Asukayama Park (Tokyo)

 park, interesting place

The park was started by the eighth shiogun Yoshimune who had cherry trees planted here in 1720, as part of the greeting-the-city program.

The park is a showplace of cherry blossoms. Many people attend the cherry blossom viewing party.

admission: Free

inquiry:
Kita City , Urban Policy Division, Road and Park Section, Park and River Subsection
TEL:03-3908-9275
FAX:03-3908-8336
URL:www.city.kita.tokyo.jp/
docs/facility/055/005518.htm(in Japanese)

description:
The 8th Tokugawa shogun Yoshimune planted plenty of cherry trees for pleasure and opened the land to the public, which became the origin of Asukayama Park, the first public park in Japan. Here you will find a stone monument, the Asukayama no Hi, that has been designated a cultural property by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and another monument, the Ofu no Hi, dedicated to Sakuma Shozan, the Edo-period scholar. The entire park has become a New Tokyo Landmark. Asukayama is also a mother lode of archeological treasures from the Pre-ceramic, Jomon and Yayoi periods, and the remains of an ancient village with surrounding moats have been found here. In 1998, three museums were opened in the park: the Kita City Asukayama Museum, the Shibusawa Memorial Museum, and the Paper Museum.
Also, there are a playground, an open-air stage, a steam locomotive and a streetcar on display, and fountains reminding of waterfalls which were once plentiful here (three still remain in Nanushino-Taki Koen to the north).