Horikiri Shōbu - en Iris Garden
About Shōō-ka Iris Garden
In tre late Edo Period, hatamoto (direct retainer of the shogun) Matsudaira Sakingo Sadatomo made great contributions to the development of Japanese irises.
He called himself Shōō and, following the will of this father, Sadatora, devoted 60 years of his life to improving Japanese irises and creating new varieties. The flower produced by Shōō is called Shōō - ka.
Horikiri irises have long been known as one of the most famous sights in Edo, and their scenery was the subject of nishikie by artists such as Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Toyokuni.
It is said that Japanese irises were first grown by Izaemon, a local farmer, during the Bunka era 91804-1818).
Later, at the end of the Edo Period, Kodaka-en and then Musashi -en were opened as Japanese gardens and in the Meiji period, Yoshino - en, Horikiri - en and Kanka- en were opened.
Today, the garden grows 6000 irises of about 200 species, mainly Edo irises, including Shōō-ka 
derived from Shōō.
One of the characteristics of this garden is that you can appreciate the many Edo irises while imagining how they looked in the Edo Period.
The best time to see the flowers is from early to mid - June.
There is also a Seikan-tei in the garden where you can have a meal.
