Tokyo’s Hama-rikyu Gardens opens for autumn moon viewing

Tokyo’s historical Hama-rikyu Gardens will host its first tsukimi autumn moon-viewing event in 10 years from Wednesday, extending its opening hours and allowing visitors to enjoy the gardens by moonlight.

During the event period (running daily through October 10), visitors to the gardens in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward will be able to take an evening walk through the grounds between a number specially illuminated features and displays designed to reflect the autumn custom of celebrating kuri-meigetsu, the “chestnut harvest moon.”

(Elaborately trimmed giant pine tree, dating from 1709, illuminated in Hama-rikyu Gardens as part of the special autumn moon-viewing event.)

Among the moon-viewing features, visitors will be able to project their own silhouette against the white wall of the garden’s Tsubame-no-ochaya tea house for a unique photo opportunity with other garden-related motifs. 

At Matsu-no-ochaya, silhouettes of the shogun who used to enjoy these gardens during the Edo period will be projected on the shoji sliding doors of the tea house. During the event period, visitors can enter the building to take pictures of the andon lantern display.  

(Silhouettes of the shogun at tea house Matsu-no-ochaya, Hama-rikyu Gardens.)

(Andon lanterns illuminate the Matsu-no-ochaya tea house, Hama-rikyu Gardens.)

A moon-viewing altar has been constructed on a lawn near the Shioiri-no-ike pond, said to be the ideal spot for viewing the gibbous moon. Chestnuts, beans and mochi rice cakes, among other items, are placed on the altar as offerings to the gods. 

Weather permitting this area of the gardens will echo with the haunting sounds of Japanese court music, known as gagaku, with musicians giving scheduled performances from a boat on the waters of Shioiri-no-ike. 

(Gagaku musicians pass by the Nakajima-no-ochaya tea house, Hama-rikyu Gardens.)

(Gagaku musician, Hama-rikyu Gardens.)

The custom of autumn moon viewing, or tsukimi, became popular in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1867). Moon-viewing events were held as a way for people to give thanks for the season’s harvest and to pray for plentiful future harvests.

Two moon-viewing events would typically take place in autumn - “Jugoya” on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, and “Jusanya” on the 13th day of the ninth month. These days usually fall in September and October respectively, according to today's calendar. 

This year will be the first time for Hama-rikyu to host a moon-viewing event on Jusanya, inspired by the success of past events held for Jugoya at the Mukojima-Hyakkaen Gardens in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward.

“We would like people to experience the culture of viewing not only the full moon (on Jugoya) but also the beautiful moon on Jusanya,” Yoko Kitamura of the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association said during a preview of the event on Tuesday.

“When we held the illumination event here 10 years ago, people enjoyed a quiet time just gazing up at the moon. Our concept is for visitors to be able to quietly enjoy moon viewing like people did during the Edo period, in a place that has remained largely unchanged since those times,” she said.

During the event period the gardens will be open from 9am to 9pm (with last admissions at 8:30pm). Some event content and schedules will vary depending on the day and the weather conditions. 

Hama-rikyu Gardens dates back to the mid-17th century when the younger brother of Japan’s ruler, the fourth Tokugawa Shogun, Ietsuna, built a residence on land reclaimed from what is now Tokyo Bay. The gardens reached completion during the rule of the 11th shogun, Ienari. After WWII the gardens were handed over to the City of Tokyo and opened to the public in April 1946.   

Event information in English: Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association

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