This can be a sponsored story, created and edited completely by Tokyo Metropolitan Authorities’s Tokyo Updates web site.
Japan’s oldest amusement park, Asakusa Hanayashiki, stands close to the busy Sensoji Temple and dates again to the Edo Interval (1603-1868). Its compact grounds are filled with sights, together with a curler coaster, a haunted home, and a merry-go-round. Situated in central Tokyo, the park is well accessible. We delved into its historical past and what provides it lasting enchantment.
An Edo Interval landmark that drew high-profile guests
Asakusa Hanayashiki traces its origins to the Edo Interval. In 1853, throughout Japan’s isolation and the yr overseas ships appeared off Uraga, panorama gardener Morita Rokusaburo opened a flower backyard inside the grounds of Sensoji Temple, that includes peonies and chrysanthemums. He named it “Hanayashiki.” Utagawa Hiroshige’s print “Flower Backyard within the Grounds of Kinryuzan Temple, Asakusa,” exhibits the backyard bustling with guests.
By the late Edo Interval, birds and small animals had been launched, and Hanayashiki was reportedly included in sightseeing excursions for overseas envoys, together with Sensoji. It was considered one of many metropolis’s key sights.
A Meiji Period (1868-1912) flyer preserved at Asakusa Hanayashiki.
| Inoue Katsuya
Rides have been first launched round 1872. Flyers from the time counsel the park additionally featured doll shows and different sights, reflecting efforts to entertain guests in a wide range of methods.
Nostalgia by design
“The current-day Asakusa Hanayashiki is a pure extension of that historical past,” says Toyoshi Nishikawa, president and CEO of Hanayashiki Co., Ltd.
“We’re working to construct robust ties with the local people,” says Toyoshi Nishikawa.
| Inoue Katsuya
“The park was rebuilt as an amusement park in 1949, following the devastation attributable to conflict and earthquake. It turned a well-liked vacation spot for a lot of Tokyo residents to calm down. Certainly one of our important sights, the curler coaster, is the oldest nonetheless working in Japan, having been put in in 1953. Whereas we frequently substitute the automobiles and tracks, we have deliberately preserved the Showa Period look and colours.”
Entrance of Asakusa Hanayashiki
| Courtesy of Asakusa Hanayashiki
Every morning, skilled workers stroll your complete curler coaster monitor to conduct the primary security examine of the day, adopted by common inspections to make sure the whole lot operates safely. The pleasant smiles of the workers—lots of whom are true amusement park followers—are a part of what makes the park so welcoming.
“Longstanding sights just like the merry-go-round and Panda Vehicles are generally seen as new once more.”
Panda Vehicles, one of many park’s hottest sights.
| Courtesy of Asakusa Hanayashiki
What makes Asakusa Hanayashiki actually considered one of a sort?
As an alternative of specializing in flashy new rides, Asakusa Hanayashiki leverages its historical past as a energy with sights that consciously spotlight their retro character.
The park options a number of sights with a retro or historic theme, together with Maruhana Kenjutsu Dojo, the place guests can strive samurai-style swordplay, Kodomo Ninja Yashiki Nin-Nin Park, a ninja coaching space for youths, and Panorama Jikan Ryoko, which explores Asakusa’s previous and current via a four-screen multi-projection.
Maruhana Kenjutsu Dojo
| Courtesy of Asakusa Hanayashiki
“There is not any different amusement park in Japan that is been round this lengthy. Plus, its compact measurement makes it simple to get pleasure from even should you solely have a couple of hours. It is the right place to cease by casually whereas sightseeing in Tokyo. It truly is considered one of a sort.”
Asakusa Hanayashiki’s mission—”Bringing smiles throughout generations”—and its imaginative and prescient—”A contemporary tackle the nice previous days”—are additionally fairly compelling.
“Tokyo is a metropolis that grew quickly beginning within the Edo Interval. Whilst a cutting-edge metropolis, it nonetheless preserves its conventional tradition. We intention to construct lifelong prospects right here—individuals who make their amusement park debut at Asakusa Hanayashiki as youngsters and proceed to return again all through their lives. Being a longstanding park in a significant metropolis like Tokyo makes that attainable.”
Asakusa Hanayashiki, with its one-of-a-kind attraction, will preserve shaping Tokyo’s historical past for years to return.
