Chimonanthus Praecox (Wintersweet) 蝋梅（ロウバイ）

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

These are the flowers and buds of Chimonanthus praecox or more commonly known as wintersweet at the Kyu Shiba Rikyu Garden and the Hama Rikyu Garden in Tokyo. It snowed heavily for Tokyo on January 6, so when I went there on January 8, the gardens still had snow in some parts. The bright yellow color of wintersweet against the blue sky and the white snow was so beautiful.

Both gardens were built on reclaimed land from Tokyo Bay in the 17th century by an official of the Tokugawa shogunate and one of the Tokugawa Shoguns respectively. But their ownership was both transferred to the Imperial Household Agency in 1875 and 1870 after the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868, then to Tokyo in 1924 and 1945 respectively and after that, opened as public gardens.

The two gardens, both in Central Tokyo, are one (or two?) of the must-go places in Tokyo. They're close, i.e., about a 20 minute walk, and you can always enjoy something from cherry blossoms to autumn foliage in both places. The Hama Rikyu Garden is about 62 acres, six times larger than the Kyu Shiba Rikyu Garden. The admission fee for the bigger garden (i.e., Hama Rikyu Garden) is JPY300 (USD2.6) while that for the smaller one (i.e., Kyu Shiba Rikyu Garden) is JPY150 (USD1.3). You can get a JPY50 discount (i.e., JPY400 in total) by paying both fees at once at the entrance of either of the two gardens.