Portland Japanese Garden

Portland Japanese Garden could not pursue its mission of Inspiring Harmony and Peace without its remarkable group of volunteers. More than 180 individuals from a diverse group of backgrounds help the organization in innumerous ways, including providing richly detailed tours, guiding guests through artwork on display in our exhibitions, and tending to the physical landscape itself. One of these gifted and bright individuals is Masaki Shimada, who has been providing invaluable support to the organization since 2020.

Volunteer Spotlight: Masaki Shimada – Portland Japanese Garden Read about Portland Japanese Garden volunteer Masaki Shimada, who also serves as Seasonal Assistant Bonsai Caretaker for the organization.

Did you know? Portland Japanese Garden offers a variety of cultural demonstrations several times a week, free with general admission!

Immerse yourself in Japanese culture with the soft sounds of koto (Japanese harp) whispering through the Garden, learning about chado (the Way of Tea) during a tea demonstration, or discovering the delicate beauty of ikebana (the art of flower arranging) or the art of bonsai.

We have tea ceremony and ikebana demonstrations this week from 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM.

• Friday, August 2nd | Ikebana Demonstration by Nana Bellerud
• Saturday, August 3rd | Tea Ceremony led by Jan Waldmann
• Sunday, August 4th | Tea Ceremony led by Barbara Walker

We hope to see you there!

Our Arlene Schnitzer Curator of Culture, Art, and Education, Aki Nakanishi was recently interviewed by The Japan Times. Nakanishi, who has been with the organization since 2018, moved to the United States after having served as Cultural Affairs Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. As a cultural adviser to Caroline Kennedy (United States ambassador to Japan from 2013 to 2017) among other ambassadors, Nakanishi was involved in the planning and management of the United States’ cultural strategy in Japan.

“I think [Portland Japanese Garden] is valuable because it encapsulates the full range of joy that gardens offer, and it has projects that people all over the world can enjoy, learn from and be inspired by,” Nakanishi shared. Read more about his thoughts on Japanese gardens as an art form that supports ecological health.

Thinking about Japanese gardens — from Oregon - Sustainable Japan by The Japan Times Portland, Oregon, is known as one of the most environmentally friendly and safe cities in the United States. It is also famously walkable...

We are looking forward to some BEAUTIFUL weather this weekend ☀️ We are open from 10am - 6pm 🌿

Have you noticed these end tiles around the Garden? They are called, onigawara, or demon tiles. They are thought to  prevent evil spirits from entering a dwelling.  
The imprint on our end tiles is of a snow-viewing lantern (yukimi dōrō), which is the symbol of our Garden. These tiles can also be seen many architectural features in the Garden.

See how many you can spot during your next visit!

From Fodor's Travel: "There’s no such thing as bad weather in Portland, only an ill-prepared outfit."

When Is the Best Time to Visit Portland, Oregon? Fodor's provides expert travel content worth exploring so you can dream up your next trip. The world is a weird and wonderful place—we want to show you around.

Last week, we celebrated our remarkable group of . We're lucky to have 180 people from a diverse group of backgrounds (they speak a combined 15 different languages!). We truly could not operate without their help—whether it’s being friendly and super knowledgeable guides, literally getting down on the ground to w**d and sweep, or aiding our programming teams to help ensure the Garden continues to provide an authentic window into Japanese culture.

We recently profiled one of our longtime volunteers, Tsuru Tuenge. Tsuru shares: “Portland Japanese Garden is the best place to volunteer—you spend time in beautiful surroundings, get good exercise, and are surrounded by friends and interesting people.” Thank you, Tsuru! And thank you to all our volunteers.

Volunteer Profile: Tsuru Tuenge – Portland Japanese Garden Lear more about Tsuru Tuenge, who has been a member of Portland Japanese Garden since the late 1970s and has been a highly admired volunteer since 2017.

“Portland summer heat
In the waterfall’s shadow
We are as cool as koi”

-Keith S.

Thank you, Keith, for leaving a review of our Garden in the form of a haiku ❤️

Beat the Portland heat at Portland Japanese Garden this weekend, and stay as cool as koi! 🌿

A recent Google review states:

“Hands down the best Japanese garden I have ever been to. I went here for my birthday and it did not disappoint! I am in awe and words nor pictures cannot depict how beautiful the place is. Please, just go! It’s amazing! Students get discounts, so yay!”

