Kyu-Furukawa Gardens, Historic garden in Nishigahara, Japan
Kyu-Furukawa Gardens is a garden in Nishigahara in Japan that combines two separate sections: a western garden on a slope with a brick building and a Japanese garden at ground level with a pond. The design was created by Josiah Conder for the western part and Ogawa Jihei for the Japanese section.
Baron Toranosuke Furukawa had Josiah Conder design the Western mansion, completed in May 1917, and Ogawa Jihei VII the gardens, finished in 1919. The state took the property in 1947 for tax arrears, and it opened as a metropolitan park on 30 April 1956. It became a national Place of Scenic Beauty in 2006.
The rose garden holds about 100 varieties and 199 plants, and the mansion's ground-floor reception room repeats a rose motif. The pond in the Japanese garden is called Shinji-ike, its shoreline laid out in the shape of the kanji 心 (heart). The garden is known in Tokyo as a rose-viewing spot.
The garden is a short walk from Kami-Nakazato Station on the JR Keihin-Tōhoku Line or Nishigahara Station on the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line. It is open daily until 5 pm. The Western mansion can only be visited on guided tours held three times a day; advance booking is advised, especially during rose season.
The Japanese section uses traditional ropes hanging from maple tree branches in winter to protect them from snow damage. This technique called yukitsuri is practiced in many historic gardens across Japan but can be observed particularly well here.
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