Looking for a peaceful way to spend a few hours and see beautiful, lush greenery and bright red elements of Japanese architecture and statuary? We recommend a visit to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, where you can follow curving pathways around ponds with golden koi flickering under the surface, pause in front of spectacular pagodas and stone lanterns and even have tea in the tea garden pavilion. The grounds are manicured and carefully tended to create a visually spectacular experience.
It can be hard to find parking in the park, so people are encouraged to use public transit. We managed to find a space that didn’t involve too much of a walk to the tea garden, and along the way we saw musicians playing just for fun, people roller skating and kids climbing over some of the public art.
Photograph: Erika MailmanTea and bites at the pavilion
We went on a recent Saturday to enjoy the tranquil surroundings. Two of us shared a pot of sencha green tea while the other had iced green tea. We ordered miso soup, arare (the little bowl of rice crackers plus fortune cookies, which have a great history here—read below) and chicken karaage just to have a reason to pause and look around. The pavilion has some shared seating around a fire pit (which wasn’t operating that day) and small tables scattered throughout.
Afterward, we walked around, took some photos and appreciated the sights such as a raked-sand zen garden, a giant Buddha statue and walkways across the water made of flat stones. Here and there, you’ll find a bench to sit on, but mainly the gardens are for leisurely walking. The space isn’t that large, and if you don’t go to the pavilion for a snack, you could probably breeze through here in a half hour. For that matter, if you aren’t into mindful contemplation, it might not be the best place for you (maybe the nearby San Francisco Botanical Garden, also part of the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, would be better for members of your party with little patience, since they are far larger at 55 acres, and will let those impatient folks run ahead).
One of the standout attractions at the garden is the taiko bashi, or drum bridge, which is so steep that you must climb it like a ladder with very slim steps. It’s a bit of a workout to get to the top! It was commissioned by the Japanese government and built by Shinshichi Nakatani for the 1894 San Francisco Midwinter Fair (which actually makes this SF destination the oldest public Japanese garden in the U.S.). Nakatani first constructed it in his homeland of Japan, gave it a Shinto blessing and then brought it to San Francisco. The Nakatani family sold their rice fields to fund the bridge’s completion and to create the Shoro-no-mon (bell gate) through which visitors first enter the garden. Nakatani asked his son to stay and work in San Francisco for almost 50 years to earn money to get their rice fields back.
Photograph: Erika MailmanThe drum bridge is very steep.
But there is another family associated with the tea garden whose fate is much sadder, the Hagiwara family.
Makoto Hagiwara was the landscape designer who first maintained and expanded the tea garden after the world’s fair ended—and he’s also often credited with popularizing the fortune cookie’s modern version in the U.S., despite the fact that we now tend to associate the cookies with Chinese culture. When he died in 1925, his family continued his work. According to a history by his great, great grandson Erik Sumiharu Hagiwara-Nagata, Hagiwara approached park superintendent John McLaren to propose preserving the garden after the fair, with a large public area for visitors and a small private area for the family to live.
Photograph: Erika MailmanA Buddha statue
Hagiwara expanded the garden from one acre to five. In order to import the goldfish (in barrels from Japan), a man had to accompany the fish across the ocean. And alas: A seal escaped from the nearby Academy of Sciences and ate all the fish… so the process had to start all over again with new goldfish. Shrines and statues were brought over at great expense, many of which were stolen—and the Hagiwara family was never reimbursed for importing these beautiful items.
At one time there were 1,000 blooming cherry blossom trees in the garden. Cherry blossom trees still bloom here in March and April. And right now, January through March, magnolias are in bloom.
All this beauty and careful plotting of a place to celebrate Japanese culture came to a tragic halt in 1942 with the advent of World War II and the internment camps which many Japanese and Japanese-American families were sent to. The Hagiwara family was rounded up and taken to an internment camp after almost 50 years of caring for the garden.
When the war ended, McLaren urged the family to return and tend the deteriorated garden under the 99-year lease. Hagiwara-Nagata writes that “The Hagiwaras were to be the caretakers of the garden over the generations. This of course did not happen.” As the tea garden’s website reads, “The Hagiwara family was not allowed to return to their home at the tea garden and in subsequent years, many Hagiwara family treasures were removed and new additions were made.”
Photograph: Erika MailmanA pagoda atop the hill
Several plaques throughout the tea garden share this troubled history with visitors.
The price point for visiting may keep some tourists away. For out-of-town adults, it’s $19 ($11 for seniors and youth, $7 for kids and free for 4 and under), which is a lot for a site you can slowly walk through in about a half-hour. San Francisco residents can enter for free, as can those in the military, veterans and members of Museums for All. There’s also a free period for anybody who is an early riser: every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 to 10am.
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