Kōraku-en, Daimyo garden in Kita-ku, Japan.
Kōraku-en is a daimyo garden in Kita-ku that covers roughly 14 hectares and ranks among the three most celebrated landscape gardens in Japan. The grounds are organized around a central pond with several small islands, wooden and stone bridges, winding paths, open lawns, and traditional structures such as tea houses and pavilions that fit naturally into the surrounding scenery.
Ikeda Tsunamasa, fourth lord of Okayama domain, ordered his deputy Tsuda Nagatada to begin the garden in 1687; work took fourteen years and was largely complete by 1700. Lawns replaced the original rice fields and vegetable plots in 1771 under Ikeda Harumasa to cut costs. Bombing in June 1945 destroyed the En'yōtei and other Edo-period buildings, all rebuilt by 1967.
The name Kōraku-en comes from the phrase senyukōraku ("grieve earlier than others, enjoy later than others") in Fan Zhongyan's Memorial to Yueyang Tower; the garden was called Kōen until 1871. Cranes have been kept since 1956, when the Chinese scholar Guo Moruo gave two red-crowned cranes, and they are released in the grounds on New Year's Day.
The garden opens daily in the morning and closes around dusk, with exact hours shifting slightly with the seasons. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes for the paths and plan enough time to explore the full grounds at a relaxed pace.
Engetsu-kyo, one of Japan's earliest stone arch bridges, spans a narrow passage and reflects in the pond as a perfect circle when the water is still. Visitors often notice the unexpected rice paddies within the grounds, originally planted as a teaching tool so the young feudal lord could understand the life of farmers.
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