Kobe Sōrakuen Garden, a Japanese garden with a pond and springs

#SeptemberDestinations2025 #Kobe #Sorakuen

Sorakuen Garden, a Japanese Garden with a Pond and Springs - Kobe City

Address: 5-3-1 Nakayamamate-dori, Chuo-ku, Kobe City
Access: Approximately a 5-minute walk from Kencho-mae Station on the Kobe City Subway Seishin-Yamanote Line
Admission: Adults 300 yen

Sorakuen Garden is Kobe City's only city park Japanese garden. Spanning approximately 20,000 square meters, it features a strolling Japanese garden with a pond. Stepping stones and stone bridges offer tranquil valley views, including streams and waterfalls. Other attractions include a cycad garden, a large camphor tree said to be 500 years old, azaleas in bloom in spring, and maple trees with falling leaves in autumn.

The garden features a gate constructed entirely of zelkova wood, the European-style former stables of the Kodera family (an Important Cultural Property), a relocated boathouse (an Important Cultural Property), the former Hassam residence (an Important Cultural Property), and the Kanshin-tei teahouse.

Sorakuen Garden boasts a Western-style building, built and lived in by British merchant Mr. Hassam around 1902 in Kitano-cho (a foreigner settlement). The two-story wooden structure blends Japanese and Western styles. The two gas lamps in the front yard were installed around 1874 as streetlights in the foreign settlement, a rare sight at the time.
The building is open to the public and displays photographs of life at the time and the craftsmanship of the building's construction. It even has a bathroom that remains remarkably well-maintained even today, a remarkable feat for its time.

During the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, the building's brick chimney collapsed from the roof; the fallen chimney remains in the front yard.

Post by AndreaJulio | Sep 27, 2025