Thank you for the kind words, Amanda! We are blushing ☺️

Students get a $3 discount off regular admission! 🎟️

The Oregonian has shared with their readers the recent Travelers’ Choice Award Portland Japanese Garden was given by travel website Tripadvisor. Journalist Destiny Johnson notes, “Many Portlanders and tourists know the serene beauty of the Japanese Gardens and, according to Tripadvisor, were moved enough to leave good reviews for the space.”

From The Oregonian: Tripadvisor Names Portland Japanese Garden a Great Place to Visit – Portland Japanese Garden The Oregonian has shared with their readers the recent Travelers' Choice Award Portland Japanese Garden was given by travel website Tripadvisor.

Here is a helpful itinerary so you can plan the perfect day of Portland garden visits, starting at Portland Japanese Garden!

How to Plan the Perfect Day of Visits to Portland’s Incredible Gardens – Portland Japanese Garden Here is a helpful itinerary so you can plan the perfect day of Portland garden visits, starting at Portland Japanese Garden!

Come take pictures in front of our lanterns to celebrate the centuries-old festival, Gion Matsuri!🏮

Guests arriving to Portland Japanese Garden this summer may notice a large lantern structure in the Atsuhiko and Ina Goodwin Tateuchi Foundation Courtyard of our Cultural Village. They are known as “Gion Festival Lanterns” and were first installed in this space back in 2018 when Portland Japanese Garden held an exhibition called “Gion Matsuri: The World’s Oldest Urban Festival.”

Gion Matsuri, a festival that started in the ninth century in Kyoto during Japan’s Heian era (794-1185), is a colorful and vibrant celebration that takes over the streets of downtown Kyoto each year in July. A month of ritual preparation culminates with a procession on July 17 and again on July 24 when elaborately decorated floats, called Yama and Hoko, are pulled through the streets. Our 2018 show exhibited one of the Hoko floats, Ayagasa Hoko, travelling all the way from Kyoto, marking the first time a Gion Matsuri float was exhibited outside of Japan.

During Yoiyama, the three evenings preceding the yamahoko procession, lanterns are illuminated in Kyoto neighborhoods. Not only are the lanterns displayed beside the floats, but each household also lights festival lanterns that hang under their eaves. These lanterns are called komagata chochin (koma-shaped lanterns). The name refers to the unique shape the lanterns create, which is said to resemble that of shogi (Japanese chess) pieces called koma.

The Gion Festival lanterns bear the crest of the sponsoring neighborhood, and those on view at the Garden in the Cultural Village were custom-made in Kyoto for the 2018 exhibition. They bear the stone lantern crest of the Portland Japanese Garden with “Japanese garden” in kanji on the back.

Read more: https://japanesegarden.org/2024/06/26/gion-festival-lanterns/

"Portland is a friendly city where everyone can be themselves, just like the cool fashion styles of Harajuku in Tokyo. Portland's natural beauty might surprise you. In spring, the city explodes in a riot of pink, just like Tokyo. Moreover, there are several things to see at Portland's Japanese Garden. You can spend a lazy afternoon wandering among traditional tea houses and meticulously raked gravel."

No Passport Needed: 7 Underrated U.S. Cities With Tokyo Vibes Dreaming of eating sushi, exploring shrines, kawaii shopping, and all things Japanese? If yes, plan a visit to these US cities that ooze Tokyo vibes!

Did you know? In the corner of the 2nd floor of the Jordan Schnitzer Japanese Arts Learning Center is our Vollum Library! This library currently holds over 3,000 publications relating to Japanese gardens and Japanese arts and culture.

It is open to members and guests Mondays & Thursdays from 1pm - 4pm, and Fridays & Saturdays from 9am-2pm. Stop by and stay awhile to beat the heat!

Learn more: https://japanesegarden.org/cultural-village/vollum-library/

Join us this upcoming Sunday from 10:30 am - 2:30 pm for our Tanabata festival celebration!

Tanabata, the Star Festival, is one of five seasonal festivals that has been celebrated in Japan since the 8th century. Each summer in Japan, people prepare for the festival by writing their wishes on narrow strips of paper called tanzaku and hanging them with other origami paper ornaments on bamboo branches displayed at the entrance to their homes and public places.

Guests attending Portland Japanese Garden’s Tanabata celebration will be invited to the Yanai Classroom to write their own wishes on tanzaku. Volunteers will be present to assist guests with hanging their tanzaku on the bamboo in the Crumpacker Bamboo Allee, adding to the colorful display. The festival will also feature music from Takohachi featuring storytelling of the Tanabata story. Free with general Garden admission!

