Japanese Lantern

Japanese Lantern on a foggy spring day.

NPS / Kelsey Graczyk

Quick Facts

Location:

Washington, DC

Amenities

3 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Scenic View/Photo Spot, Wheelchair Accessible

Presented to the city of Washington on March 30, 1954, this stone lantern symbolizes the enduring cultural partnership that re-emerged between Japan and the United States after World War II. The lantern is one of two memorializing Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third shogun of the Tokugawa Dynasty, under his posthumous name Daiyuinden. Carved in 1651, it stood for over 300 years on the grounds of the Toeizan Kan'eiji Temple which contained the remains of the Tokugawa Shoguns. The temple was located in the ancient city of Edo, present-day Tokyo, in Ueno Park, a place famous for its cherry blossoms. Its mate stands there to this day.

Inscriptions

THE FIRST
JAPANESE CHERRY TREES
PRESENTED TO
THE CITY OF WASHINGTON
AS A GESTURE OF FRIENDSHIP
AND GOOD WILL BY THE CITY OF
TOKYO, WERE PLANTED ON THIS SITE,
MARCH 27, 1912.
National Capital Sesquicentennial Commission
1950
 

Accessibility 

The surface of the lantern's viewing spot is firm concrete. The surface has small cracks separating sections of concrete.