Japanese Gardens
Japan's gardens are landscapes composed like paintings — ponds and pines arranged for a slow walk, rock and gravel raked into oceans, temple grounds built for contemplation. This guide lists 886 gardens across all 47 prefectures, including 29 gardens designated Special Places of Scenic Beauty by the Japanese government, with locations, maps and links to each garden's official website.
The Three Great Gardens of Japan
Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, Korakuen in Okayama and Kairaku-en in Mito have been celebrated for centuries as Japan's three great feudal lords' gardens. Start here if you visit only three.
Browse gardens by prefecture
Hokkaido
Tohoku
Kanto
8 gardensTochigi
7 gardensGunma
10 gardensSaitama
17 gardensChiba
22 gardensTokyo
78 gardensKanagawa
34 gardens
Chubu
13 gardensToyama
14 gardensIshikawa
11 gardensFukui
11 gardensYamanashi
8 gardensNagano
13 gardensGifu
12 gardensShizuoka
28 gardensAichi
32 gardens
Kansai
10 gardensShiga
25 gardensKyoto
130 gardensOsaka
34 gardensHyogo
44 gardensNara
28 gardensWakayama
16 gardens
Chugoku
Shikoku
Kyushu & Okinawa
27 gardensSaga
5 gardensNagasaki
10 gardensKumamoto
8 gardensOita
1 gardensMiyazaki
5 gardensKagoshima
11 gardensOkinawa
14 gardens
About this guide
Every garden here is documented in open data (Wikidata, CC0), and nationally designated gardens are marked with their cultural property status. Fees, opening hours and seasonal closures are not guessed — each garden's official website, linked on its page, is the place to check before visiting. Japan also has hundreds of small neighbourhood and private gardens that open data has not caught up with yet; this guide grows as the data does.
Looking for more of Japan? See the GIZUMO Network page for our other English guides.