Happo-en (Tokyo)

 park, tea house, interesting place, wedding / marriage venue

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www.happo-en.com/english/index.html (restaurant)

Happo-en Garden, literally meaning “beautiful from any angle”, is true to its name. It is one of the most beautiful Japanese gardens of Tokyo.

Happo-en Garden was originally built in the year 1600 by Hikozaemon Okubo, an adviser to the shogunate. He built the beautiful Japanese-style garden with his residence in the middle of it. The house is built in the style of a traditional Japanese tea ceremony house. The garden is full of trees with winding paths in between. The paths are lined on both sides by 200 year old bonsai trees. The other trees include cherries, maples, and azaleas, which make the garden an ideal place to visit in both the autumn and spring. Even in winter the garden is a beautiful view, often compared to a “fine sumi-e ink painting”. The garden also has a pond and a stone lantern that is said to be 800 years old.

The house in the garden is today a popular upmarket restaurant of the same name – Happo-en. Also nestled among the trees, overlooking the pond, is a teahouse – the Muan. This teahouse is very popular among tourists and is definitely a must for all visitors to Tokyo. Ladies dressed in kimonos welcome the guests and the master in ceremonial dress demonstrates the brewing of green tea in a large wooden bucket.

Happo-en Garden with its restaurant is also a popular place for local weddings. The Garden is open to the public from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

One of Tokyo’s finest hidden parks. Happo-en with its gorgeous Japanese Garden, Tea Ceremony houses and traditional Japanese house, is a dedicated place for every Japanese people looking for a unique place to celebrate their wedding, organize any kind of ceremony or just enjoy Japan tradition and finest cuisine.

Visiting Happo-en is free, but you may not always be able to fully enjoy the park when a weeding or a ceremony is taking place there, but like many of these traditional Japanese Park, Happo-en is an “island” of paradise surrounded by concrete, where traffic noise can’t be heard, where you can have a rest under the shade of a tree or near its little pound. Also, and depending the season you will be able to enjoy like I did, Happo-en amazing collection of Bonzai Tree with some as old as 500 year old.