Japanese Gardens
Location
3300 11th Avenue South
(11th Avenue and South 34th Street)
Located within Sertoma Park
Size: 1 Acres
Park Amenities
[Photos coming soon!]
Like medieval European architectural styles, such as Gothic and Romanesque, Japanese gardens are built according to the distinguishable landscape architectural styles. The style adopted for this park is known as JYOUDO- style. The word "jyoudo" is a religious word for Buddhists, which means heaven, paradise, space, or universe, depending upon its context.
Two of the most distinguishable features of the JYOUDO- style gardens are "KARE SAN SUI" (dry river in the mountain) and "SYUMI SEN" (mountain of Gods), both of which are represented in this garden.
The KARE SAN SUI (dry river in the mountain) is featured on the west -side of the garden, which is entirely made up of natural rocks and gravel. The standing large rocks placed on the west-end of the KARE SAN SUI represent a waterfall. From there, rocks were carefully placed to resemble a mountain creek with its natural curves and slopes. The gravel area between the two lines of rocks represents water in the creek. Thus, it is "dry." The "water" coming from the "waterfall" is thought to reflect the surface of the rocks, and eventually, run into the larger body of water.
At the edge of KARE SAN SUI, several larger size rocks are placed by the surface of water. The rocks were placed to create an upside-down reflective image on the surface of water in front of it. Such reflective image should change season by season, due to the varying levels of water heights. This varying reflective image of the rocks is another unique feature of this Japanese Garden.
The island part of the garden, which is surrounded by the body of water, is the SYUMI SEN (mountain of GODS) part of the garden. With a large lantern on one side, a number of rocks are placed both horizontally and vertically to represent a hill in heaven, where Gods (Buddhist's' notion of polytheistic gods) gather and enjoy.
Also featured in this Japanese garden are three Japanese-style rock lanterns, all of which are made of natural granite rocks in their entirety. Three distinct styles of lanterns were brought from Japan. Each style of lanterns has its own official name. The most ornamental lantern placed near KARE SAN SUI is called KASUGA-style lantern. KASUGA- style is named after Kasuga Grand Shrine, a 1400-year-old Shintoist shrine in Nara, Japan. A visitor to the Grand Shrine would find many lanterns with similar designs to the one placed here at Sertoma Park along the walkways and gardens of the Grand Shrine.
The largest lantern here at Sertoma Park, placed on the island, is called YAMA-style lantern. A "Yama" simply means mountain.
It is designed to maintain the most natural and simplistic looks, featuring the natural beauty of the rocks themselves. The location of the YAMA-style lantern is the west-end of SYUMI SEN. The smallest lantern in this garden is called MISAKI-style lantern. A "misaki" is a cape, as in Cape Cod, or a point, as in Point Loma. It is intended to resemble a lighthouse reflecting the light to the surface of water.
In addition to the rocks and lanterns, several trees and plants were planted to make the Japanese garden complete according to JYOUDO-style tradition.
It is the garden designer, Master Gardner Toshio Yoshida's hope that a visitor to the Japanese garden built with the imagination of "jyoudo", or heavenly universe, would develop his or her own imagination of universe.
According to Mr. Yoshida, such imagination does not necessarily be the same as that of the designer, because, each individual's imagination of the universe is unique and respectable. Thus, such imagination and uniqueness of each individual should be honored and cherished as such.
Japanese Designers:
Master Gardener Toshio Yoshida
and
Master Gardener Shino Sato
