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Find Inner Peace at These 12 Stunning Japanese Gardens Across the United StatesSerenity is closer than you think.
What characterizes an authentic Japanese garden? Ancient customs dictate three essential natural elements—water (an asymmetrical central pond as well as moving aquatic features), rocks (including gravel and/or sand), and various plantings, especially moss. Secondary basics consist of pagodas, stone lanterns, and bridges. All are meant to reflect Shinto and Buddhist concepts of harmony and tranquility and appeal to all the senses. Interest in Japanese gardens in this country began with displays at late 19th- and early 20th-century U.S.-based world’s fairs and expositions. World War II dampened the enthusiasm, but the public gradually warmed to these beautiful landscapes again.
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The Japanese Garden
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WHERE: Van Nuys, California
SuihoEn in the San Fernando Valley encompasses a trio of gardens “of water and fragrance” over six-and-a-half acres—dry meditation, “wet-strolling,” and tea. Its designer, Dr. Koichi Kawana, also created over a dozen other Japanese gardens across the United States. What’s unique about this setting is that it’s part of the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, whose treated wastewater irrigates the garden and fills its lake.
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Missouri Botanical Garden
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WHERE: St. Louis, Missouri
The 14-acre Seiwa-en, “garden of pure, clear harmony and peace,” lives up to its name with a minimalist display shaped by centuries-old Japanese practices. The centerpiece is a large lake with four islands, one showcasing a teahouse constructed in Missouri’s sister state in Japan, Nagano Prefecture, then reassembled in St. Louis and dedicated in a Shinto ceremony. Snow is considered to be a flower in Japanese gardens, and visitors here are urged to brave winter’s chill for a different perspective.
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The Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden
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WHERE: North Salem, New York
In a stroll garden, wandering paths lead visitors on a progression of unfolding picturesque vistas. Each one is carefully curated, using different mediums and images to encourage contemplation—by slowing down—as well as anticipation of what’s around the bend. Among other events, Hammond hosts tea ceremonies and Japanese flower arranging classes (Ikebana). One night a year, the gardens open for Otsukimi/Moonviewing, via a downloaded computer program.
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Bloedel Reserve Japanese Garden
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WHERE: Seattle, Washington
Planned without drawings by Seattle nurseryman Fujitaro Kubota for the Bloedel family, this meditative space on Bainbridge Island has miniature mountains and an approximately 170-year-old Laceleaf Japanese Maple imported from Japan by Kubota. Walk right up to but don’t step on the perfectly groomed Sand and Stone Garden, another of Dr. Kawana’s creations, located in front of the Guest House.
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Japanese Garden of Peace
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WHERE: Fredericksburg, Texas
The National Museum of the Pacific War might seem an incongruous place for a restful Japanese garden, but it actually was a gift from Japan to the U.S., symbolizing “the complicated but firm friendship between the two countries.” To that end, it honors Fredericksburg local Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, and incorporates a replica of Japanese Admiral Togo’s meditation study. The garden’s raked gravel mimics ocean waves, with plantings standing in for Pacific islands.
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Elizabeth Hubert Malott Japanese GardenWHERE: Chicago, Illinois
Sansho-En, or Garden of Three Islands, is part of the Chicago Botanic Garden, its 17th-century style thoughtfully curating a sense of timelessness. Partially buried large rocks appear to have always existed in their settings; pine trees, symbolizing long life in Japanese philosophy, are shaped to seem ago-old; and short-lived flowering plants suggest the dichotomy of human transience and nature’s constancy.
Chicago Botanic Garden photo
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Japanese Friendship Garden
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WHERE: Phoenix, Arizona
This 3.5-acre spot is another stroll garden, or miegakure (hide-and-reveal), complete with a tea house and koi pond. It began as a cooperative undertaking between Phoenix and her sister municipality in Himeji, Japan, which donated all the decorative elements. The formal name, RoHoEn, combines three Japanese words—Ro for heron, Ho for the mythical phoenix, and En for garden. Aikido sessions and moonlight meditation are scheduled multiple times throughout the year.
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Shofuso Japanese Cultural Center
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WHERE: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A 17th-century Japanese house, Shofuso, meaning Pine Breeze Villa, was initially exhibited at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art. The structure eventually landed in Philadelphia’s West Fairmount Park, appropriate because that city lays claim to North America’s first Japanese garden following its 1876 Centennial Exposition. The surrounding landscape mirrors the same time period as the building.
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Valley of the Temples Memorial Park
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WHERE: Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii
A zen Garden in a cemetery ? Yes, and also meditation spaces and a reflection pond full of Japanese koi carp. Byodo-In Temple, constructed in 1968 to observe 100 years of Japanese immigration to Hawaii, sits amid the expansive grounds, open to all faiths. The place of worship is a smaller copy of its Japanese namesake.
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Como Park Zoo & Conservatory
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WHERE: St. Paul, Minnesota
The Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden is a gift from St. Paul’s sister city, Nagasaki, the first Asian-American collaboration of its kind. Rocks, thought of as “bones of the earth,” add stability and a sense of age to the property. One of America’s best Bonsai collections resides nearby in the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory. Each August, the park stages its own Obon Festival, an observance of a Japanese cultural and family holiday.
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Portland Japanese GardenWHERE: Portland, Oregon
This Washington Park oasis is one of America’s most well-known Japanese gardens. Eight individual spaces cover the 5.5-acre grounds, ranging from verdant foliage to stark stones and sand. Events in the still-expanding Cultural Village include art exhibits, classes, and performances. Enjoy a superb view of Mt. Hood from the Tea House.
Jonathan Ley
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MytoiWHERE: Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts
Isolated and intimate are words best used to describe this Japanese garden on Chappaquiddick Island. Catch the Edgartown ferry for a quick trip with your bike or car (or just yourself), then ride/walk about three miles to the entrance (warning: the parking lot only has 15 slots). Footpaths meander through the 14 acres of camellias (in season), birch and pine trees, and diverse marine life in its inner pool.
MYTOI
