Gardens

Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park

June 29, 2020

May and June are usually months I travel. This year I am staying close to home and focusing my attention on writing about past adventures while exploring local places. In the spirit of ‘Dream Now, Travel Later” I am doing a lot of dreaming while seeking inspiration as best it can be found in these challenging times.

Last October I visited the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It is the oldest extant public Japanese garden in the United States and the oldest open to the public outside of Japan. One of San Francisco’s most popular tourist attractions, it is considered the most famous Japanese garden in the West.

The Japanese Tea Garden was originally part of the Japanese Village, an attraction of the California Midwinter Exposition (World’s Fair) of 1894. Because of its popularity, when the fair ended it was decided that the tea garden would continue. To achieve this, Golden Gate Park Superintendent John McLaren entered into what is described as a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Japanese immigrant Makoto Hagiwara to develop and manage the garden. The Japanese Tea Garden became Hagiwara’s singular passion and home.

Hagiwara arrived in the United States in 1878. He is described in various publications as one of the first notable Japanese immigrants in San Francisco and an entrepreneur who opened the first Japanese restaurant in the city, where the first fortune cookie in America was served (but that’s another story). Hagiwara was also a gardener and landscape designer.

The garden was Hagiwara’s gift to the city. Under his care, it expanded threefold. He funded its construction and curated its collection of plantings, rare birds, koi, and art from Japan while cultivating relationships to assure the garden’s success. Hagiwara is responsible for the original design (it has been modified over time) and the tea house and pavilions.

Japanese Tea House, 1904.

In 1901 Hagiwara was removed for five years as the garden’s manager because of an anti-Asian immigrant amendment to the city charter. Returning to the garden in 1906 he built a home within and he, and later his family, managed the property and tea house (serving those fortune cookies) until 1942. Then, along with 120,000 Japanese Americans, they were sent to an internment camp. Despite their attachment and dedication to this singular place, the Hagiwara family did not return to the garden in a formal capacity.

Following the Hagiwara family’s departure, a brick terrace and sunken garden were built on the site of their former home. The pagoda, procured by Hagiwara following the San Francisco Pan-Pacific International Exhibition in 1915, was relocated to the site of the Shinto Shrine.

Sada and Koto Hagiwara in the garden in 1911.

Much of the carefully curated Hagiwara art collection was removed as well. Plants, including Hagiwara’s bonsai collection, were relocated or died from lack of care. To further eradicate the garden’s Japanese origins, it was renamed “The Oriental Tea Garden” and the Japanese tea servers replaced by Chinese women.

The years that followed saw many changes in the garden. New features and amenities were added while others repurposed or relocated. While it is not unusual for gardens to change throughout time, it is clear from the amount of attention paid to this particular site, that it held (and continues to hold) a special place in the heart of those who lived in San Francisco. A comprehensive timeline of the garden’s evolution can be found on Sutori, a collaborative educational website.

A large bronze Buddha, cast in 1790, was installed in 1949.

In 1953, following the efforts of local residents and the Japanese Consul General, the garden was legally renamed the Japanese Tea Garden, in recognition of its origins. A 9,000-pound bronze lantern of peace, purchased with contributions from Japanese school children as a symbol of friendship with the United States, was presented by the Japanese Consul General. The gift commemorated the US Japanese peace treaty signed in San Francisco in 1951.

The same year, Japanese landscape designer Nagao Sakurai designed the Zen Garden in a rear corner of the site. Also called a Karesansui or dry garden, its large stones and gravel are raked in waves and represent a waterfall and body of water.

In 1960 the San Francisco Garden Club hired Sakurai to reconfigure the pond area, as well as the main gate and tea house. Twelve additional lanterns were added to the garden’s extensive collection. Five years later Hagiwara’s bonsai collection was returned to the garden and located on a hillside between the main pond and west gate. The sunken garden was added.

A water-shaped basin (tsukubai) was placed near the gift shop in 1966, a gift from the Gump Company.

Multiple elements in the garden have been dedicated to Hagiwara. In 1974 a plaque honoring him and his family was placed outside the main gate and a hedge shaped in the image of Mount Fuji near where he was raised, was sculpted. The Hagiwara gate also remains as a key feature in the garden.

Nearly forty-five years after being evicted from the garden, the Hagiwara family was acknowledged by the city of San Francisco for the “design, development and management” of the garden and were recompensed with a modest sum for the loss of their home and possessions. The street in front of the park was renamed Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive.

This is a public garden with a complex history. While I like to imagine that at times (perhaps in the early morning and late afternoon) the tranquility and harmony of a Japanese garden prevails, it is an extremely popular attraction, and on the day I was there, it was quite crowded.

Originally built as a village, the Japanese Tea Garden is enjoyed by visitors from near and far. For many, it represents their idealization of a perfect Japanese Garden. As they meander along its circuitous paths and explore its distinct features they most likely don’t differentiate its stylistic hybridity nor imagine its long and complex history. Many have left their imprint on the now five-acre site and it is perhaps one the most designed and redesigned public gardens in America.

In February 2020, in partnership with the Friends of the Japanese Tea Garden, the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department began a $2 million spring renovation of the garden and its pagoda to celebrate its 125th anniversary. Members of the Hagiwara family returned to the garden to talk about its history and remember the man whose passion is at the core of its existence. While only a few features of the original garden remain I like to imagine Hagiwara’s spirit living on in the place he so clearly loved.