After visiting Sunpu Castle in Shizuoka City in the morning, I also went to the Momijiyama Garden. It’s actually located within the Sunpu Castle Park, so it only makes sense to visit it as well.
Momijiyama Garden: A place of beauty and tradition
Momijiyama Garden (紅葉山庭園) is located within Sunpu Park next to Sunpu Castle in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture (map).
It’s a rather small garden, but nonetheless beautiful and worth a visit if you have a few extra minutes to spare. You can even get a combined ticket for the garden and the castle (check out the “tourist information” table at the end of this post for more details).
The garden displays Japan’s beautiful scenery in 4 different sub-gardens:
Garden of the Village (里の庭: Sato no Niwa）
Right upon entering you’ll see a lot of different flowers, plants and a wooden pavilion. There’s a wooden bridge that is surrounded by irises in late May / early June.
Garden of the Mountain Village (山里の庭: Yamazato no Niwa)
The small hill you see in the photo represents a miniature Mt. Fuji and is located in the center of the garden. If you stand on top of the hill, you’ll have a great view of the whole garden.
In addition, the plants which decorate the lower part represent the terraced tea fields of Shizuoka.
Garden of the Sea (海の庭: Umi no Niwa)
If you stand between all the pines and face the pond with the sandy white beach below, it feels like you’re at the seashore.
The rocks in the pond and on the opposite shore symbolize the scenic Izu area which is known for its beautiful landscapes.
Garden of the Mountain (山の庭: Yama no Niwa)
There are two different, very small waterfalls. They symbolize the beautiful mountain landscape of Japan.
Unkai Tearoom:
There’s also a tearoom (not pictured) which is called Unkai (雲海, lit.: sea of clouds). It’s a large house that is used for various occasions such as tea ceremony, flower arrangement, exhibitions or haiku parties.
It’s a beautiful small garden, but yet there’s so much to see. Personally I really liked it!
If you have a few minutes and 150 yen to spare, then definitely go!
Combined admission for Sunpu Castle: 300 yen (adult); 80 yen (children)
5-10 mins walk from Shin-Shizuoka Station.
After spending the early morning in the Sunpu Castle Park, I was off to visit Nihondaira around noon. Usually it offers an extremely beautiful view of the ocean and Mt. Fuji, but stay tuned to see if that’s really true! .gif)
A very pretty garden indeed!
It’s small enough that a single person could have it as a garden, but I guess it takes a LOT of people to take care of it! ;)
Small but looks like it packs a punch. Love how there are 4 different and distinct areas of the garden.
That’s what I liked most about the garden as well! ^__^
Beautiful place! I love the wooden bridge! Haven’t seen this type of design before. Lovely!
Now that you mention it, I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen that type of bridge before, either. It might be rather unique?!