A Japanese Garden, some Roses, and a Home.

                        Our last full day in the Portland area brought us to an experience that we’ve never had before.

                        We went to a Japanese Garden.

                        Not just any Japanese garden….

                        This is the Japanese garden that the rest of the country comes to visit when they want to see and learn how to start one of their own.

                        The backstory….

                        The year is 1957 and the memories of WWII are still stinging on both sides of the Pacific. A few thoughtful Portland citizens thought that building an authentic Japanese garden would help heal the wounds that were still festering within the communities. At first there was some opposition to the plan and things got a little dicey from time to time, but in the end it all came together.

                        Some land was appropriated from the old sections of the Portland Zoo and the site was dedicated in 1961.  A Professor Takuma Tono of Tokyo Agricultural University was retained to design the Garden. Professor Tono’s plan included five different garden styles laid out on 5.5 acres. This was quite a departure from gardens in Japan which typically follow one singular style. His intention was to represent different historical developments in Japanese garden architecture and through that communicate Japanese culture to create a cultural exchange.

                        Well…. It all turned out so nicely that when the former Ambassador of Japan to the United States visited, he proclaimed them to be “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese Garden in the world outside of Japan.”

                                    So here we are about sixty years later, the greenery has had the all-important chance to “mature” and the facility could not have been nicer. I will not explain any further as there are the obvious photos that accompany this Post. All I can say is that if you are ever in this area, you MUST make this a stop on your itinerary.

                                    Now without further ado,

I present for your viewing pleasure …..

                                    The Portland Japanese Gardens……

After we went to the Gardens, we dropped down into the Rose Garden. Portland has been called the Rose City since the early 1900’s, so this Rose Garden is a large part of the city’s identity.

Below you will find some of the pretty ones…..

And last but certainly not least, we visited the Pittock Estate. The Pittock family was an important ingredient in the local community, and they meant a lot to both the local charities and the businesses in the area. Their home has undergone an extensive restoration with many of the original family furniture pieces finding their way back home.

Well, that wraps up our stay in the Portland/Vancouver/Columbia River/Mount Hood area. We are looking forward to a return someday as there is still Mount St. Helens and some more wonderful seacoast areas to visit. No worries, Steve and Sandi already know that we’ll be back!