Japanese Tea Garden

The Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States. The garden was originally developed for the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition primarily by landscape gardener Makoto Hagiwara who was appointed official caretaker of the tea garden in 1895.

A garden, in Japanese culture, is considered to be one of the highest art forms, expressing the essence of nature through the use of specially-selected plants and stones in a limited space. The San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden represents aspects of both a wet walking garden as seen in this panorama and, in another section, a dry garden symbolizing a mountain scene complete with stone waterfall and small island surrounded by a gravel river.

You are invited to view another panorama and more than two dozen photos of the Japanese Tea Garden on my page detailing its history, bronze and stone lanterns, Maple Lane landscape, Temple Gate, Pagoda, Drum Bridge and other features of the garden. Also included are two articles by Erik Sumiharu Hagiwara-Nagata — a great, great grandson of Makoto Hagiwara. Erik, who is also a landscape architect, provides information about his family history and the use of various plants in a traditional Japanese garden.

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USA-Canada / USA-California

Lat: 37° 46' 12.34" N
Long: 123° 29' 12.83" W

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Medium. Nearby, but not to the last decimal.

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