Last May, we Japanese have the succession of throne from Emperor Akihito to the current Emperor Naruhito. Emperor Naruhito will have two months long coronation ceremonies this October and November. Granted, until these ceremonies are over, he has not been introduced officially to the foreign countries. But, when I’ve met a casual Frenchman who described Akasaka Palace 赤坂御所 to his company such that “Guys, this is a guesthouse for foreigners,” I had a sort of urge to express my patriotism. I corrected his explanation (in front of those foreign guests), “Excuse me. This is the residence of our current Emperor.” FYI, yes, next to the area of Akasaka Palace, there is one building for state guests where they can stay. But it’s not within the Akasaka Palace which is the residences of Imperial family. At the moment, the Emperor, Crown Prince Fumihito and 3 other princes have their mansions in the forest of Akasaka Palace. Former Emperor and Empress will eventually move back to Akasaka Palace from the Imperial Palace as this was their sweet home where they nurtured their kids, Naruhito, Fumihito, and Sayako. The very close old couple is now undergoing cancer treatments. Former Emperor Akihito is having prognostic observation after prostate cancer operation. Former Empress Michiko has just finished an operation for her breast cancer. Considering their great age and conditions, Japanese government is currently building new residence in Akasaka Palace according to their new physical requirement. Until this is over, the grandparents were planned to stay in a royal residence in Takanawa 高輪 (in Shinagawa Ward) temporarily, and new Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako were supposed to move to the Imperial Palace. Having said that, there is no news for this royal house exchange to occur soon. I personally guess a good son Emperor Naruhito is thinking the health of his parents and tries to minimize physical impact for them by changing residences frequently. He’s commuting to his office in Imperial Palace from Akasaka. So, currently, Imperial Palace is for former Emperor and Empress, and Akasaka Palace is the place where our Emperor lives.
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| North
east corner of Imperial Palace. Beyond the moat is a part of the imperial forest. |
Encountering this rather rude foreign understanding of palaces in Tokyo, I recalled the difference of notion about “royal” things between Europe and Japan. Yeah, the house of Bourbon lived in a stone palace surrounded equally stone-made buildings in Paris, or a stone palace surrounded by extremely trimmed artificial rows of trees in Versailles. Japanese emperors have preferred more natural environment with suitable flora. So, when we look their residences from outside, they simply look like a forest. Imperial Place could be a typical example, and so for Akasaka Palace. Traditionally, rich and powerful Japanese love to have houses surrounded by forests, or “garden” for them, even if that was in the middle of megalopolis. When we examine a map of present-day Tokyo, large greenery areas are mainly to the west of Imperial Palace. That’s because this portion of Tokyo was once a property of direct families of Tokugawa Shogun 徳川家, a previous occupant of Edo Castle, aka Imperial Palace. House of Tokugawa kept their wealth and power from 1600 to 1868 (Meiji Restoration 明治維新). They were rich. Inevitably, their houses in Edo (Tokyo) were encircled by large greenery, and so, the west of Imperial Palace still has larger vegetation area. Akasaka Palace situates itself in the former property of Kishu Tokugawa Family 紀州徳川家 who donated this place to the Emperor in 1868. Actually, it was their mansion #1, one of Kishu Tokugawa’s three mansions in Edo. Between Edo Castle and Kishu Tokugawa mansion #1, there were Kishu Tokugawa’s mansion #2 and mansion #2 for the Lord of Hikone. Lord of Hikone, aka House of I’I 井伊家, was a family providing Viceroy for Shogun to manage national politics. His 2nd residence in Edo was also in a semi-forest at the very center of Tokyo. The current royal palaces in Tokyo are off-limit for us without permits from Imperial Household. In contrast, to experience the forest of Lord of Hikone, the only thing we have to do is to visit Hotel New Otani, a five-star hotel. This week, I tell you my adventure in Japanese Garden of Hotel New Otani, Tokyo.
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| Hotel New Otani |
Hotel New Otani is in former property of Lord of Hikone, at Akasaka Mitsuke 赤坂見附. From there, Akasaka Palace, Residence of Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Residence of President of the House of Councillors are about 5-10 minutes stroll. i.e. the hotel is in the center of Tokyo. At the time of Meiji Restoration, Lord of Hikone donated the place to the Emperor. It became a residence for Prince Fushimi-no-miya 伏見宮. The place was famous for its beautiful forest “garden.” During the World War II with the intensive bombings by Americans on Tokyo, it could not escape from the decay. After the war, there was pressure from the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces to sell the premise to some foreigners from Allies (; Government of France was interested in it, a gardener of the hotel told me). A steel magnate named Yonetaro Otani raised his hand to buy the entire property from the Imperial Family. For a while he made the mansion his private home and poured his money to restore the forest. Then, Tokyo became the place for 1964 Olympics (and the Paralympics; do you know the name Paralympics was first used for 1964 Games?). According to 1964 newspaper interview to Otani, Shojiro Kawashima, then Minister of Tokyo Olympics, asked him to open a world-class hotel in Tokyo. Otani replied to this call by constructing a BIG hotel on his land. The place became Hotel New Otani.
