Holiday in Nagoya (1) - Tokugawa Garden & Art Museum

Nagoya is the biggest city in Central Japan and the capital of Aichi Prefecture. On a weekend in October, the city has a big event called Nagoya Festival every year with a parade of local historical personages Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. All of them were warriors in the Sengoku (Warring States) Period who were from present Aichi Prefecture. Among them, Tokugawa Ieyasu was the one who established the shogunate in Edo (present Tokyo) in 1603. It was the beginning of the Edo Period that lasted until 1868.

I thought it might be interesting to see the parade but didn’t want to be in a crowd. According to the website of the festival, there would be some admission-free sightseeing spots in Nagoya on October 20, the second day of the festival. So, I went there anyway. I took a local train to Toyohashi (the last station) at 8:32 and changed to a special rapid train bound for Ogaki. I got off at Kanayama (in Nagoya), changed to Chuo Main Line bound for Tajimi, and got off at Ozone.

The first destination was Tokugawaen (Tokugawa Garden), which is about 15-minute walk from the station. It is a large Japanese garden whose premises once belonged to the Owari Tokugawa family, a branch of the Tokugawa clan. According to Tokugawaen’s website (also available in English), they were donated to the city in 1931. The present garden was opened in 2004. Its style is that of a daimyo garden constructed by feudal lords during the Edo Period.

When I entered the garden, I was surprised to see a big pond in front of me. As it was one the admission free spots, there were many people strolling in the garden, however, it wasn’t too many. Some of them were feeding carps in the pond. I walked toward the house that was seen beyond the water.

There was a big maple tree whose leaves are turning red. In deep autumn, this tree and the entire garden will surely look beautiful.

In the house, they had a jazz concert. I passed there and came to this stone stairs.

While climbing up the stairs, I saw a water flow.

There was a wooden bridge near the top of the stairs.

The garden was so large that I didn’t really know where to go.

In Tokugawaen, you can forget that you are in a city with population of more than 2.3 million. It is an oasis of the metropolis.

I don’t know their name, but they were pretty.

I enjoyed walking in the garden. It was very refreshing. Beside the garden, there is Tokugawa Art Museum, and I visited there as well (the museum wasn’t admission free).

In the entrance hall, there was an armor

and big map of the present Aichi Prefecture and surrounding areas with old provincial names. As it was based on a drawing in the middle of the Edo period, each area looked distorted. At the lower right of the map, there was Totouminokuni（遠江国）or Enshu, the present western Shizuoka Prefecture, where Hamamatsu is located. The area where Nagoya is located was called Owarinokuni (尾張国). In front of the map, there was a comic foreground of Yoshinao, who was the ninth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was the earliest ancestor of the Owari Tokugawa family and the first feudal lord of the Owari Domain.

In this museum, you can see items used by Tokugawa Ieyasu and members of the Owari Tokugawa family, as well as a noh stage and a tea room. It was prohibited to take pictures in the exhibition rooms, but you can see some exhibits on their website that has also pages in English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean. Personally, I was interested in items for princesses. I heard that they have a special exhibition of their hina dolls in spring every year. It must be splendid to see them.

I got out of the premises from the gate called Kuromon (black gate). It was completed in 1900 as the main gate of the Owari Tokugawa family residence and survived air raids during the World War II. I thought it was miraculous.