The [Meiji] Restoration and the abolition of the feudal system affected every phase of our national life, dooming many celebrated gardens by neglect or sacrifice. Upon their site now stand military schools, a naval college, an arsenal, the Imperial University, etc. But, fortunately, there are not few that survive, some of them remaining more or less in the original form, while others dwindled or expanded or were otherwise modified. In the period of prosperity, which later followed, the people vied with each other in creating spacious and costly gardens, or remodelling or improving the old ones. Among them may be mentioned the garden of Baron Iwasaki's villa in Fukagawa, which was recently given to the city, that of Baron Okura's villa in Mukojima, that of Prince Mori's mansion in Takanawa, that of Marquis Saigo's mansion in Meguro, Viscount Sakai's "Yarai-yen," that of Viscount Shibuzawa's home in Asuka-yama, that of Mr. Hara's home in Goten-yama, etc., all in Tokyo. The spacious garden of the Meiji shrine is a noteworthy work of recent years.
[The Meiji Restoration (????, Meiji-ishin?), also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure. It occurred in the later half of the 19th century, a period that traverses both the late Edo period (often called Late Tokugawa shogunate) and the beginning of the Meiji Era. Wikipedia, 2007]
