The Satake-no-Niwa is a characteristic example of the more artificial kind of Hill Garden, and is at present easily accessible to the public. It abounds in rare rocks, pagodas, and lanterns, collected by its original owner Mizuno Dewa no Kami. An extensive lake occupies the centre of the grounds, surrounded by hills which are thickly planted with evergreen trees and bushes cut into rounded forms, presenting a great variety of vivid colouring. During the spring and summer, the bright greens of the foliage are set off by red maples, azaleas, and other flowering shrubs. The shores of the lake are spread out at places into sanded and pebbly beaches, crowded with river boulders, rocks, and picturesque stone lanterns. Plate XV. gives a general view of this garden, showing the lake and opposite hillocks, and in the lower illustration of Plate XVI. is shown a corner of the lake, thickly shaded with handsome trees, and overgrown with irises and other water-plants. A rustic looking temple-shrine, with a Torii, occupies the background. The upper illustration of Plate XVI. represents a portion of a garden of a similar class at Shinjiku. Here may be seen to perfection the typical Japanese arrangement of garden hills with rounded bushes and lanterns.
[Mizuno Dewa no Kami Tadakuni who was a regent for 12th shogun Tokugawa Ieyosh]
[The site of Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden was formerly part of an Edo estate given to Kiyonari Naito, a vassal of Ieyasu Tokugawa, who created the Edo castle and owned the Kanhassyu (eight states around Kanto region in Edo era) by Hideyoshi Toyotomi]