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| A
statue of Yonetaro Otani in the garden of the Hotel. |
Otani preserved the space for 350 years’ old forest “garden.” The house of Prince Fushimi-no-miya was became home for Otani. The architecture is now a part of Nadaman なだ万, a leading restaurant for Japanese traditional cuisine in Tokyo. The forest near “Garden Court” is made of the oldest trees some of which can be found its existence in the 18th century official document of Lord of Hikone. The hotel did more. After the opening, they expanded its facilities, which included a large civil engineering project to connect the original hotel (called “the Main” now) with the newer additions (like “Garden Tower”) which was planned to stand on the lower altitude along Kioicho Street 紀尾井町通. They brought in large rocks from all over Japan and constructed 6m high waterfalls using the difference in geographical elevations along a steep slope and water from the remnant of the outer moat for Edo Castle. The space is now called “Japanese Garden” of Hotel New Otani. The Garden takes a traditional style that features paths around ponds, and, in this case, dramatic waterfalls.
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| A
former house of the Prince Fushimi-no-miya, then of Mr. Otani, and now for Nadaman Restaurant. |
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| A man-made waterfall |
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| They have
two waterfalls in “Japanese Garden.” This one is smaller than the above. |
Now a cadre of specialized staff for the Hotel is quietly maintaining the Garden for 365 days. The vegetation, the meandering road in the garden, the water, the structures, dry landscapes with rocks and sands … all are immaculate thanks to their high professionalism. Not many visitors explore the deeper parts of the Garden. When you enter the oldest part of it with the 18th century trees, you can recall the tranquil solitude in a deep forest although next to us beyond the moat runs always uber-busy Metropolitan Expressway. I just wondered how the Lord of Hikone thought of this place. He was commuting to his office as a Viceroy in Edo Castle, 800m from there. Although there was no car or metro then, his environment of daily life would not have been much different from the jobs in skyscrapers for present-day national political scenes. He had such a daily luxury to immerse himself in “nature” before/after office ... Really? Near the entrance to Nadaman, there are two large ancient trees both of which are designated as Official Treasure for Chiyoda Ward. One is Japanese nutmeg-yew (Torreya nucifera), and another is yew plum pine (Podocarpus macrophyllus). In the Garden, they are pruned perfectly well. You cannot have such trees unless they were taken care of from the beginning … If they have stood in real wild, I think they would have had a different shape 400 years later. This is the Garden which can invoke the image of wild nature, but highly controlled man-made ecosystem that is centuries old. It’s a very Japanese garden forest.
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| You need this one for a Japanese garden, don’t you? |
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| The shrubs are perfectly managed. |
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| When we
look beneath the “crown” of the above photo, all the older stems are neatly mowed. Please imagine the effort to do beneath the 50cm tall any shrubs in the garden whose expanse is not at all trivial. When we can control the past stems in this way, the outer presence of the hedges in Japan will be perfect as it can circulate the air beneath and prevent any mildews or pests from flourishing in the bush. This is the work of professionals. |
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| Japanese
nutmeg-yew of House of I’i. The tree as a species tends to spread its branches wider than this individual if it’s left as is. We can find such Japanese nutmeg-yew in, for example, temples of Kamakura where trimming was not allowed for centuries. The shape is a testimony that this tree is “controlled.” |
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| Yew
plum pine. This one also has been heavily taken care of for centuries. |
I guess Akasaka Palace would be a similar kind of forest to the Garden of Hotel New Otani, although it would be far larger. For Imperial Palace, I’m not sure … As Emperor Hirohito was an extreme naturalist who did not allow to manicure his forest. (Please see my post on June 1st, 2018). In any case, it is surprising for us to find such places in the center of Tokyo of the 21st century. Forests are preserving traditional aesthetics secretly. Hmmmmmm … it may be difficult to understand such things for an accidental visitor from Paris. Please go and experience the space by yourself if you come to Tokyo. The best part of it is, its admission is FREE, and no need to stay in the 5-star facility. 😉
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| Viceroy’s deep forest in the center of megalopolis Tokyo. |
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| A part
of the Hotel, and a forest of skyscrapers. |
Hotel
New Otani
4-1
Kioicho, Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, 102-8578, Japan
Phone:
03-3265-1111
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