A 400 years old Japanese garden

Established over 400 years ago, the garden next to the New Otani hotel is one of the oldest and the most beautiful Japanese gardens in Tokyo.

Originally built inside the Edo residency that was used by the famous samurai lord Kato Kiyomasa (the one who built the Kumamoto Castle), the garden was later owned by the Ii clan of Hikone, and then became the property of the Fushimi-no-miya family, one of the four branches of the Imperial Family of Japan.

During the modern period, the land became the property of Yonetaro Otani, who founded the New Otani hotel, construction that, between 1964 and 1968, was the tallest building in Japan. Of course, the hotel was carefully planned to preserve the garden and its surrounding walls dating back to the Edo Period.