A shogun’s duck-hunting estate turned public garden, where a tidal pond fills and empties with the bay and a 300-year-old pine spreads over the entrance path. Hamarikyu dates from 1654 and sits at the mouth of the Sumida, with the glass towers of Shiodome rising directly behind its teahouse, a contrast that has become the garden’s trademark view. Duck blinds, a grove of plum trees and a peony garden fill the rest of the 25 hectares.
Walk from Tsukiji after the market, do a slow lap of the pond, then sit in the teahouse with tea. The garden is rarely crowded and the mixture of old pine and new glass works best in the late afternoon light.
Tips
- Drink matcha and a seasonal sweet at the Nakajima teahouse on the island in the middle of the tidal pond
- A water bus runs from the garden's pier up the Sumida River to Asakusa, a fine way to leave
- The flower field by the entrance turns yellow with rapeseed in February and red with cosmos in autumn