May going fast in the garden

The Fifth Month

五月

するが地や花橘も茶の匂ひ

surugaji ya hanatachibana mo cha no nioi

Suruga road—

even the wild orange blossoms

smell of green tea

From: Twelve haiku translations from Bonsai, PIE Books, Tokyo, 2011, 

translated by Emiko Miyashita and Michael Dylan Welch

SJG • 5/24/15 - a duck by the lantern on suhana  (pebble beach on the rocky peninsula)

by aleks
Usually April and May are the months when rhododendrons and azaleas overtake the Garden, making it extravagantly showy with colors, almost gaudy. And although most westerners like it that way, and actually many come for the show (jugging from comments I overhear: 'let's go on the Azalea Way, there is even more there', 'now it's the best time for color'), it s during those months that I find myself taking the time on my tours to explain that this was NOT the original intent of our Garden and his architects, nor the aim of any Japanese style Garden.

SJG • 5/24/15 - wisteria blooms almost over, the trellis returns to its natural
green statement role, with Japanese irises beneath. 

My explanations are often met with quizzical looks on the faces of visitors (reading like  'who would want to give THAT up?!'),  leading to more explanations that the aim of the Garden is to create a feeling of calm, permanence and continuity, which is why evergreen trees (especially pines) and shrubs,  predominate in the Japanese garden and brightly colored flowering plants are generally not planted.

SJG • 5/24/15 - after taking this pic I went to see what's the attraction. Crayfish  perhaps?
They like to congregate there...  No, it's was a turtle that seemed to want to come out
(lay its eggs maybe up the path?), but  all that attention!

I visited our Garden yesterday and noticed that it is returning faster than usual to its typical shades-of-green palette: after unusually warm winter some blooms appeared as much as four weeks early, and  speeded away just as fast.

•  •  •  •  •

REMINDER: 子供の日 • (kodomo no hi) Children’s Day THIS Sunday, May 31, 11am - 3 pm

SJG • 5/24/15 - Japanese irises up-close

Scenes from the garden

by aleks

SJG • 4/21/15 - fiery orange r. kaempheri lining up the path to waterfall

I was in the garden to catch a few pics to update  the Plant List blog and for the first time I was comfortable enough to look at the patterns in planting (the horticultural information is pretty intimidating for me, and for the last several years I was barely at the level of identifying singular plants and not much looking at the overall design).

SJG • 4/21/15 - r. 'Bouquet rose' on the bend, ''arnoldiana'on the wall in the north

in 1960 Juki Iida, the designer of our garden, was given over 160 rhododendrons from Arboretum to play with; he thought it was a bit too many, and at this time of the year, and 55 years later, I can understand his trouble:  the garden looks like a rhododendron park, and not really Japanese style garden. Still pretty though.

SJG • 4/21/15 - I take this pic of the benches under azaleas several times a year...

When we guide people around the garden we tell stories: some are about the concepts of Japanese garden, other stories are about the art and poems connected with it, and yet another about architectural gifts the garden carries.

SJG • 4/21/15 - the turtles don't care...  hey are just sunning themselves up

But sometimes it is OK to be silent and quiet about it; just look, be peaceful and part of it :).

Photographs and Memories

by Cara I.; pics by aleks
One of the first tours I led this season was of a group of older adults from a residential community. When I met the group and their leader, they expressed some familiarity with gardens, Japan, and even the Seattle Japanese Garden, so it was with anticipation of learning from them that I started our garden stroll.

Stepping on the threshold stone, we shed our outside cares away and walked into the garden. Individuals noticed the pines, the dry stream bed. I spoke of the ‘hide and reveal’ principle in Juki Iida’s design of the garden.

The group leader said that one member, Sally, was here in 1960 when the garden was built; in fact, Sally’s husband had helped to build it. He was one of the Japanese American gardeners on Juki Iida’s team that constructed the garden. What a wonderful opportunity to hear about that group of gardeners, whose assistance was invaluable to create what we see in the garden today, 55 years later!

