三四郎池

University of Tokyo moves old ginko tree for construction

July 7, 2011Culture, trees, University of Tokyoイチョウ, canopy, construction, 移動する, ginko, inadequate, law school, library, old, pond, reconstruction, Sanshiro, tall, 図書館, 本郷, 東大, 法学大学院, 三四郎池, 価値palmsundae Leave a comment

東大法学大学院の新しい図書館ができるまで、成熟したイチョウの木を移動しています。東大は木の価値に気がついていて、うれしいです。本郷のキャンパスの背の高い木や三四郎池はとてもすてきです。

It’s wonderful to see how the University of Tokyo is carefully removing two mature ginko trees as it breaks ground for a new law school library. The Hongo campus is gorgeous, both for its brick buildings that are vaguely ivy league and art deco, but also for its stunning trees and Sanshiro pond.

The frantic pace of construction and reconstruction has left Tokyo with an inadequate tree canopy. It’s great that these two trees will survive the new building, and that the University of Tokyo demonstrates that it values its natural environment.

Tokyo University Sanshiro-ike garden in fall

December 6, 2009treesaesthetic, artifice, built, compact, earthquake, engineering, environment, experiment, fall, foliage, future, garden, hill, Ivy League, magic, mid-century, modern, natural, nature, nerdiness, pond, retro, retrofit, Sanshiro-ike, sky, Todai, Tokyo University, water, waterfall, 三四郎池palmsundae View all 5 comments

On a beautiful warm November day, I discovered Tokyo University’s Sanshiro-ike garden. I had a few moments before a meeting, and saw on the campus map that there was a central garden on the main campus. I had assumed it would be a formal garden.

I was very surprised to descend a small hillside and encounter this natural looking pond. Looking in all directions, one sees only trees, water and sky, despite the compact size of the garden. Even on a warm weekend day with early fall foliage, few visitors were there. I was enchanted by the incredibly natural and removed-from-the-city feeling in this garden inside central Tokyo and Japan’s most famous university.