During my short stay in Tokyo at the end of September, 2015, I was fortunate to have Dr. Yang Kuei Hsiang as my guide. In September 29, I was honored to have Tanaka Shōzō 田中昭三 and Prof. Hayashi Masako 林正子 in my company to visit a few Obaku related historical sites in Tokyo. Mr. Tanaka is an expert in Japanese gardens and published a lot on the topic. He introduced me to Kōraku-en 後樂園 next to the famous Tokyo Dome. It was built in 1630s by the Mito lord Mitsukuni 德川光圀. Advised by the Ming loyalist Zhu Shunshui 朱舜水, the garden was named after Mencius' famous words "Enjoy this pleasure only after becoming the worthies" “贤者而后乐此” (Mencius, Lianghuiwang chapter, part I). The garden is full of allusions to and imitations of famous sites in Chinese landscape, probably at the suggestion of Zhu Shunshui as well. We were joking that this was daimyo's Disneyland in Edo Japan.
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| Entrance to Korakuen, photo by Jiang Wu |
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| Su Dike 蘇堤 imitating Chinese West Lake in Hangzhou |
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| Chinese Style Arched Bridge, photo by Jiang Wu |
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| View from the Paved Path way from original entrance, photo by Jiang Wu |
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| Poster for a Conference on Donggao Xinyue and Mito Domain, photo by Jiang Wu |
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