Japanese Garden

Japanese Garden - Body

japanese garden

Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden is one of the oldest gardens at The Huntington. It was started over a century ago and has undergone a great deal of change over the past 100 years. The garden is nine acres and has grown from a fixture in a private estate to a thriving example of American interpretations of Japanese garden-making over the past 100 years. Today, the Japanese Garden encourages visitors to explore American interpretations of Japanese art and culture.

Garden as Art

A body of still water with a domed wooden bridge. The water is surrounded by plants.

The Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Plants on a hill with a covered path in the distance

View from the Historic Japanese House in the Japanese Garden, The Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

A garden with plants and benches

The Japanese Garden, The Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Pink blossoms bloom on trees with other plants in the background

Japanese 'Momo' peach tree in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

A long flat area of stones. The stones have patterns of repeating lines.

The Zen Garden in the Japanese Garden, The Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

A narrow stone path winds through an archway of bamboo

Bamboo path in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

A garden with plants in the foreground and a building in the background

Cycads and the Historic Japanese House in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Flat and low bridge over still water surrounded by plants

Wooden bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

A path with stairs leading down and then back up toward a wall with an open doorway. The path is surrounded by plants.

Stairs in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

A narrow path surrounded by plants. A stone birdhouse-like structure is in the corner of the photo.

A path in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Questions & Prompts

  • Choose a place in the photo and imagine you are standing or sitting there. What can you see from your position? What can you smell? Hear? Touch?

  • Describe the photographed garden using the elements of art.

  • Describe the photographed garden using the principles of design.

  • Compare the landscapers’ use of the elements of art or the principles of design in two or more of the photographed landscapes.

  • Draw the landscape as you see it.

  • Draw the landscape as it might look in 10 years if gardeners stopped taking care of the plants.

Features of the Garden

A house-like structure and a yard with stone paths and plants

Seifu-an in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Ceremonial teahouse, Seifu-an (Arbor of Pure Breeze), was donated to The Huntington in the early 2000s by the Pasadena Buddhist Temple. The teahouse was originally built in Kyoto in 1964. Before it was installed at The Huntington, it was disassembled and sent back to Kyoto. Kyoto-based architect and craftsman Yoshiaki Nakamura oversaw the restoration. Nakamura’s father had built the original structure. Nakamura and other expert craftsmen traveled to The Huntington from Kyoto to reassemble the teahouse in the Japanese Garden. The teahouse is set in a traditional tea garden. The tea garden features a traditional entry gate, winding paths, a stream, and a ceremonial waiting bench.

Seifu-an in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

House-like structure with one wall open to display the interior. The house is surrounded by a paved open area and plants.

Historic Japanese House in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Historic Japanese House. This five-room structure is an example of a display house from the late 19th to early 20th century. It is a very strange structure. The house was created specifically to be a commercial tea house and antiques shop. It has certain features of residential architecture, but it is very different from a typical 19th or 20th century Japanese residence. When the house was built in Japan and shipped to California in 1904, it was a modern, fashionable structure. This house was built for a commercial tea garden, meaning it was created to sell art objects rather than to serve as a residence where people would live.

Historic Japanese House in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Pink blossoms bloom on trees with other plants in the background

Japanese 'Momo' peach tree in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Plants include several forms of Japanese Red Pine, Junipers, Cycads, Wisteria, Sweet Olives. Fruit trees provide color through their blossoms. Pines include Japanese Black Pine and Japanese Red Pines. In the summer, lotuses, water lilies, and irises color the Japanese Garden’s landscape.

Japanese 'Momo' peach tree in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Courtyard with wood walls. Tall trees grow beyond the walls. In the courtyard, about ten bonsai are on display in front of the walls.

Bonsai Court in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Bonsai Court. In this space, bonsai are displayed as living sculptures. [link:bonsai spotlight] Each bonsai is a work of art, and the court serves as a place where visitors can experience many of these works of art at once.

Bonsai Court in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

A long flat area of stones. The stones have patterns of repeating lines.

The Zen Garden in the Japanese Garden, The Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

The Zen Garden is a stone garden, also called a dry landscape. This dry garden practice evolved in Japanese temple gardens and in private residences. Rakes have been dragged through the gravel to create captivating patterns and textures. Patterns raked into gravel, rock formations, and shrubbery are used to evoke water, space, movement, and other abstract ideas.

The Zen Garden in the Japanese Garden, The Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

An arched wooden bridge stretches across still water. The bridge is partially obscured by a willow. Other green plants grow in the area.

Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Moon Bridge is a wooden drum bridge (Taiko-bashi). This bridge was constructed by Toichiro Kawai in 1913. One architectural researcher’s work suggests that this bridge uses a woven arch design, which is not a traditional Japanese bridge construction method. Only one bridge in Japan’s history is known to have been developed using a woven arch design. It’s possible Kawai heard of that one bridge, but it’s also possible he was inspired by Chinese bridge design or that he developed the woven arch design independently (Liu).

Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Labor in the Landscape: Toichiro Kawai

A black and white photograph of a middle aged man and woman stand with a young woman and six children. All of the people in the photograph are Japanese.

The Kawai family, circa 1915, photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107.

Many people’s labor has contributed to the Japanese Garden over the past century. In this spotlight, we consider the contributions of one of these people, Toichiro Kawai.

Toichiro Kawai, along with his wife, Hama, and eldest daughter, Kimi, immigrated to the United States from Japan in 1902. Before moving to the United States, Kawai worked as a wood carver and a restorer of art objects. Kawai had great skill as a carpenter, and he was hired by The Huntington to move the Japanese House from a commercial tea garden in Pasadena to the Japanese Garden. He continued to contribute his knowledge and expertise to The Huntington. He designed and built multiple structures, including the moon bridge, the bell tower, and the torii gates (which no longer exist).

The Kawai family, circa 1915, photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107.

A black and white photograph of a domed wooden bridge in a garden. Four children and one adult stand at the top of the bridge and two children and one adult stand in front of the bridge.

Children and adults on Japanese garden drum bridge, n.d., photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107.

A faded color photograph of a wooden structure frames a path through a garden. The structure has a rectangular form with a bowed upper section.

Torii Gate of the Japanese garden, circa 1924, photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107.

A black and white photograph of a middle aged white man wearing a suit and bow tie rests his left hand on the side of a pagoda-esque bell house.

William Hertrich with the bell house in the Japanese garden, March 1962, photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107.

Questions & Prompts

Choose one of the structures photographed above:

  • What knowledge do you think Kawai needed to create this structure? How might he have gained this knowledge?

  • What challenges do you think Kawai faced when working on this structure? What would you find most challenging about doing this job?

  • If you could ask Kawai questions about his work, what would you ask? Why?

Throughout the Years

Throughout the past century, the garden has grown and changed. Explore the photographs below to experience the garden as it existed approximately 100 years ago.

Black and white photo of a narrow body of water winding through an area of wild-looking plants.

West canyon of the Japanese garden, circa 1908, photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107.

Black and white photograph of a barren hill with one plant in the foreground and a building at the top of the hill.

Marsh Japanese tea garden house, circa 1910, photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107.

Black and white photograph of a garden with plants on a lawn and a building in the distance.

Japanese garden and tea house, circa 1914, photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107 vol3 pg75.

Black and white photograph of still water with floating leaves and flowers. The water issurrounded by plants. A domed bridge arches over the back corner of the water and a roof of a building is visible in the background.

Drum bridge in the Japanese garden, circa 1918, photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107.

Black and white photograph of a garden with plants and a building in the distance.

Japanese garden, circa 1925, photograph, Henry E. Huntington Estate photograph collection, approximately 1900s-approximately 1960s. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. photCL 107.

Questions & Prompts

  • Choose one of the photos. Select a place in the photo and imagine you are standing or sitting there. What can you see from your position? What can you smell? Hear? Touch?

  • Select two photographs taken in the same year. Identify three similarities and three differences.

  • Select two photographs of the same (or similar) location taken at least 10 years apart. What has stayed the same? What has changed? Why do you think this change occurred? Do you think people caused this change on purpose?

  • What can you infer about the development of the Japanese Garden by observing these photographs and the dates they were taken? What evidence do you have to support your inferences?

Mindful Moment

Experience a mindful moment behind Seifu-an teahouse. Imagine drinking tea as you experience this moment of quiet and calm.

Note: Japanese tea ceremonies, especially as they are practiced now, have been made to be incredibly “mindful.” However, historically these tea ceremonies have many other functions as well. The tea ceremony was used to broker political deals in the past. Warriors drank tea together and competed over who had better taste. Merchants used tea to assert their cultural superiority over politicians. Beneath its calm veneer, a tea ceremony can be an incredibly competitive, contentious affair.

Create a Postcard from the Garden

People send postcards while on trips to interesting places. By mailing these postcards, people can share their experiences with others. Postcards have two sides. On one side, artwork visually represents a place. On the other side, a short letter can be written to describe experiences. Now that you have (virtually) visited the Japanese Garden, create a postcard to share the experience with a loved one.

  1. Choose the person you want to make your postcard for. Do you want to make a postcard for a parent? A sibling? A grandparent? A friend? A cousin? A classmate or a teacher? Maybe your class can all make postcards for each other!

  1. Create artwork of the garden on the front of your postcard. What will you include? Why? How can your art help the person receiving your postcard understand the garden?

  1. Write a letter on the back of your postcard (if you’re planning to mail your postcard, remember to leave space on the back for the person’s address). What will you write about? Did you have a favorite part of the garden? What do you wish your loved one knew about the garden?

References and Resources

Li, T. June, ed. 2013. One Hundred Years in the Huntington’s Japanese Garden: Harmony with Nature. San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Liu, Yan. 2020. “A Full Moon in Another Land: The Moon Bridge in the Japanese Garden of the Huntington Library.” Frontiers of Architectural Research 9, no. 3 (September): 556–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.02.004.