of Edo's two great gardens, built by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu in Tokyo around a pond and hills, with 88 scenes drawn from waka poetry and Chinese classics.

Tokyo

Exhibition

Hibiya Art Park 2026 - Timeless Phenomena

Three artists set work through Hibiya Park in Tokyo for two weeks in November, in a programme run by the city alongside its flower and light displays.

13–29 Nov 2026Tokyo

Park & Garden

Umeno Park

Plum blossom park in Ome, Tokyo, with about 1,200 trees replanted from 2016 after plum pox, and a main venue of the Yoshino Baigo Plum Festival each spring.

Ome · Tokyo

Illumination

Sagamiko Illumillion

About six million lights on the hillsides of Sagamiko MORI MORI in Sagamihara, one of the Three Major Illuminations of Kanto, with music shows and night rides.

14 Nov 2026 – 9 May 2027Sagamihara · Kanagawa

Park & Garden

Nishinomaru Garden

Early Edo period daimyo garden on the slope of Wakayama Castle, built around a waterfall stone setting and the inner moat, and known for its autumn maples.

Wakayama

Autumn Leaves

Kunenan Autumn Public Opening

The autumn opening of Kunenan, a Meiji-era villa garden in Kanzaki, Saga, when its maples turn red over moss and a thatched house, with weekend music and tea.

14–29 Nov 2026Kanzaki · Saga

Park & Garden

Sanuki Manno Park

Shikoku's only state-run park, 350 hectares of seasonal flowers, lawns, playgrounds and cycling paths, with Shikoku's largest RV campground and a dog run.

Manno · Kagawa

Illumination

TERASU: Mejiro Garden Autumn Light-up

An autumn light-up of the pond garden at Mejiro Garden in Tokyo, with maples, a sukiya teahouse and lanterns lit after dark, plus concerts and food stalls.

21 Nov – 6 Dec 2026Tokyo

Park & Garden

Kenrokuen Garden

A strolling garden in Kanazawa laid out by the lords of Kaga over two centuries, counted among the Three Great Gardens of Japan.

Kanazawa · Ishikawa

Autumn Leaves

Rikugien Garden Night Autumn Viewing

Rikugien, one of Tokyo's best-known gardens for autumn leaves, opens after dark for about two weeks, with its maples lit and projections on an old storehouse.

25 Nov – 6 Dec 2026Tokyo

Park & Garden

Kunenan

The villa garden of the Itami family in Kanzaki, Saga, a national Place of Scenic Beauty known for its maples and moss, open only in spring and autumn.

Kanzaki · Saga

Illumination

TOKYO RED GARDEN

An autumn light-up at Happo-en in Tokyo: orange and red lights on the maples, ginkgo trees and pond of a Japanese garden with about 400 years of history.

27 Nov – 6 Dec 2026Tokyo

Historic Site

Tokushima Castle Ruins

Ruins of the Hachisuka family's castle in central Tokushima, with stone walls of local schist, a rebuilt main gate and a Momoyama-style garden.

Tokushima

Exhibition

The 76th Nagahama Bonbai Exhibition

Japan's largest exhibition of bonbai, plum trees artistically cultivated in pots, showing about 90 specimens rotated by blooming stage over 60 days.

10 Jan – 10 Mar 2027Exact date not confirmed yetNagahama · Shiga

Park & Garden

Ueno Park

Metropolitan park on the former grounds of Kan'ei-ji temple, opened in 1873 as one of Japan's first parks, with museums, a zoo and about 1,200 cherry trees.

Tokyo

What are the three great gardens of Japan?

Kenrokuen in Kanazawa, Kairaku-en in Mito, and Korakuen in Okayama are traditionally ranked as Japan's three great landscape gardens, each stunning in a different season.

When is the best time to visit Japanese gardens?

Every season has its highlight: cherry blossoms and fresh greenery in spring, cool shade in summer, fiery foliage in autumn, and snow-covered scenes in winter. Spring and autumn are the most popular.

Visual Art

ARTE TOKYO

A new autumn and winter arts festival in Tokyo, with outdoor works, circus and night events across Odaiba, Hibiya and Marunouchi, and Yoyogi and Shibuya.

