Koishikawa Botanical Garden, Botanical garden and historic site in Bunkyo, Japan
Koishikawa Botanical Garden covers 161,588 square metres in Hakusan, Bunkyo, with a pond whose dark water reflects bare trunks and evergreens, edged by rounded rocks and low shrubs. Its collection holds about 4,000 plant species, among them a ginkgo and a cycad from which sperm were first described, Newton's apple and Mendel's grape.
The garden began in 1638 as shogunate herb gardens in Azabu and Otsuka, moved to Koishikawa in 1684 as the Koishikawa Oyakuen on the villa of Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. In 1722 the Koishikawa Yojosho clinic opened on the grounds after town doctor Ogawa Tadafune petitioned Yoshimune's suggestion box. It became a University of Tokyo facility in 1877 and was designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site in 2012.
The garden takes its name from the Koishikawa district and functions as a living research collection for Tokyo University. Visitors can observe how plant specimens are organized by family and purpose, reflecting Japan's long tradition of studying nature systematically.
The garden is accessible near Myogadani and Hakusan train stations, making it easy to reach by public transit. Weekday visits tend to be quieter, allowing more time to explore the different plant sections at a comfortable pace.
The herbarium holds about 1.7 million specimens, split between the garden and the University Museum; the third director, Bunzō Hayata, described over a thousand new plants from Taiwan, including Taiwania in 1906. Before photocopiers, Japanese botanists in Taipei traced type specimens here in pencil, and those rubbings survive at National Taiwan University.
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