The stone is there (in the water to the R of the men), but not the lantern on it yet ... The archival photo was taken during the construction in spring of 1960; Aleks found it at the Miller Library. The original photographer is unknown.

Sally said the garden looks very different now, noting the maturity of plants and the weathering of stone elements her husband had helped to place. She shared a story about observing the construction one day. She remembered her husband in the pond with a heavy lantern, patiently following Iida’s instructions to move it this way and that till it was placed exactly on a stone as the designer wished it. “It was that one,” she said, pointing to the yukimi-toro (snow-viewing lantern) on the south shore of the pond, a favorite lantern in the garden for many visitors and certainly one of the most-photographed due to its mossy cap, the probable consequence of its placement at the shoreline and the direction it faces.

Similar angle, the pic taken in spring 2011; the zigzag bridge is to the north and stone peninsula to the right.  The lantern  has now been sitting on the stone for 55 years - or since Sally's husband helped to place it there.

That day in 1960, Sally took a photo of her husband, crouched low in the pond to avoid blocking the designer’s view and still be able to move the lantern. She really liked that photo, although it's become misplaced over the years, she mentioned. As she shared her memory of that day, I knew I'd think of Sally and her husband every time I see the yukimi-toro from now on.

SPRING, pretty Spring...

The Fourth Month

四月

あらたふと青葉若葉の日のひかり

aratōto aoba wakaba no hi no hikari

how brilliant—

leaves both green and young

in the sun’s light

From: Twelve haiku translations from Bonsai, PIE Books, Tokyo, 2011, 

translated by Emiko Miyashita and Michael Dylan Welch

SJG • 4/7/15 - our Lace-leaf maples are leafing out...  (here in C, also in B)

by aleks
I took a stroll around the Garden today: very pretty spring, although a bit confused Mother Nature is putting out some blooms early and ahead of time, after unusually warm winter in Seattle... And some May rhodies are already out, too, gasp!

SJG • 4/7/15 - our exquisite royal azalea, aka
Botanical Name: Rhod. 'Schlippenbachii' (pink) in many areas... 

Stopped to talk to our gardener, Miriam, and she mentioned that crows are demolishing our moss, as they find their food underneath, too:  larvae and grubs.  Much too early in the year....

Other than that our Japanese Garden is so, so very pretty now!  I'm including a few pics for all of you to enjoy...

SJG •  Canada geese enjoying the view on moon viewing  platform...

After getting entangled in the Plant Committee activities and the lives of plants for the last several years, I'm trying to get back and learn more about Japanese Garden CULTURAL roots.  Found a book, titled 'The Art of Japanese Garden', by David and Michiko Young...

Very, very helpful: it  covers the basic history, principles and aesthetics of Japanese Gardens.  You can check the readers' reviews on amazon (sorry for linking  to them, but at least you hear from the real readers, and then please buy from a local bookstore).

SJG • 4/7/15 - crabapples blossoms in the Orchard (Area U)

Edit: Maggie C. noted  that the garden looks appropriately splendid 

for Buddha's birthday today, April 8th!

Enlightenment Guaranteed, 1999 film in Tateuchi Community Room tomorrow

by aleks
REMINDER:  tomorrow at noon, in TCR: 'Enlightenment Guaranteed', 1999: understated comedy about two middle-aged brothers who go to study at a Zen monastery in Japan. The two brothers could not be more different. Uwe (Uwe Ochsenknecht) is a bored husband and kitchenware salesman, while Gustav (Gustav Peter Wohler) is a flighty feng shui consultant and Eastern religions devotee. Just as Gustav is preparing to leave for the land of the rising sun, Uwe, whose wife just dumped him, begs his brother to let him tag along.…

It's for SJG volunteers, staff and their friends - if you are interested come and become my friend for a few hours.

SJG • 3/29/15 - Rhododendron 'Brocade', photo by Tony

"Sometimes movies transcend their descriptions. Who would want to see a German film about a couple of brothers heading for Japan to visit a Zen monastery? Surely there can't be much of interest in that, you might think as I certainly did.

