Kairakuen Main Garden Admission Ticket (Ibaraki)

About this activity

Kairakuen is one of Japan's three most famous gardens, along with Kenrokuen in Kanazawa and Korakuen in Okayama. It was built in 1842 by Tokugawa Nariaki, the ninth lord of the Mito domain, and was named Kairakuen because he wanted it to be a place for the people to enjoy together.

The spacious garden is planted with 3,000 plum trees of about 100 varieties, and the plum festival, held every year from mid-February to late March, allows visitors to enjoy the garden to the fullest as the plum trees bloom. After the plum season ends, the garden is decorated with cherry blossoms, azaleas, and in September, bush clover. Kobuntei is a two-story, three-story wooden building located in Kairakuen, said to have been designed by Tokugawa Nariaki, the ninth lord of the Mito domain himself. It is noted that Nariaki invited literati, vassals, and people from within his domain to enjoy poetry and tea ceremonies.