From Hibiya Park to Arisugawa-no-Miya Memorial Park (Memorial Parque de Arisugawa-no-Miya)
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 5.05 mi
- Elevation gain
- 200 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 135 ft
- Max elevation
- 153 ft
- TrailRank
- 56
- Min elevation
- 42 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Coordinates
- 140
- Uploaded
- December 15, 2018
near Uchisaiwaichō, Tokyo (Japan)
Viewed 1268 times, downloaded 2 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
This is the first visit to this park since 1987 when I was still a university Student. I often visited this park for Tokyo Metropolitan Library. I sometimes ventured to the valley and pond area of the park. During mid 80s the park garden had been a bit ruined and the creek had little running water. Arch stone bridge stood over the fallen leaves. The park might have gone through some modification possibly after 2011 Tohoku earthquake damage. Running water, and creek are back giving the garden just the way it should be.
The park has a nice Japanese garden and lots of paths fit for pensive walking. Most of the park visitors are clustered around the pond area and the plazas near the Tokyo Metropolitan Library. But the northern part of the park far from the library is really quiet and you may find almost no one at this section. The garden has nice bridges varied in styles, such as zigzag bridges which are often referred to as Yatsuhashi, and you can also enjoy the view of the garden from the half-circle arch opening of the stone bridge. Just as the other landscape gardens in Tokyo the garden is a good example of incorporating the natural elevation gap.
Waypoints
Park
45 ft
Middle of Hibiya Park
The trail starts from the middle section of Hibiya Park. At this area close to Matsumotoro Restaurant, Event Square with Fountain and Haniwa Clay Figurines, the large scale events are often held on weekends. The most popular of which is Oktoberfest during summer time. Otherwise the park is oasis for business people. it is mostly the place for business people to relax or entertain the visitors from overseas or even to have business chat with them.
Lake
58 ft
Kumogata-ike Pond
Kumogata-ike Pond is one of the three ponds in the park and the area is also the place where original park design is nearly kept intact. The main feature of the pond is its crane foutain the third oldest fountain in Japan. The pond area has a wisteria terrace which is a nice place for a rest. When the pond was cleaned up in 2017, an old roof tile used for Saga Clan Samurai residence was found.
Door
98 ft
Kasumi Gate
Kasumi Gate is the entrance to the southwestern part of the park, adjacent to Kasumigaseki District where major government offices are located. It is close to Kasumigaseki Station of Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line.
Metro
81 ft
B2 Entrance/Exit of Kasumigaseki Station
Near the Kasumi Gate, there is an entrance B2 of Kasumigaseki Station of Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Station.
Metro
68 ft
Hibiya Line Kasumigaseki Station
Kasumigaseki Station of Marunouchi Line and that of Hibiya Line is approximately 200 meters apart. Follow the direction as shown in the photo and walk toward it. Take the train bound for NAKAMEGURO at Platform #3.
Metro
64 ft
Hiro-o Station
Hiroo Station is the closest station to Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park. Hiroo is also known to the expat district where a lot of oversea residents reside. The area has the international atmosphere. To get to the part get out from Exit #1.
Intersection
62 ft
Hiro-o Bashi Intersection
When you get out from Exit 1 you will soon get to the intersection named Hiroobashi （広尾橋）. Turn left to get to the park.
Waypoint
71 ft
Turn leftward
After walking for a few minutes you will get to the T intersention. Walk along the leftward road and toward the greenery area.
Information point
73 ft
Hiroo Entrance of the Park
Hiroo Entrance of the park is the lowest place of the park. From this corner, you will see two slopes NANBUZAKA SLOPE （南部坂）on the right side and KINOSHITAZAKA on the left side. There is an information map of the park with English description attached. According to this this area used to be the estate of Lord of Nambu, Magistrate of Mino Province during Edo period during early 17th to late 19th century. It became the property of Arisugawa-no-Miya family one of the main lineage of Imperial Family in 1896. It was bequeathed to Tokyo Metropolitan Government and was opened to public as a park in 1934. The park was changed from Metropolitan to Municipal park of Minato City in 1975.
