Okayama Korakuen Garden, Chugoku, Japan

4.5 (1.720 reviews) Saturday: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Spent 1-2 hours Ranking #1 in Chugoku Gardens

Beautiful garden

In 1687, daimyō (feudal lord) Ikeda Tsunamasa ordered his vassal Tsuda Nagatada to begin the construction of a new garden. The groundwork took 13 years until 1700, but since then the garden has retained most of its original appearance across the Edo period (1603-1868) until the present day. The garden was used as a retreat as well as a place for entertaining guests, although people of the fiefdom too could visit it on certain occasions. As time went by, successive daimyōs slightly modified the garden adding and removing hills, lawns, ponds and buildings, but the initial concept of Korakuen as a wide, bright space offering beautiful inner and outer vistas remained constant and unaltered. In 1884, the ownership of Korakuen was transferred to Okayama Prefecture and the garden was opened to the general public: since then it is carefully managed as a historical cultural asset to be passed down to future generations.
Chugoku review images

Address

Korakuen 1-5, Okayama 703-8257 Okayama Prefecture

Mobile

+81 86-272-1148

Website

http://okayama-korakuen.jp/

Working hours

Monday : 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday : 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday : 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday : 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday : 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday : 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday : 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Current local date and time now

Saturday, May 11, 2024, 20:11

User Ratings

4.5 based on (1.720 reviews)

Excellent

50%

Good

39%

Satisfactory

10%

Poor

Terrible

Reviews

5jarmwr40 5:00 PM Feb 9, 2021
give yourself time to explore this wonderful garden.
am finally able to relate our experiences of our 2019 exploring trip rather than a working trip to japan. covid knocked me for a loop. visited hiroshima first and then takamatsu before coming along here. stayed at the wonderful ana crowne plaza, located beside the station. this garden was only a 30 minute walk from our hotel. built in 1700, a wonderful spot with an uncommon large lawn area. 133,000 square m., on the n. bank of the asahi river. 100 maple trees and 100 plum trees, not in their glory when we visited. the scenic promenade has a new view at every turn of the path which connects the ponds, hills, streams, teahouses and tea and rice fields. the okayama castle lends itself as the borrowed scenery. this was a wonderful reprieve. it is one of the 3 great gardens of japan. severely damaged by fire in 1934 and during the war in 1945, and restored based on well kept edo period diagrams and paintings. i could have spent more time here. so much to explore and enjoy. a wonderful and amazing garden. from here one can access the okayama castle by way of the south gate crossing the tsukimi bridge.
5ellen r 5:00 PM Feb 24, 2020
Beautiful garden
We stopped here on a day trip from Kyoto to Hiroshima on the Shinkansen. It is one of the three great Japanese strolling gardens and even in the rain it was magnificent with its plum blossoms, lake, rice fields, camellia garden and more. We saw Geisha strolling and a view of the adjacent castle.It was magical!