Activities have been moved inside due to expected high heat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYpU_YBe5a8

Bird song and water sounds in the Tea Garden ASMR

Portland Japanese Garden will be OPEN for the holiday weekend! This is a perfect opportunity to bring any out-of-town guests to experience one of Portland’s crown jewels. Book your tickets online to skip the entrance line.

https://secure.japanesegarden.org/events

A recent review on Trip Advisor states:

“Even in the rain the garden was gorgeous. I appreciated a quiet and relaxing immersion in nature; the mosses on everything and the beautiful traditional Japanese garden buildings were so awesome. My kids loved it too and said it was like being in a Totoro movie!”

- Gracie L

Thank you for the kind words, Gracie! We are open all weekend from 10am - 6pm (last admission). And we are looking forward to more sunshine ☀️ in the forecast!

News site Business Insider turned to writers Zoë Miller, Matthew Wilson, and Mykenna Maniece to detail what they deemed to be the 25 most unique gardens in the world and named Portland Japanese Garden among them. The authors pointed to how we’re haven of serenity and tranquility.

From Business Insider: Portland Japanese Garden One of the "25 Most Unique Gardens Around the World" – Portland Japanese Garden News site Business Insider named Portland Japanese Garden to be among the 25 most unique gardens in the world.

In summer, Portland Japanese Garden transforms into a canvas painted with vibrant shades of green, creating a sense of serenity and rejuvenation, and inviting us to immerse ourselves in its embrace. Let this calming hue serve as a reminder to slow down, to pause and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us, and to find solace in the simplicity of a summer day.

Happy first day of summer! 🌿

“In summer, you’ll learn to appreciate the subtle difference in the color green.”

- Sadafumi Uchiyama, Curator Emeritus of Portland Japanese Garden

On Juneteenth, a day commemorating the liberation of enslaved people in the United States, we reflect on the significance of this day with renewed commitment to the pursuit of a more peaceful, harmonious world.

Did you know? On the eastern bank of the upper portion of the Strolling Pond Garden, you may notice a stone lantern with the words: CASTING THE LIGHT OF EVERLASTING PEACE. This lantern, referred to as the Peace Lantern, first took a voyage across the Pacific Ocean before finding its home in Portland Japanese Garden.

In 1954, shortly after the end of World War II, Mayor Ryōzō Hiranuma of Yokohama began gifting stone lanterns to different locations around the world to “cast the light” of peace. Mayor Hiranuma found kindred spirits in Portland who were eager to repair ties and move forward together. Portland Mayor Fred Peterson (1953-57) had visited Seattle and had seen a stone lantern in one of the city’s parks. This motivated Mayor Peterson to reach out to his counterpart in Yokohama in hopes Portland could have one as well. Mayor Hiranuma, familiar with Stumptown because of his visit there for the 1953 Japanese-American Pacific Coast Mayors’ Conference, would respond with a gracious letter in which he agreed to send one to Oregon’s largest city:

“Now in Japan, the international interchange of culture is earnestly advocated and I feel it is a very good trend as Japan has announced after the war that she would restart to be a cultural nation. From the above viewpoint, it is very significant that Yokohama people [would] send one of… Japan’s traditional garden decorations to the city of Portland.”

The lantern made way for Portland, conveyed on a ship that would be among the first Japanese vessels to arrive in the area since World War II.

At first, the lantern was installed in the International Rose Test Garden and then finally in 1966, it was placed in Portland Japanese Garden. While its journey concluded more than 50 years ago, its significance has not waned.

Start your week with 5 minutes of serenity from out Strolling Pond Garden.

5 Minutes of Serenity in the Strolling Pond Garden Take a few minutes for yourself to just breathe, and bring yourself back to the present moment.

This urban oasis awaits you 🌿 We are open all weekend from 10am - 6pm (last admission).

The Oregonian published the findings of a new analysis that named Portland Japanese Garden as one of the most popular public gardens in the U.S.! Journalist Jamie Hale writes, “Oregonians don’t need any obscure online listicle to tell them all about the splendor of the Portland Japanese Garden, a destination that is beautiful in all seasons, just one of many of the wonders of Washington Park, itself the gem of Portland’s incredible park system. That said, it’s always nice to get some recognition.” ❤️

Portland destination ranks among the country’s most popular urban gardens on TikTok The study of popular TikTok videos highlights one of Portland's most beautiful attractions.