Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en and the Trail to Mitake Gorge

Curriculum: The Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Japan
Published: 2024-11-09 by Charlie Samra
Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en and the Trail to Mitake Gorge

Our initial excursion along the Tama River this year was to Sawai and Mitake. We fully expected to see some fall colors there, and take a little hike along the river.

Well, we were not disappointed!  Many maple trees were displaying their shades of red, and many of the other trees were various hues of orange and yellow.  We had a beautiful weather day too, sunny and relatively warm for November.  Sunshine makes the fall colors look even more splendid.

Our primary destination was Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en.  It was a five minute walk downhill from Sawai Station on the Ome Line.  Being Saturday at lunchtime, it was a bit crowded, with all the outside tables filled. People were buying noodle dishes at the machine kiosk, and then waiting for their numbers to be called to pick up their lunch at the counter.  I guess we should have gotten here earlier.

Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en
Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en
Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en
Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en
The food court at Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en
The food court at Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en
Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en covered tables for dining in all weather!
Seiryu Garden Sawanoi-en covered tables for dining in all weather!

Anyway, no worries, we went over to the adjacent tofu restaurant and wrote our names down on the waiting list.  It took a half hour or so of waiting to get the four of us seated at Mameraku.  There is another tofu restaurant just a few paces away called Mamagotoya, which is the expensive tofu restaurant.  To dine there we were told you have to have reservations.

Some helpful signs
Some helpful signs

When we finally got into Mameraku we got seated along the window, so we had a nice view.  The tofu dishes were great, and very reasonably priced.  

Tofu lunch was delicious!
Tofu lunch was delicious!

While we were waiting to get in I took a little walk across the bridge to the other side of the river, and climbed up to take a look the small Kanzanji Temple that sits on the hillside.  From there you have a birds eye view of the garden and restaurants.

Kanzanji Temple
Kanzanji Temple
The bridge crossing the Tama River at Sawai
The bridge crossing the Tama River at Sawai

After lunch we proceeded to the path along the river that leads to Mitake.  There are many maple trees along this path, as well as little farms that have their fruits or veggies on sale, displayed on tables along the path.  There were multiple spots where we stopped to take pictures of us with trees and the river in the background.

The path to Mitake
The path to Mitake
Getting closer to Mitake along the river - lots of bouldering fans here
Getting closer to Mitake along the river - lots of bouldering fans here

We reached Mitake Gorge after about thirty minutes of walking along the river. Frankly, I thought that the bridge at Sawai was much prettier, so I didn't bother to take a picture of it.  We were done our walk, and it was getting late in the afternoon so we decided to head back to Tokyo.  A short walk up the hill to Mitake station didn't take more than five minutes or so.  There we picked up the next train back to Ome, and then switched to the Chuo line to proceed back to home base in Mitaka.  All in all a wonderful little day trip.

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