Tokyo Autumn Light-Ups 2026: Night Gardens, Dates and Tickets

Tokyo · Autumn leaves after dark · Night gardens

By Nobu · Fujiyoshida resident · Dates and ticket details checked on the organisers’ pages on 7 October 2026

Seven Tokyo venues have announced autumn evening openings between 14 October and 6 December 2026. Four require a separate evening ticket on at least some dates: ZEN NIGHT TOKYO at the Tokyo National Museum, Koishikawa Korakuen (13–24 November), Rikugien (25 November – 6 December) and the Japanese garden at Showa Kinen Park after 16:30, except on 29 and 30 October. Hamarikyu’s evenings use the normal ¥300 entry ticket. Find your dates in the table.

Jump to: Dates · Tickets · Venues · Other light-ups · FAQ

Which Tokyo light-up is on during my dates?

ZEN NIGHT runs for the whole season, so its closing days are in the table.

The event dates are fixed, but the leaves may be early or late. The koyo tracker follows the 2026 forecasts, and our forecast explainer covers how to read them.

Which events require a separate evening ticket?

Adult prices as each organiser lists them. At Rikugien and Koishikawa Korakuen the evening openings take a night ticket only, so daytime tickets and annual passes don’t get you in.

Events by venue

ZEN NIGHT TOKYO: the Tokyo National Museum garden

The museum’s garden normally closes at 17:00. ZEN NIGHT opens it in the evening alongside the special exhibition Daitokuji: A Zen Temple Beyond Compare in the Heiseikan, and the standard and zazen tickets include the exhibition. If you already hold an exhibition ticket, from 14 October you can buy a ZEN NIGHT-only ticket and show the exhibition ticket, even a used one, at the entrance. The event is organised by the museum, Nikkei and the neurotechnology company VIE.

The route has lit maples, a “sea of cloud” effect on Suigetsu-ike pond, a dry landscape garden of the Milky Way in front of the Kujokan teahouse, and a path behind the pond with 3,000 red spider lilies. A tea stall by the water serves matcha and matcha lattes, and VIE’s “neuro music” plays along the way. Some displays use flashing lights.

Zazen sessions have their own ticket prices, and the price table says each zazen ticket includes ZEN NIGHT entry and the exhibition. A timed “brainwave zazen” session in Kujokan costs ¥5,600 and takes about 30 minutes, for 20 people at a time. Zazen led by Daitokuji priests runs on Thu 5 November (¥17,300) and, with a vegetarian shojin meal, on Fri 13 November (¥32,300). Preschool children can’t take part. Kujokan is up a steep staircase without handrails, and wheelchairs can’t be taken inside.

Hamarikyu Gardens: two programmes at the normal entry price

The garden’s notice (in Japanese) lists two evening programmes. On 21–23 October, timed for the thirteenth-night moon, the paths and trees are lit faintly from sunset, with traditional performances at 18:30 and 19:45. From 30 October to 3 November, for the garden’s 80th year as a metropolitan garden, the garden is lit up, with what the notice calls light and shadow. The notice doesn’t mention autumn leaves, and some areas are closed after 17:00.

Showa Kinen Park: Autumn Night Walk

Three areas are lit. The Katarai ginkgo avenue is 300 metres of 98 trees, with lighting that changes with music. The Canal, near the Tachikawa Gate, has 106 ginkgo along 150 metres of water channel and fountains, lit in yellow and white. The Japanese garden has about 300 maples, lanterns, wind chimes, paper umbrellas and snow ropes, and the bonsai garden is lit too. The park’s page puts the Canal’s colour in early to mid-November, the Katarai avenue’s in mid- to late November and the garden maples’ in early to late November.

