Shukkei-en

The name means 'shrunken scenery', and the idea is to walk the path around the central pond, Takuei-chi, and pass mountains, valleys and islands in miniature. Work began in 1620 on a villa garden for Asano Nagaakira, the first Asano lord of Hiroshima, to a design by his senior retainer Ueda Soko, a tea master. The arched stone bridge across the middle of the pond, Kokokyo, was rebuilt in the 1780s and named in 1804. After the Asano family gave the garden to Hiroshima Prefecture, it was designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty in 1940. The atomic bomb on 6 August 1945 destroyed most of its buildings and burned the big old trees; the pond and bridge were badly damaged but kept their shape. Clearing and dredging began in 1949, the garden reopened in April 1951, and the restoration was only considered finished in 1974, when the Meigetsu-tei pavilion was rebuilt. Entry is 350 yen, and school-age children are free. Closing time moves with the season, 17:00 from mid-September to mid-March, and parking is limited, so the tram is the easy way in: the Shukkeien-mae stop is right by the gate, next to the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum.