Kiyosumi Gardens' overgrown rock collection and pristine pond are a haven for the elderly who frequent it -- lunch box and camera in hand.
Located in Tokyo's Koto Ward, the park was initially home to Bunzaemon Kinokuniya, a wealthy merchant born in current-day Wakayama Prefecture who lived during the first half of the Edo Period (1603-1867). He got the garden off the ground, and it later became property of the Shimosa domain in what is today southern Chiba Prefecture.
Inadequate care in the late Edo Period saw the garden fall into disrepair. But revitalization came with its purchase by Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of the Mitsubishi financial group, in 1878.