Kyu Shiba Rikyu Garden

The Kyū Shiba Rikyū Garden (旧芝離宮恩賜庭園^?), also known as Kyū Shiba Rikyū Onshi Teien ("Former Shiba Villa Gardens") is a public garden and former imperial garden in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The garden is one of two surviving Edo period clan gardens in modern Tokyo, Japan, the other being Koishikawa Kōrakuen Garden in Koishikawa, Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kyū Shiba Rikyū is often regarded as the most beautifully designed garden in Tokyo, and was once called the "most beautiful" scene in Japan.

The site of the Kyu Shiba Rikyu Garden was originally part of Tokyo Bay. The land was reclaimed between 1655 and 1658. In 1678 the site was used for the official samurai style residence of Ōkubo Tadamoto (1604–1670), member of the Ōkubo clan and an official of the Tokugawa shogunate. The residence garden was designed by garden designers from the Odawara Domain, until 1614 under the rule of Daimyo from the Ōkubo clan. The garden was then known as Rakujuen. At that time, the garden included a beach to Tokyo Bay, however, as Tokyo expanded the sea next to the garden was reclaimed, and there is no connection to the ocean anymore. A remaining ocean water inlet is not used.

The residence changed ownership throughout time, and around 1860 belonged to the Kishū family of the Tokugawa clan. In 1871 the ownership changed again to the Arisugawa-no-miya clan. In 1875 the Imperial Household Agency purchased the residence and it became the Shiba Detached Imperial Villa and in 1891 a European style guest house was constructed.

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