Allow time to walk inside the park: the Japanese garden is about 1,600 metres from the Nishi-Tachikawa Gate and the Katarai avenue about 730 metres; the Canal is about 300 metres from the Tachikawa Gate. An evening park bus runs between the Nagame no Terrace and Nihon Teien-mae stops, first at 17:30 and last back from the garden at 20:30, ¥400 one way, cashless only. Anyone in the Japanese garden in the afternoon must leave by 16:00 and wait for it to reopen. At night, tripods are allowed only at marked spots, and food, drink and pets are not allowed in the garden. The lights stay on in rain, with no refunds for rain. Train times from Shinjuku are in our daytime guide.

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum: 6 and 7 November

This open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings is inside Koganei Park in western Tokyo. Its October–December 2026 schedule lists the evening opening on 6 and 7 November and mentions lit buildings and a candle night. On 7 October, the schedule’s link for the event still led to the 2025 programme page; last year’s evenings were on 22 and 23 November 2025. The museum is normally closed on Mondays.

Koishikawa Korakuen: night opening, 13–24 November

The event title, 深山“光”葉, swaps the character for “red” in 紅葉, the usual word for autumn leaves, for 光, “light”; both are read kōyō, as our page on momiji and kōyō explains. The lights pick out Hitotsu-matsu, a pine modelled on the Karasaki pine beside Lake Biwa; Horai-jima, the island in the Dai-sensui pond; and the Karamon gate with its snow ropes in the inner garden. Projection mapping runs on the Engetsu-kyo stone bridge, with an autumn-leaf theme, and on the earthen Tsuiji-bei wall, with Edo scenes taken from mud paintings and ukiyo-e. The wall show also includes the autumn view of the Tsutenkyo bridge and the Oigawa stream, which can’t be seen in person this year because the bridge has been dismantled for rebuilding; our daytime guide has the details.

Kantoku-tei opens a matcha-and-sweet counter on these nights only, 18:00–20:30 (last order 20:00, cash only), and food trucks park in the Matsubara area. Cloth lanterns with bamboo handles, made by the garden staff, are sold in limited numbers each night, also cash only. Tokyo Dome City, next door, sells an online-only combined ticket with three rides at its amusement park, ¥3,500 in advance or ¥3,700 on the day, through Asoview and KKday.

Machida Yakushiike Park: maples, light and mist

Yakushiike is a pond garden in Machida, on Tokyo’s south-western edge. The park’s festival page says Color Kinetics Japan supervises the lighting. During the light-up, the mist effect runs at 17:00, 18:00 and 19:00. Free guided walks start at 13:30 and 15:30 on 21, 22, 23, 28 and 29 November. The park expects its North car park to be crowded in the leaf season and recommends public transport, and the programme can change or be cancelled in bad weather.

Rikugien: evening viewing, 25 November – 6 December

Rikugien’s twelve evenings are the last of the season to start. Its 2026 notice lists a light-up of the whole garden centred on the maple areas, photo spots, and images projected onto a storehouse from the Iwasaki family’s time; new this year is projection mapping in the bamboo grove. The Fukiage Chaya and Shinsentei teahouses serve matcha with a sweet, and stalls and food trucks set up beside the storehouse and near the site of the Ginkatei.

A repair notice schedules shoreline work from May to November 2026. While it lasts, the Daisensui pond and a stream are kept lower than usual and some nearby paths are closed. The garden’s notice list had no completion notice when I checked on 7 October.

Other light-ups: no 2026 dates on the pages I checked

Each item names the page I checked on 7 October 2026. Last year’s dates are for reference only.

• Meiji Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government runs this light-up, and its October 2026 press-release list had no release about it. In 2025 the release came out on 7 November and set 22–30 November 2025, 16:30 to about 19:30. Our Gaien ginkgo guide follows the announcement.
• Mount Takao. The Hachioji Convention & Visitors Association’s autumn page still showed 2025, when the cable car ran until 19:30 with lights from about 16:00 on 28–30 November and 5–7 December 2025. The Takao Tozan Railway’s notice list had no 2026 light-up item.
• Otaguro Park, Suginami. Suginami City’s park page refers to a light-up period but gives no dates, and the garden’s news list had no light-up item. The garden is 10 minutes on foot from Ogikubo Station and closed on Wednesdays.

