![Tokyo University Sanshiro-ike garden in fall](https://tokyogreenspace.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/todai_sanshiroike3.jpg?w=1000)
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.
![Tokyo University Sanshiro-ike garden in fall](https://tokyogreenspace.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/todai_sanshiroike2.jpg?w=1000)
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.
![Tokyo University Sanshiro-ike garden in fall](https://tokyogreenspace.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/todai_sanshiroike.jpg?w=1000)
It takes a lot of artifice to make a city garden look so natural. The waterfall is amazing.
Continue reading to see some more images from Tokyo University, aka Todai.