Photo
74 ft
Viewing the Pond 1
Right after you enter the park from Hiroo entrance you will see a pond with two tiny islets and you will also see the Kotoji lantern similarly styled as that of Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa at the far end of the pond. There are two routes from the pond shore. Right pathway is the one directing to the Tokyo Metropolitan Library and the leftward pathway along the west shore of the pond and the creek. I chose the left pathway.
Park
77 ft
Path on the Higher Ground
As it was formerly the samurai residence, there was a earthwork between the park and the Kinoshitazaka Slope. There is a pathway on the earthwork for viewing the pond from the higher ground.
Photo
93 ft
Baby-like Stone Buddhas
Stone Buddha Statues, we often call jizos are often clad with aprons or head gears for winter. You can find such small stone buddhas on the trail close to the Kinoshita Slope. I guess someone close to the park changes clothes for the jizos as if the babies of their own. Such baby-like stone buddhas are also called WARABE-JIZO. Such stone buddhas are often set up in memory of lost children who died in accidents, illness or died before they were born.
Waypoint
104 ft
End of hill path
The pathway along the earthwork of former Samurai residence during Edo Period (1603-1868) ends in the midway of Kinoshita slope side of the park. When walking down you will find an arch bridge.
Bridge
108 ft
Stone Arch Bridge
This is an amazing stone bridge excellently striking balance between beauty and sturdiness. Usually this type of bridge has semi-circle opening under the stone bridge. The bridge added two minor semi-circle openings to give more strength to the bridge. For the most part stone bridges in Japanese gardens are ornamental rather than for practicality. But this one can be applied to larger ones. According to Yasuhiko Maejima who wrote about this park in 1983 this stone bridge was called Taikobashi and it was one of the main attractions of the park when it was opened to public in 1934. Now the running water of the creek returned the bridge is still an instagrammable object.
Bridge
107 ft
Minor Zigzag Bridge
In this park garden there are two zigzag bridges, this is the minor of the two. Such zigzag bridge is one of the main features of Japanese garden. It is often referred to Yatsuhashi based on the legend and poem of Heian era tanka poet Ariwara-no-Narihira more than 1,200 years ago. Yatsuhashi was originally made up of eight plates joined in zigzag manner but later on zigzag bridges with less plates are called this way.
Waterfall
104 ft
Waterfall
The waterfall emanates from the natural spring. It is a very small waterfall. This is one of the two waterfalls in this park.
Bridge
100 ft
Faux Bois Bridge
There are six bridges crossing the pond and creek of this park and five of them are made of Faux Bois (rocailleurs), reinforced concrete that is styled to look like wood. This bridge crosses over the upper part of the valley where spring water is emanating.
Intersection
109 ft
Park Trail 1
After I crossed the uppermost bridge I turned right to walk in the woods. Shortly there is a T intersection. I paused for a moment whether I go up or down. I then decided to turn right and went upward.
Tree
114 ft
Hiroba
After I went up steep path I was lured into the plaza where no souls were around. This densely wooded place was really quiet and relaxing.
Park
117 ft
Hiroba 2
As I got closer to Tokyo Metropolitan Library building I found another plaza at the back of the monument. It has the more deserted look than the larger plaza beyond the monument.
Park
119 ft
Open-air Stage
Right beside the monument there is a small outdoor stage for the event. And there is a larger plaza where children are playing.
Park
118 ft
Hiroba 3 and Prince Arisugawa Takehito Statue
The plaza right behind the Tokyo Metropolitan Library with a small outdoor stage is the largest of the three plazas in this park. There is a children's playground adjacent to the plaza. As you can see the children playing there might not be Japanese. Right there you can even meet the visitors/residents from the same nationality. At the end of the larger plaza near the park administrative office building there is a statue of Prince Arisugawa Takehito former owner of the park area.
