Visiting Omicho Market was definitely one of the highlights of Kanazawa. The market is a warren of narrow covered alleys lined with up to 200 stores. Judy and I love markets generally, and this is a good one. We went there every day during our time there.
OK, back to Japan. We left Tokyo, going by train to the much smaller city of Kanazawa, a historic castle town. One of the gates to Kanazawa Castle.
You’ve heard of the power lunch, power walk, and power nap, right? Well, Koishikawa Korakuen is a power garden. It was commissioned in the 17th Century by a member of the ruling Tokugawa clan. The name means “the garden for enjoying power later on”, at least according to the Tokyo Parks website.
Rikugien was completed around 1700, commissioned by the son of a high-ranking official. Eventually, it was purchased by the family that owns Mitsubishi, then turned over to the public. This was our second visit to this garden, since we were here last August.
So when we left off telling you about our trip to Japan we had just gotten off the Sumida River water bus at the Akasuka stop. From there we were walking to Sensoji, one of Tokyo’s most venerable Buddhist Temples. Alas, it was still raining.
So where were we? Oh right, Judy and I had just gotten on the Tokyo Water Bus at the Hama Rikyu Garden stop. We decided we would take the Sumida River Line to Asakusa, then get off and walk to the Sensoji Temple.
Our first day in Tokyo this past September, Judy and I visited Hama Rikyu Garden. Some four hundred years ago this garden consisted of a shallow pond and marshland used by feudal lords for duck hunting. Today, however, it is surrounded by the skyscrapers of downtown Tokyo.
So this will be my last post about the 2017 Garden Bloggers’ Fling, and it seems right and proper to end with one of the very best of the many fine gardens we visited.
So here’s a garden that’s settled in among the hills, fields, and estates of Virginia’s horse country.
Now for some more gardens from the Garden Bloggers Fling back in June. Lets look at a couple of smaller gardens in the Washington, DC suburb of Arlington Virginia.
gardeninacity 