Tea garden

The history of the Japanese Tea Garden, the oldest in the United States, began in 1894 when it was created as part of an exposition of a major International Winter Exposition held at Golden Park. After the end of the exhibition, it was proposed to preserve the Tea Garden and increase its territory to two hectares. This initiative came from Japanese immigrant Makoto Hagiwara, who was known as a professional gardener.

Until his death in 1925, master Hagiwara held the position of chief gardener. During the years of his work, hundreds of trees and shrubs appeared in the garden, which were specially brought to the United States from Japan. The keeper of the garden sought to make the Tea Garden a true ideal, down to the smallest details. To realize his dream, he wrote out from his homeland not only unique plants, but also birds with goldfish. Unfortunately, after the death of Makoto Hagiwara, the garden gradually began to fall into disrepair – after the end of the war, his relatives were not allowed to return to the master’s old house, and they were unable to continue the work of their ancestor.

The new life of the garden began in the first half of the 1950s, when landscape designer Nagao Sakurai took up its fate. Gradually, the garden acquired its modern appearance, the former details were partially restored, and new elements were partially added. The garden blossomed in the literal sense of the word, and is still a real pearl of landscape art. This cozy place with small picturesque ponds, traditional pagodas, elegant bridges and a tea house is very popular among residents of San Francisco and numerous tourists.