Koraku Garden occupies a sandbank in the heart of Asahi River, which meanders through the park, getting somewhat bogged down in the ponds, before gushing into waterfalls. A tea plantation, copses of cherry and plum trees, a teahouse on stilts surrounded by water and countless other details and idiosyncrasies (shrines, Noh theatre, aviary) make this garden, commissioned by the feudal lord Ikeda Tsunamasa in 1700, one of the four most beautiful in Japan.