![]() ![]() In an era of intensifying anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States, the Japanese government-sponsored displays at World’s Fairs and expos offered a prime opportunity to showcase a peaceful and serene image of Japan. These much-heralded gardens also included tea houses, pagodas, pavilions and arched bridges to showcase not only the architectural beauty of Japan, but to educate Americans about Japanese culture. Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century World’s Fairs and expositions introduced millions of Americans to Japanese-style gardens. ![]() Given the longstanding fascination and history that European Americans have with all things Japanese, it is unlikely that it ever will. In America, this popularity has sometimes waned but never disappeared entirely. Throughout the nation and around the world, people from all walks of life continue to enjoy, contemplate, and create such gardens. Where might one look to find the legacy of these early immigrants and their Nisei children? The most enduring public (and not coincidentally, the most popular) legacy of the early Japanese American community is the Japanese-style garden. These significant shifts prompt one to question what remains of this history so intimately tied to the soil. The profession of gardening, once synonymous with the Japanese American community in California, now employs steadily decreasing numbers of gardeners with each passing year as the aging Nisei retire. Much like the residents of San Francisco who rallied successfully to host the 1915 exposition, they were “imbued with the Western spirit of success.” 4 Roughly one hundred years later, very few Japanese Americans till the soil of their grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ farms. Through their extensive work in farming, maintenance gardening and, to a lesser degree, garden design, they established a niche for themselves in matters pertaining to the soil. Vintage postcard, "Japanese Garden of a California Home"ĭuring the early decades of the twentieth century, first-generation Japanese immigrants, the Issei, had a great impact upon California’s agriculture and the greening of the state. The exposition itself was a great public success, and structural elements from the popular Japanese Pavilion, including the torii gate, pagoda, and temple gate (all adjacent to the main pond), found a permanent home in the Golden Gate Park. They know it is as the land of plenty.” 2 Many of these legendary qualities led Japanese immigrants to settle in the Golden State in the 1880s. They have heard of its scenic wonders, its balmy climate, and abounding industries. In every hamlet on the continent are people who look forward to visiting California. According to the promoters of the exposition, “There is a magic in the very name California. In 1910, just four years after a devastating earthquake and fire ravaged most of the city, San Francisco renewed its campaign to host the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. In Japanese-style gardens in America, imitation becomes a reinvention of nature – rather than a corruption of it-and accordingly, the reinvented garden becomes part of American culture.Įstablished in 1894 as part of the city’s Mid-Winter Fair, the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park has experienced as much change over time as the city itself. 1 We often think of American innovation and experimentation in the domain of business and technology, but this spirit also manifests itself in our relationship with the natural world. In the words of historian Virginia Scott Jenkins, “A new landscape aesthetic is a new cultural creation,” and the Japanese inspired garden in America is just that. The most telling part of this process is that it is regarded by patrons and visitors as imitation with the aim of cultural authenticity, but ends up being a translation from one cultural language to another that is entirely different. In the case of Japanese-style gardens in the United States, the imitative process operates on both literal and representational levels. Neither bound nor bolstered by thousands of years of national tradition, it is not surprising that Americans reinvent not only themselves, but numerous cultural creations brought over from other nations by immigrants and tourists alike. As a nation long known as the land of opportunity, the United States symbolizes a place where one can reinvent his or her life and start anew. In cultural creations ranging from outdoor gardens to works of art, music and literature, the question of authenticity often captures the attention of scholars, critics and laypeople alike.
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