Come to Understand: Welcome to Portland Japanese Garden

The garden speaks to all the senses, not just to the mind alone. Welcome to the Portland Japanese Garden. In Japanese gardens, everything you see is intentional. Consider this along your stroll today. Notice each plant placement and how the paths change and guide your experience. A Japanese garden isn't meant to evoke strong emotions, but rather quiet reflection. For this reason, we ask that you quiet your voice while in the garden. As you walk through our garden, you will notice seasonal elements that offer a grounded sense of place in nature, like the lush greenery of summer, vibrant hues of fall, or the smell of fresh rain on the delicate moss in the winter. Every season offers something special. This is a place where anyone, for any time, increasingly, today's day and age, very few places like this, where you can experience the same thing in the same way. So you just come back and again and again. And you see the gardens, the living things. Inspired in the late 1950s to renew cultural ties between Oregon and Japan, members of the Portland community conceived the idea of building the Portland Japanese Garden on the site of the old zoo in Washington Park. It was really about healing the wounds of the war, about coming together and saying, hey, it's not what it was 20 years ago when we were great enemies. 55 years later, we've grown to be perhaps the largest Japanese culture center in the world, all out of that nugget of an idea that out of war comes peace and mutual understanding. And through a garden, it's an incredible thing. Just beyond the Nezu Gate are the five original gardens, each showcasing a unique style. This is not typical in Japan, but consistent with the original purpose of this garden, to teach our guests about Japanese culture. The Strolling Pond Garden consists of the upper and lower ponds connected by a flowing stream. The upper pond features the iconic Moon Bridge, while the lower pond has a zigzag bridge, which weaves through beds of Japanese iris against the backdrop of the stunning Heavenly Falls. The Tea Garden is a place for quiet reflection on beauty and nature, as well as the art of living in harmony with one another. This garden is housed within the Strolling Pond Garden and weaves through a roji path to an authentic tea house. The third garden style is the Natural Garden. It also has meandering pathways created to encourage you to rest and immerse yourself in nature. Stay along the stone pathways to admire and protect the moss. Our Natural Garden is the most naturalistic feeling of the garden, and that's probably why I love it, because it's the closest to feeling as if I'm in a native forest. But in fact, all the trees are kept at a certain proportion to truly feel, you know, comforting rather than overwhelming. There are two raked gravel gardens at the Portland Japanese Garden, which are meant to be viewed from the sidelines. The first, the Sand and Stone Garden, features the stark simplicity of weathered stones rising from a bed of sand raked to suggest the sea. Our Flat Garden was carefully designed to highlight the distinctive beauty of all four seasons. Our gravel gardens are delicate and are not meant to be walked on. Within the Flat Garden is our Pavilion Gallery, which showcases Japanese art exhibitions. In 2017, the Portland Japanese Garden opened its Cultural Village, adding three new garden spaces, including the Ellie M. Hill Bonsai Terrace, which gives visitors a chance to see many varieties of bonsai examples and techniques throughout the seasons. The buildings, designed by world-renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, are structured to easily transition your sight from nature to architecture, using thin green roofs, Oregon timber, and glass walls to keep the nearby scenery always in view. The addition includes a 20-foot castle wall made using the traditional dry stack technique, and the Umami Cafe, which offers an array of authentic tea and snacks for you to enjoy, while gazing out at the native Douglas fir trees. With these new spaces, the garden strives to provide more opportunities to learn about Japanese culture. There are often exhibitions and demonstrations in the Jordan Schnitzer Japanese Arts Learning Center. Ask the concierge for more details. To help us create the best experience for yourself and for everyone who enters our gates, please do not talk on your cell phone while in the garden, and please don't walk on the delicate moss or in the raked gravel gardens. Enjoy your food and beverages before visiting, and please keep your voices in a quiet conversational tone. Stroll around, slow down, and let your senses guide you into another world.