| Part of the area now known as Shinjuku was a piece
of land given by Tokugawa
Ieyasu, the warrior chieftain who set up the Edo shogunate (1603-1867), to
his loyal retainer Naito Kiyonari. There is an interesting anecdote about how
this property was bestowed. One day, on a falconry outing, Ieyasu told Kiyonari,
"I'll give you as much land as your horse can cover in the time it takes
for this stick of incense to burn." Losing no time, Kiyonari took off on
a swift horse and covered a lot of ground. As promised, Ieyasu kept his end of
the deal.
The park now known as Shinjuku
Gyoen was created from Naito's estate in 1906. Shinjuku Gyoen was designed
by a French gardener over a period of four years. Though originally created as
an imperial garden, this large park, a leafy oasis amid the bustle of Shinjuku,
was opened to the general public after World War II, in 1949.
For visitors worn out from shopping and elbowing the crowds, a stroll in Shinjuku
Gyoen is the ideal restorative. The famous park covers 60 hectares (about 150
acres) and cleverly blends elements of French, English, and Japanese gardens.
With over 20,000 trees flourishing within its bounds, the park is an unexpected
breath of fresh air in the heart of the city. Also inside the park is a large
greenhouse containing 1,700 species of tropical and subtropical plants. In Shinjuku
Gyoen, it is easy to forget space and time. |
