The young girl was crossing the stepping stones of Jiro Benten Pond with great enthusiasm

Jiro Benten Pond in the Tongayato Garden

Many gardens in Tokyo have a difference in elevation. For example, the Saigoyama Park, located on the site of the villa of Saigo Takamori's younger brother Saigo Tsugumichi, has a view so good that it gives the illusion of being on a cliff, while the Goto Museum of Art in Kaminoge, the former villa of Goto Keita, has a garden on a slope descending from the museum on high ground down to the Tama River. The Nezu Museum also has a garden that slopes down from the hill where the museum is located towards a pond with shallow-flowered iris. The Tonogayato Garden in Kokubunji, the former residence of Hikoyata Iwasaki of the Mitsubishi conglomerate, is probably in the same category. There are large differences in elevation within the garden.

It is said that the reason why there are differences in elevation within the garden is because such topography was favoured for garden construction. Differences in elevation provide good views and make it easier to create waterfalls. Tonogayato Garden, which was built along the Kokubunji cliff line, did not have as good a view as Saigoyama Park, but it did have Jiro Benten Pond, which was created using spring water, at the bottom of the slope. Viewed from a sukiya-style tea house called Momijotei, the Jiro Benten Pond looked very far away and the small island in the middle looked like an uninhabited island from a comic book.

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