Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited Takeda Garden for Medicinal Plant Conservation, Kyoto

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Some 2,900 species, mainly medicinal plants, cultivated on vast grounds

Conserving biodiversity and the inheritance of cultivation techniques

This garden spreads out around the ancient Kyoto temple of Manshuin in a vast site of some 94,000 square meters, where approximately 1,900 globally collected species of medicinal plants as well as 242 endangered species are cultivated. There are about 40,000 specimens, including plants pressed by Tomitaro Makino and Kumakusu Minakata et al, and about 5,000 herbal medicines. After World War I, the need for domestic production of pharmaceuticals arose, so the garden was opened in 1933 as a basic research and production facility. It is the first medicinal botanical garden in Japan to be designated as a museum equivalent facility, and was listed as a registered museum on 31 January 2024. The garden focuses on biodiversity conservation, cultivation research and technology transfer of medicinal plants, and education and training support activities in collaboration with Kyoto City and companies. Visitors should be sure to view the camellia garden, which grows about 500 varieties of camellias, including camellias that are not found outside the gates of temples and shrines, the retro Western-style building (exhibition building) designed by Magoichi Noguchi, and the specimen of the world's largest flower, the Japanese konjac, which bloomed in the garden for the first time in the Kansai region.