First, I want to wish all of my American blogger friends a very "Happy Fourth of July!" Having said that, many would more than likely wonder why I would use this post for a Fourth of July post. But, if you think about what America is all about, and that it is a country founded on FREEDOM. I thought about what kind of post would show what America freedom and as the melting pot of the "world's freedom seekers" signifies and, while finding out about the story of these beautiful gardens, I saw a connection. Let's see if you see it too.The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park is the type of Japanese garden known as a wet walking garden, although it has a Zen garden, or dry garden area as well. The Japanese Tea Garden was first developed as the Japanese Village at the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition, or World's Fair, which was held in the area that is now the Music Concourse. Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States.
In case you don’t know, Fortune Cookies are about as Asian as pizza or spaghetti is Italian. Apparently, the builders of this garden, (the Hagiwara family), first served them at this Japanese Tea Garden. You can still buy them at the Tea Shop. Which is where we sat and relaxed with a cup of tea and some Japanese crackers and then followed by the famous Fortune Cookies.
Hagiwara’s descendants maintained the Japanese Tea Garden until the start of the second world war. At the time, America went to war with Japan, and had begun sending anyone of Asian descent into temporary internment camps. Without the Hagiwara family, the Japanese Tea Garden was not kept and fell into ruin.
During this time, it was renamed the Oriental Tea Garden. It was eventually reinstated as the Japanese Tea Garden in 1952, with more exhibits, including a 9,000 pound Lantern of Peace. As you exit the Main Gate you may want to take a moment to view the large stone with bronze plaque designed and executed by Ruth Asawa. The plaque reads "To honor Makoto Hagiwara and his family who nurtured and shared this garden from 1895–1942."
In Japanese culture, a garden is considered to be one of the highest art forms, expressing in a limited space the essence of nature through the use of specially-selected plants and stones. Often rocks and shrubs are placed to express a traditional symbolic meaning.
The photo that I have included here is just one of many that I took in this fantastically beautiful garden. It is of a Buddhist pagoda or "treasure tower" which had been moved approximately sixty feet to replace Hagiwara's Shinto Shrine that had been in the garden prior to its removal.
The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park is the type of Japanese garden known as a wet walking garden, although it has a Zen garden, or dry garden area as well. The Japanese Tea Garden was first developed as the Japanese Village at the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition, or World's Fair, which was held in the area that is now the Music Concourse. Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States.
By the way, if you are ever there and decide to enjoy the restfulness of the Tea in their Tea Shop in the Japanese Tea Garden, let me caution you... please bring cash, because they don't accept Visa, MasterCard or even American Express. It is a "CASH ONLY" operation and they mean it! The cost of not bringing CASH?... PRICELESS!
"Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm." - Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English novelist
