We had been by the Japanese garden before but had not explored it. I was also interested in seeing the recent cultural center addition. It’s a traditional Japanese garden occupying 12 acres within Washington Park in the West Hills portion of the city. It operates as a private non-profit organization. The Japanese Garden is built into a forested hillside in Washington Park on land that was previously the site of Portland’s zoo until 1959. The garden was designed by Professor Takuma Tono of the Tokyo University of Agriculture. The garden was dedicated and design began in 1963; the garden opened to the public in 1967.
The entrance was not the low key approach that I had been expecting, mostly because of the upward trek through the hillside.
We paid our entrance fee at an appropriately modest modern building next to the parking lot (1 – on map).
From there, you pass through a traditional gate
and work your way, switchback style, up the hill towards the Cultural Crossing plaza at the top of the path. The path has been generally handled well, though it feels in places more like a hiking experience than the entrance to a garden. Along the way, landscape features, like these bamboo leaf retainers, have been added to the slopes.
Another nice, though very subtle, touch was the addition of markers recognizing donors who had made parts of the garden improvement possible.
Near to the entrance plaza the trail resorts to stairs and a bridge in order to reach across a small ravine. I couldn’t tell whether water flows through the ravine or not.
This seems a bit jarring, especially with the metal and glass handrails; but it also serves as an introduction to the careful modern architecture of the crossing.
The Garden unveiled its Cultural Crossing expansion project in 2017. This $33.5 million expansion added 3.4 acres to the Garden. The addition included three new garden spaces and a Cultural Village, designed by world-renowned architect Kengo Kuma. The Village is home to the Jordan Schnitzer Japanese Arts Learning Center, the Garden House, and the Umami Cafe by Ajinomoto. The new space is used for additional educational and artistic programming and to make room for the 350,000 guests the Garden sees each year.
The architecture presents a nice mix of traditional and modern materials. The planted roof softens the whole profile into the trees, while the lower metal roofs give a sharper, more contemporary definition to the stone terraces. The plaza seems oddly neither informal nor clearly defined. That may have resulted from a desire for flexibility of use.
I like incidentals, such as this tree island; but it also seems arbitrary and not enough of an island garden to carry the traditional Japanese garden island theme. From this Tateuchi courtyard, one can admire a 185-ft-long Zagunis Castle wall traditionally built by a 15th-generation Japanese master stonemason using hand tools.
This dry-laid wall, using granite from Baker City, Oregon exhibits a spectacular combination of cut and uncut stone pieces meticulously hand-fitted together.
And, the closer you get, the more impressive the wall gets.
Here is some of the technical detail about the wall.
The Learning Center was the site of a small musical performance while we were there.
The steepness of the seating seemed a challenge to me; but it did provide a dramatic overview of the performance. I was able to get a bit closer at the lower level.
I was not able to learn the name of the instruments; but the music was lovely.
From the terrace I briefly explored a couple more spaces, this one including bonsai plants and the entrance to a woodland path behind the Learning Center.
On the terrace itself, several free-standing pieces had been included.
And then, almost as a conscious ‘transition garden’, the Ellie M. Hill Bonsai Terrace presents a small collection of traditional bonsai plants along a casual walkway on raised platforms or tables.
It’s almost as if it were a ‘working’ bonsai space.
This part of the terrace then led to the more traditional garden, the one that had been built originally, before there was a cultural crossing. This is the entrance.
The gate gave way to a series of paths, leading to different garden experiences, many of which seemed to have their own gates, in this case a trellis with wisteria.
From this point, a variety of paths led through different parts of the woods, offering experiences of ravine slopes, small pools, sitting areas and paving.
A sculpture acted as a focal point and guide post.
A smaller gate led to the next portion of the garden.
There, a small stream trickled along with our path.
Periodically, seating, placed in small spaces to the side of the paths, offered a chance to contemplate the variety and scale of the plantings. The paving of the paths was a challenge, for while the steps were clearly articulated by simple blocks, the in-between areas were paved with random shapes and textures that were not easy to walk.
Occasionally we came upon a non-Japanese anomaly
In this case, the path wound around to the raked stone garden.
It was perched on a built-up terrace that seemed unusual, and ironically seemed more contemplative from above.
This path also brought us to the Garden Pavilion Gallery and City Overlook (map-6).
Unfortunately, there was still too much cloud cover for a view of Mount Hood.
The Garden Pavilion was literally that, and not trying to be a tea house or scholar’s home as I have seen in other Japanese gardens.
Inside, the space was set up as a gallery / gift shop,
although many of the pieces on display would be expensive gifts.
From the other side of the pavilion we passed another raked stone garden,
exited back through the main gate,
and made our way to the real gift shop on our way back to the car.
There are several other garden spaces that we did not get to visit on this trip; and we would definitely go back again. It has been widely recognized. In a study conducted in 2013 by the Journal of Japanese Gardening, it was deemed the finest public Japanese garden in North America out of more than 300 such gardens surveyed by Japanese garden experts. The former Japanese ambassador to the U.S., Nobuo Matsunaga, said in 1988 that the garden was “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside Japan.” I’m glad we got to see it.
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