These gardens used to be a residence of Kuze-yamatonokami, the lord of Sekijuku castle in Shimofusa-no-kuni. After Meiji Restoration, the former Shogun Yoshinobu Tokugawa owned the residence as his second house for a period.
In 1878, Yataro Iwasaki, a founder of Mitsubishi, acquired the property and rebuilt gardens. He named “Fukagawa Shinbokuen” in 1880.
These gardens were succeeded to his brother Yanosuke, and to his oldest son Hisaya; whole plan was completed by three generations.