Name
赤塚植物園万葉・薬用園
あかつかしょくぶつえんまんよう・やくようえん
Akatsuka shokubutsuen man’yō-yakuyōen
Akatsuka Botanical Garden: Garden of Man’yō and Medicinal Plants
Location
Tokyo
Address
東京都板橋区赤塚５－１７－１４
Akatsuka 5-17-14, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo
Contact
TEL: ０３（３５７９）２５３３ (Japanese only)
d-midori@city.itabashi.tokyo.jp (Japanese only)
Website
http://park.tachikawaonline.jp/plantes/3_akatsuka.htm
Opening hours
The garden is open seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (4:00 p.m. between December-February). It is closed between 28 December-4 January every year.
The Garden Office is closed every Monday, except when this falls on a public holiday, when it is closed the following working day.
Access
The garden is approximately 16 minutes walk from either Shimo akatsuka (下赤塚) or Narimasu (成増) stations on the Tōbu Tōjō line from Ikebukuro.
Alternatively, from the north exit of Narimasu station, take a bus bound for either Shimura sanchōme station (志村三丁目駅) or the west exit of Akabane station (赤羽駅西口) and get off at Akatsuka hacchōme (赤塚八丁目). The garden is approximately five minutes walk from this bus-stop.
Description
The Man’yō garden is reached by walking up the hill along the paths of the main botanical garden itself. Upon exiting the garden by the rear exit, one is immediately faced by the Man’yō garden. This is broadly divided into three sections, covering plants of the plains, plants of the mountains, and plants of the marshes. A small pond forms a centre piece for the garden, crossed by a zig-zag wooden bridge, while a series of gravel paths meander through the garden, past the plants, and occasional benches where one can take a rest and relax while contemplating the beauties of nature. The Man’yō plants are marked with plaques giving their modern Japanese name, Man’yō name, and a sample poem, and about 90 of the approximately 160 plants referenced in the Man’yōshū are represented.
Both the main Botanical Garden, and the garden of Man’yō and Medicinal Plants are mini-oases of nature in the midst of urban Tokyo, which account for their popularity with the local people, although when I visited, early on a weekday morning, just after opening time, they were virtually empty, giving a welcome moment of solitude and peace after the hectic pace of Tokyo life.
History
Akatsuka Botanical Garden was established as the first municipal botanical garden in Tokyo in 1981. It covers approximately one hectare and hosts about 600 different varieties of plants. The garden of Man’yō and Medicinal Plants was established later, in 1986, when the local government had the opportunity to acquire the land immediately behind the main garden and, given the Botanical Garden’s proximity to a number of cultural and religious facilities (Itabashi Art Museum, Jōrenji temple – home to the Big Buddha of Tokyo), it was decided that the extension to the garden should contribute to the cultural and educational character of the locality, resulting in the decision to create a garden of Man’yō and Medicinal Plants. Prior to the construction of the garden, the land was residential, and some of the established trees, being Man’yō plants themselves, were retained and incorporated into the garden when it was built.
Principal Plants
Marshland
| Java water dropwort | Rabbit ear Iris | Common Reeds | Water fringe |
Plains
| Cogon Grass Kudzu Fujibakama Japanese bindweed Japanese dock Paris Golden valerian |
Asiatic Dayflower Inutade Maiden grass Northeastern violets Yomena Superb pinks Madder |
Mountains
| Katakuri Mountain lily |
Okera Dwarf lilyturf |
Madder | Blackberry lily |
Trees and Other Plants
| Japanese pieris Japanese cherry Japanese bush cherry Deutzia Japanese big-leaf magnolia Hamilton’s spindletree Japanese bitter orange Torch azalea Kerria Japanese star anise Yamamomiji |
Pussy willow Peach Wisteria Japanese snowbell Japanese apricot Azusa Large flowererd barrenwort Japanese camelia Neem tree Asiatic Jasmine Kadsura |