Choosing by date and setting

Evenings outdoors in late autumn get cold; what to wear in Japan in November has clothing advice, and the rest of the month is in Japan in November 2026. For winter events, see Japan in December 2026 and Tokyo’s winter illuminations.

Tokyo autumn light-ups: short answers

Which Tokyo autumn light-ups require a separate ticket?

Koishikawa Korakuen and Rikugien require a night ticket; both list advance and same-day prices. ZEN NIGHT TOKYO requires its own event ticket. Showa Kinen Park’s Japanese garden requires an additional ticket after 16:30, except on 29 and 30 October; the online adult ticket is ¥1,200, plus park admission.

Can I use a Rikugien day ticket for the night viewing?

No. Rikugien’s page says its daytime online ticket is not a night-viewing ticket, and the evening opening takes night tickets only. The garden closes at 17:00 and reopens at 18:00.

Is the Jingu Gaien ginkgo avenue lit up in 2026?

I couldn’t find 2026 dates in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s October press-release list when I checked on 7 October 2026. The government runs the light-up; in 2025 it ran from 22 to 30 November, 16:30 to about 19:30, and that release came out on 7 November 2025.

Which light-up stays open latest?

ZEN NIGHT stays open to 21:30 on 13 November and to 21:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and 1, 2 and 22 November. Koishikawa Korakuen and Hamarikyu close at 21:00, with last entry at 20:00 and 20:30. Showa Kinen’s lights go off at 20:30 and the park closes at 21:00.

Do the light-ups go ahead in rain?

Showa Kinen Park says its lights stay on in rain and it doesn’t refund tickets for rain, though online tickets can be cancelled free until the day before. Machida says its programme may change or be cancelled in bad weather. For the others, check the organiser’s page on the day.

Do children need tickets?

ZEN NIGHT entry is free for junior-high age and under, but the zazen sessions charge everyone the same price and are not open to preschool children. Koishikawa Korakuen’s night ticket is needed from junior-high age, and Rikugien’s is free for primary-school age and under. At Showa Kinen, park entry is free for junior-high age and under. On evenings that need a Japanese-garden ticket, primary and junior-high age pay ¥600 online or ¥700 at the window; no garden ticket is needed on 29 or 30 October, and preschool children need no ticket.

Sources

The organisers’ pages behind every date, time and price, checked on 7 October 2026

• ZEN NIGHT TOKYO: event page (Japanese), English page and ticket outlets; Tokyo National Museum access
• Hamarikyu Gardens (Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association): evening programmes notice, 25 August 2026 and garden page (fees, gates, access)
• Showa Kinen Park: Autumn Night Walk 2026 (dates, hours, ticket sales times, distances, park bus, FAQ)
• Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum: October–December 2026 schedule, 2025 light-up page, fees and closing days and access
• Koishikawa Korakuen: night opening notice, 11 September 2026, event site, garden page (access, English garden map with place names) and Tokyo Dome City’s combined ticket
• Machida Yakushiike Park Shikisai no Mori: maple festival 2026, park page and access
• Rikugien: night viewing notice, 3 September 2026, 2026 notice list, shoreline repairs, 8 May 2026 and garden page (access, daytime online ticket)
• Other light-ups: Tokyo Metropolitan Government press releases, October 2026 and 2025 Gaien light-up release; Hachioji Convention & Visitors Association Takao autumn page; Takao Tozan Railway notices; Suginami City Otaguro Park and the garden’s news list
• Photos from Wikimedia Commons: Rikugien bridge (public domain), Tokyo National Museum garden (CC BY 2.0), Showa Kinen Japanese garden (CC BY-SA 4.0), Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum (public domain), Koishikawa Korakuen (CC0) and Rikugien at night (CC BY-SA 4.0)