A waterfall in the very center of the city — a small fall stands in Kitanomaru Park near Palaceside Building in Takebashi, Tokyo. The drop is about three meters and it has no particular name, yet the sound among Japanese maples, deutzia, and kunugi oaks is full of coolness.
It was built for the opening of Kitanomaru Park in 1969 (Showa 44) and designed by landscape architect and environmental designer Kunei Ito. Ito is said to have received the Japan Institute of Landscape Architecture Award in the planning and design category for this pond-centered work.
Water from the fall runs through a stream-like channel into three ponds — upper, middle, and lower. According to the park office, the fall water is pumped up from the lower pond.
Last summer, when a power-restriction order was in force, the pump ran only one hour at night so the pond water would not stagnate, and was stopped by day, so the fall did not flow. This summer there is no restriction order. "It is a park managed by the Ministry of the Environment..." they said, and whether to stop the pump is still under consideration.