10 Oct – 31 Dec 2026Tokyo

Park & Garden

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

City park in Hiroshima built after the 1945 atomic bombing to mourn its dead and pray for peace, with the Atomic Bomb Dome, memorials and a museum.

Hiroshima

Illumination

Okinawa Tropical Illumination

Illumination event set in a botanical garden featuring handmade warm lights creating a tropical resort atmosphere with new light displays this year.

23 Oct 2026 – 23 May 2027Okinawa

Park & Garden

Rikugien Garden

One of Edo's two great gardens, built by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu in Tokyo around a pond and hills, with 88 scenes drawn from waka poetry and Chinese classics.

Tokyo

Exhibition

Hibiya Art Park 2026 - Timeless Phenomena

Three artists set work through Hibiya Park in Tokyo for two weeks in November, in a programme run by the city alongside its flower and light displays.

13–29 Nov 2026Tokyo

Park & Garden

Umeno Park

Plum blossom park in Ome, Tokyo, with about 1,200 trees replanted from 2016 after plum pox, and a main venue of the Yoshino Baigo Plum Festival each spring.

Ome · Tokyo

Illumination

Sagamiko Illumillion

About six million lights on the hillsides of Sagamiko MORI MORI in Sagamihara, one of the Three Major Illuminations of Kanto, with music shows and night rides.

14 Nov 2026 – 9 May 2027Sagamihara · Kanagawa

Park & Garden

Nishinomaru Garden

Early Edo period daimyo garden on the slope of Wakayama Castle, built around a waterfall stone setting and the inner moat, and known for its autumn maples.

Wakayama

Autumn Leaves

Kunenan Autumn Public Opening

The autumn opening of Kunenan, a Meiji-era villa garden in Kanzaki, Saga, when its maples turn red over moss and a thatched house, with weekend music and tea.

14–29 Nov 2026Kanzaki · Saga

Park & Garden

Sanuki Manno Park

Shikoku's only state-run park, 350 hectares of seasonal flowers, lawns, playgrounds and cycling paths, with Shikoku's largest RV campground and a dog run.

Manno · Kagawa

Illumination

TERASU: Mejiro Garden Autumn Light-up

An autumn light-up of the pond garden at Mejiro Garden in Tokyo, with maples, a sukiya teahouse and lanterns lit after dark, plus concerts and food stalls.

21 Nov – 6 Dec 2026Tokyo

Park & Garden

Kenrokuen Garden

A strolling garden in Kanazawa laid out by the lords of Kaga over two centuries, counted among the Three Great Gardens of Japan.

Kanazawa · Ishikawa

Autumn Leaves

Rikugien Garden Night Autumn Viewing

Rikugien, one of Tokyo's best-known gardens for autumn leaves, opens after dark for about two weeks, with its maples lit and projections on an old storehouse.

25 Nov – 6 Dec 2026Tokyo

Park & Garden

Kunenan

The villa garden of the Itami family in Kanzaki, Saga, a national Place of Scenic Beauty known for its maples and moss, open only in spring and autumn.

Kanzaki · Saga

Illumination

TOKYO RED GARDEN

An autumn light-up at Happo-en in Tokyo: orange and red lights on the maples, ginkgo trees and pond of a Japanese garden with about 400 years of history.

27 Nov – 6 Dec 2026Tokyo

Historic Site

Tokushima Castle Ruins

Ruins of the Hachisuka family's castle in central Tokushima, with stone walls of local schist, a rebuilt main gate and a Momoyama-style garden.

Tokushima

Exhibition

The 76th Nagahama Bonbai Exhibition

Japan's largest exhibition of bonbai, plum trees artistically cultivated in pots, showing about 90 specimens rotated by blooming stage over 60 days.

10 Jan – 10 Mar 2027Exact date not confirmed yetNagahama · Shiga

Park & Garden

Ueno Park

Metropolitan park on the former grounds of Kan'ei-ji temple, opened in 1873 as one of Japan's first parks, with museums, a zoo and about 1,200 cherry trees.

Tokyo

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