Photo
118 ft
Statue of Newspaper Delivery Boy
During 1950s newspaper deliveries had been done mainly by elementary and junior high school boys. In 1958 Japan Newspaper Delivery Association and other related groups started to build statues of delivery boys to thank and encourage them. The statue in Arisugawa-no-miya Park is one of the earliest of such statues. It was carved by Kyoko Asakura, a daughter of renowned Japanese sculptor Fumio Asakura.
Park
116 ft
Children's Playground
This is the only children's playground in this park where there are swings, sandbox for small children. In this place you will hear the children speaking various languages.
Information point
115 ft
Park Administrative Office and Clock Tower
Near the park administrative office there is a nice clock tower that can be a nice place to get together.
Photo
117 ft
Statue of the Youth Playing the Flute
The statue is in the middle of picnic area called Dango-yama (literally dumpling hill). The statue was sculpted by Yasutake Funakoshi known by a lot of works such as "the Relief Monument of 26 Martyrs" in Nagasaki and "The statue of Lady Tatsuko" at Lake Tazawa.
Picnic
114 ft
Dango-yama (Cherry Viewing Place)
This area is a nice place for a picnic and is a good place for viewing cherry blossoms during early April.
Ruins
111 ft
Building Ruins
At the northeastern corner of the park close to the library you can see the base stones of the old building. The level hilltop area used to have the resident houses before the park was opened to public.
Monument
117 ft
Tokyo Metropolitan Library
This Metropolitan Library opened in 1973 is one of the largest public library in Japan with more than 1.8 million books. While this library is open to public even to people outside Minato ward or Tokyo Metropolis, borrowing the books from this library is not available.
Door
111 ft
Old Gate
Entrance Gate for Green Space mainly used for picnic at the east of the library
Door
112 ft
Main Gate
This gate is supposed to be the Main Gate of the Park. Most of the park visitors, however, enters the park from Hiroo Gate.
Park
115 ft
Curved Trail with Sasa Bamboo and Azalea
The trail going down from the children's playground to the pond is a nice trail with sasa bamboo, hedges and azaleas.
Tree
103 ft
Hedges
The down trail near the Nambuzaka Trail is lined with hedges (possibly Camellia sasanqua) and some resting place to relax.
Lake
86 ft
Viewing Minor Islet
Now getting down to pond area, from this point you can have a closer look at Kotoji Lantern. Close to the lantern is the minor of the two islands in the pond.
Waypoint
90 ft
Kotoji Lantern
Kotoji Lantern is a kind of the snow-viewing lanterns and the most popular one can be seen in Kenroku-en Garden in Kanazawa. As most of the snow-viewing lanterns in Tokyo gardens are extra large and stocky to show off the garden owner's wealth, the park's Kotoji lantern is sigh of relief.
Metro
64 ft
Hiroo Station 2
Now back to Hiroo Station. The closest Yamanote Line station from Hiroo is Ebisu known for Ebisu Garden Place. Take the train bound for Nakameguro again.
Train stop
109 ft
Ebisu Station
Ebisu Station is one of the railway stations of JR Yamanote Line. Trains departing from #1 platform are bound for Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro while those from #1 platform are for Shinagawa, Shimbashi, Tokyo and Ueno. From Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line Ebisu Station you will have to walk a little to get to JR Ebisu Station.
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Getting to Know Arisugawa no Miya Memorial Park 1
Japan Visitor: Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park
https://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-parks-gardens/arisugawa-park
Tatsuko Statue at Lake Tazawa sculpted by Yasutake Funakoshi who created "The Boy Playing the Flute" at Arisugawa-no-miya Park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pneYVhdqzF4
Minato Travel in General
The Best of Tokyo- Visit Minato City
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGyMr7VfV9Y
Hiroo, Tokyo, Japan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbo5taSqS2g