The gardens of Sōraku-en (相楽園)

It is one of the few historical Japanese gardens that exists within Kobe city and it's only a 15-minute walk from our hotel. It adopts a "chisen kaiyu shiki", style which is a style of garden that features a path around a pond.

In the garden compound there are some buildings. The stables were built in 1910 and are today designated as "Important Cultural Property" of Japan.

The other important building in the compund is the former Hassam Residence, built by the English architect Alexander Nelson Hansell in 1902 and relocated to its current site in 1963.