First visit to Koko-en Garden, Himeji

The Japanese garden Koko-en is located next to Himeji Castle. It is the sister garden of the Japanese Friendship Garden Roho-en of Phoenix, Arizona. Himeji and Phoenix have a unique relationship as sister cities since 1976. The Phoenix garden was built and opened to the public in the early 2000's.

 

Blake and I have visited the Japanese Friendship garden in Phoenix many times. We even had one of our dates there when we first started going out. We were excited to have the opportunity to check out Himeji Koko-en.

Selfie from our date at Phoenix garden in Dec 2014

Koko-en is quite big and actually has nine different gardens. Below are a few different areas of the garden. A couple of trees were starting to change colors. I found the leaves of the Japanese maple tree to be quite different and beautiful to see. This garden is a place that you have to visit every season because you'll capture something new each time. 

  

    

Apparently, various events are held in the garden throughout the year. When we went we had no idea there was a Japanese Harp Koto performance. We got there just as they were beginning to perform beautiful songs. They even let a few of us from the audience try out the instruments at the end of their performance.