By RYOTA GOTO/ Staff Writer
February 13, 2024 at 07:00 JST
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko trace the route of the first natural tour of the Fukiage Garden on April 11, 2007. (Provided by the Imperial Household Agency)
Natural tours of the 250,000-square-meter Fukiage Garden on the western side of the Imperial Palace will give visitors a chance to come across endangered plant species.
The tours will be offered on April 14 for people aged 70 and over, and on May 4, for those of junior high school age or older, the Imperial Household Agency said.
Three tours will be held on each day, with around 30 people taking part in each round.
The Fukiage Garden is home to Japanese chinquapin and evergreen oak trees, as well as wetlands, ume thickets and other natural features scattered across the forest.
It also contains endangered Ranunculus ternatus, the rare Cephalanthera erecta orchid and the vivid Meehania urticifolia perilla.
The tours were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the early Edo Period (1603-1867), residences of the Gosanke three most noble samurai clans sat on what is now the Fukiage Garden.
The site was redeveloped as a park to prevent the spread of fires following the 1657 Great Fire of Meireki.
After the end of World War II, the wild conditions of the Fukiage Garden were preserved at the behest of Emperor Hirohito, posthumously called Emperor Showa, without the use of agrochemicals.
Raccoon dogs, moles, wild birds and insects have since inhabited the Fukiage Garden.
The garden tour started in fiscal 2007 because then Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko wanted to share the rich nature with the general public.
The imperial couple even made a surprise appearance at one of the tours.
Researchers from the National Museum of Nature and Science and other experts guide visitors for more than an hour while providing explanations on the forest.
Reply-paid postcards were traditionally used to apply for the tours.
This year, online applications can also be submitted through the agency’s website.
Ordinary postcards, delivered to the Imperial Household Agency, can be used as well to apply.
The applications should include names, addresses and preferred date for the tour.
Deadline for applications is Feb. 26. Visitors will be selected by lottery if more people than the quota apply.
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