Taito City Culture Guide Book, Relaxing at the Tokyo National Museum

The garden of the Tokyo National Museum is a museum of cherry blossoms as well as hundreds and thousands of flowers, plants and trees.

Ornaments on the exterior wall of Honkan

Porcelain lantern

Memorial stele for the founding director of the museum, Hisanari Machida
He was born in Satsuma (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture) in 1838. He traveled to England in 1865. After returning to Japan, he laid the foundation for museums in Japan.

Five-storied pagoda
The bronze pagoda is 570cm tall. The carved inscription on the podium reads: "Horyuji Temple in the country of Yamato, the first year of the Genroku Period on a day of the 12th month, from the Shogun Joken-in Tsunayoshi Tokugawa (translation)," which means that the 5th Shogun Tsunayoshi Tokugawa donated the pagoda to Horyuji Temple.

View of Honkan from the garden

Hibiscus mutabilis
The white flowers change to red at dusk. The color change is associated with the changes in face color of a person who is drunk, so the flower is called Suifuyo as "Sui" means "getting drunk" in Japanese. Beside Honkan.

Red and white hibiscuses by Li Di, National treasure / Southern Sung Period, (portion)
"Red and white hibiscuses" owned by the museum depicts Hibiscus mutabilis.

Flowers of sasanqua which add color to winter

Violet orychophragmus which signals the arrival of spring

Cherry tree beside Kujokan

Tulip tree
It is a species in the magnolia family and native to eastern North America. It is also called "Hantenboku" in Japanese. The flowers resemble lilies or tulips. A large tulip tree stands in front of Honkan.

Edo-higan Shidare cherry