Hibiya Park and The Imperial Palace

Yesterday was our first sizable earthquake since I've been over here. It was about 100 km from Tokyo, and the 5.5 made the IBM building roll and shake. The quake lasted for about 4 minutes with a rolling motion, then a shake followed by a final roll. there was no question that there had been an earthquake. 

This morning, I woke up early so I could sneak in a trip to the Emperial Gardens before work   I took a train from just outside my hotel to head back to Otemachi. Getting to the train was easy, but finding my way out of the subway once to Otemachi was a little difficult. Finally, I found the exit (出口). Even though exit is writen in English, learning the Japanese is helpful in places like a subway. I finally found sunlight and took a few moments to get my bearings. The subway has multiple exits, and I wasn't sure which one I left out of. I quickly found a map and oriented myself. The Palace gardens were not far away, and navigating the to the palace was fairly easy.

On the way, I found an interesting shrine dedicated to Masakado-zuka. Masakado was a Robin Hood of the Kanto region and a local hero. Masakado was killed fighting the government in 940 and his head was put on display in Kyoto.Legend say his head flew all the way back to Kanto where it is enshrined today. Masakado was declared a god and a shrine was built honoring him. Unlike most Shinto shirnes I've been to, this one did not have the bright red and white flags. Instead, it had black and white flags representing death.

To my dismay, I arrived  at the Palace, and it was closed until 9 am, when I was scheduled to meet my team. Disappointed, I still took the opportunity to walk around the palace walls. 

Imperial Palace Wall

The walls of the palace and the parks surrounding it have been reduced significantly over the years, but it is still a massive area. In the morning, the paths around the palace are busy with runners making the 10 km loop.remain palace walls are surrounded by a large moat and some sections of the wall were under repair.

Palace wall under repair

I made a quick stop by the Nijubashi Bridge on my way around the palace walls. The Nijubashi is on the must see list for Tokyo. I'm not sure why. It is neat loking bridge, but I thought the Buddhakon much more impressive. the bridge is opened on the Emeperor's birthday and state visits. Like most of the palace gates, the Nijibashi does't see a lot of action.

Near the Palace is the statue of Kusunoki_Masashige. There wasn't any information about the statue, so I looked up Susunoki on the web. He is considered the ideal Samurai. Greatly outnumbered, Kusunoki followed his Emperor's wishes and met  Takauji's forces on the field of battle. When the battle Kusunoki realized he would be taken prisoner, he committed suicide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusunoki_Masashige

Kusunoki wih the sun behind his back.

Hibiya Park

I was disappointed that I could not enter the imperial garndens, but I was very surprised with a small park near the palace called. Hibiya Park (日比谷公園,) Hibiya is a western style sunken garden with Japanese.  influence. The park had a mixture of western fountains, ponds and flowers, but the Japanese influence permeates the flowers and shrubs that fill the park. I entered the park at Hodokyo Gate and immediately noticed a small fountain.

A Hibiya fountain

The stairs to the immediate left mark one of many paths up and around a set of rock features that was designed to be an exercise area. Although I had looked at the map, I had enough time to explore the park with little direction. 

 The park was filled with gifts and dedications, but I found this one was a little odd. It is a replica of the US Liberty Bell. Ironically, the bell was given to the Japanese during post war occupation.

The crane fountain sits in the center of Shinji-ike pond. Apparently, the wings on the crane are draped with icicles in the winter when it freezes. The shores of the pond had a brilliance of reds and greens that I saw nowhere else in the park. The fish in the pond were the length of my arm, and looked to be well fed. There was a small sitting area with a stone leading to the pond where the fish congregated.

Shinji-ike pond

I continued on my walk through the dogwood forest. The dogwoods were gifted by the New York city to Tokyo in 1961. Just like the Cherry Blossom tree is not native to the United States, the dogwood is not native to Japan.

Dogwood Forest

One of the most interesting features in the park is the Kubi-kaki Ginko. The tree was scheduled to be cut down around 1899 with the expansion of the road around the park. The Kubi -Kaki was the largest ginko in the park, snf Dr. Seroku Honda lobbied the Tokyo government to move the tree. The tree was sucessfully transplanted where it remains today. The name Kubi-kaki mean head staking and is attributed to a quote from Dr. Honda who said. " I will have it transplanted even if my head is put on a stake. It took me a few shots with my camra to get the hole tree. I used photoshop to stich it together for the shot. 

Kubi-Kaki Ginko

I think I'll close with random pictures of the park and flowers.