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The Sugamo yakuen was a garden for growing medicinal plants, maintained within the grounds of the [[Tsu han]] mansion in [[Edo]], in what is today the Sugamo area of Tokyo. It covered an area of roughly 12,000 ''[[tsubo]]'' (40,000 sq meters).

The Sugamo yakuen was a garden for growing medicinal plants, maintained within the grounds of the [[Tsu han]] mansion in [[Edo]], in what is today the Sugamo area of Tokyo. It covered an area of roughly 12,000 ''[[tsubo]]'' (40,000 sq meters).

In [[1769]], the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] entrusted Ina Hanzaemon with overseeing the area as shogunate forest. In [[1798]], it became a medicinal plants garden managed by Shibue Chôhaku ([[1760]]-[[1830]]), who worked for the shogunate. Such medicinal gardens have a long history in Japan, stretching back to the early 8th century, but the Tokugawa shogunate actively pushed for the development of a system of such gardens, establishing ones in Koishikawa, Komaba, and elsewhere in and around Edo. [[Owari han|Owari]], [[Aizu han|Aizu]], [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]], [[Kumamoto han|Kumamoto]], and [[Choshu han|Chôshû domains]], among others, also established medicinal gardens within the grounds of their Edo mansions.

In [[1769]], the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] entrusted Ina Hanzaemon with overseeing the area as shogunate forest. In [[1798]], it became a medicinal plants garden managed by [[Shibue Chohaku|Shibue Chôhaku]] ([[1760]]-[[1830]]), who worked for the shogunate. Such medicinal gardens have a long history in Japan, stretching back to the early 8th century, but the Tokugawa shogunate actively pushed for the development of a system of such gardens, establishing ones in Koishikawa, Komaba, and elsewhere in and around Edo. [[Owari han|Owari]], [[Aizu han|Aizu]], [[Satsuma han|Satsuma]], [[Kumamoto han|Kumamoto]], and [[Choshu han|Chôshû domains]], among others, also established medicinal gardens within the grounds of their Edo mansions.

Chôhaku is said to have been the first to farm [[sheep]] in Japan, beginning in [[1817]]; it is from this that the garden came to also be known as ''men'yô yashiki'', or "sheep mansion."

Chôhaku is said to have been the first to farm [[sheep]] in Japan, beginning in [[1817]]; it is from this that the garden came to also be known as ''men'yô yashiki'', or "sheep mansion."