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After visiting Kenroku-en 兼六園 and Kairaku-en 偕楽園, we end the tour of Three Great Gardens of Japan for our Today’s Japan Photo series by visiting Koraku-en 後楽園.

The photo was taken by flickr user markfountain52. This time round I decided to choose a photo without a snow scene but the garden still look just as beautiful.

Here’s a little more background info on Koraku-en [後楽園]:

Koraku-en [後楽園] is a Japanese garden located in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture. It is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan, along with Kenroku-en and Kairaku-en. Korakuen was built in 1700 by Ikeda Tsunamasa, lord of Okayama. The garden’s form almost had turned into the modern form in 1863.

In 1687, the daimyo Ikeda Tsunamasa ordered Tsuda Nagatada to begin construction of the Korakuen. It was completed in 1700 and has retained its original appearance to the present day, except for a few changes by various daimyo. The Korakuen is one of the few daimyo gardens in the provinces where historical change can be observed, thanks to the many Edo period paintings and Ikeda family records and documents left behind. The garden was used as a place for entertaining important guests and also as a spa of sorts for daimyo, although regular folk could visit on certain days.

In 1884, ownership was transferred to Okayama Prefecture and the garden was opened to the public. The garden suffered severe damage during the floods of 1934 and during World War 2 bombing in 1945, but has been restored based on Edo period paintings and diagrams. In 1952, the Korakuen was designated as a “Special Scenic Location” under the Cultural Properties Protection Law and is managed as a historical cultural asset to be passed to future generations.