Well, there's a lot, as it turns out. Writer/director Doris Dörrie's ENLIGHTENMENT GUARANTEED (ERLEUCHTUNG GARANTIERT) is a sweet, funny and absolutely delightful film about brotherly love, the meaning of life and the importance of a sense of humor in the face of adversity. Think of it as a low-key version of PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES in which the humorous and touching journey is the reward. The story has a pervasive but subtle spirituality to it as the destination for these brothers turns out to be more than just a place on a map. (Actually, the lack of a good map is but one of many of their problems.)...."
From review by Steve Rhodes - the rest is here....

More reviews here...     & Trailer below.

UW hanami 2015 and 'Invitation to a probably a most memorable travel to Japan' (repost)

by Koichi Kobayashi
(+ pics from 2015 hanami at UW, Seattle)

3/13/15 - UW hanami: Yoshinos

Invitation to a probably a most memorable travel to Japan

You are invited to join in a select group of people to participate in assisting building a memorial Japanese Garden to commemorate victims of tsunami/earthquake of March 11, 2011 in Tohoku, Japan and recovery from it. Garden building project is organized by Japanese Garden Association as a 5 year program. You will receive training from traditional Japanese gardeners who supervise building and will befriend with young Japanese gardeners from all around Japan as well.

After garden building, we will visit gardens and temples of World Heritage, designation,  coastal cities undergoing recovery and coastline area which is designated as a new National Park. Travel will start from Seattle on October 8 through 22 ending in Tokyo.  Optional travel goes to Kyoto/Osaka.

Supported by Seattle Japanese Garden Society, Japanese Garden Society (Tokyo) and assisted by North American Japanese Garden Association. ( confirmation is pending at this time).

There are many of you who have benefited overtime being associated with Japan or apprenticed and studied in Japan, yet some of you including myself, who do not know how to assist Tohoku, Japan for their recovery from disasters of March 11, 9011, in some meaningful and constructive way.

There is a unique opportunity to assist in building a Japanese Garden near Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. This garden, when completed, will be a memorial and prayer for victims of disaster and commemorate their efforts in recovery and future development.

Designing and building of this garden is organized by Sendai Chapter of the Japanese Garden Society. It is being built on a five year program with a completion date set at 2019 to coincide with
the society's 100 year anniversary.

This is an excellent opportunity for those thinking and pondering how best to participate in recovery in Tohoku but mutually beneficial. You could attempt to do that in signing up  for a work study and volunteer program being developed by Koichi Kobayashi with an assistance from Japanese Garden Society and NAJGA.

With this program, participants will engage in assisting building a commemorative Japanese garden under Japanese expert's supervision, visiting and learning conditions and people of cities devastated.

This is the base program for thirteen days. There could be an optional tour to Kyoto, for five days. Program start will start on October 8, 2015 in Sendai with October 8 departure from Seattle. Cost will be around $4,800.

If you are interested in joining, please send me your name, address, email, work place, profession etc. to Koichi Kobayashi.

For preliminary itinerary, see next page.

Koichi Kobayashi

kobayashik206@gmail.com

Ph. 206- 2869644

December 20, 2014

3/16/15 - yoshinos 

Preliminary Itinerary:

Base Plan

Day 1:  Departure from Seattle (Delta Air) Departure date is October 8, 2015.

Day 2:  Arrival in Tokyo  and orientation

Day 3:  Transfer to Sendai & Introduction to Garden Building

Day 4:  Garden Building

Day 5:  Garden Building ( Presentation on Japanese gardens in North America by participants)

Day 6:  Garden Building and Farewell Party ( Oct. 13)

Day 7:  Tour Sendai and Matsushima

Day 8: Transfer to and tour Hiraizumi/Moutsuji Temple

Day 9: Tour Hiraizumi/Moutsuji Temple) and surroundings

Day 10: Transfer to Rikuzentakata ( Undergoing massive construction with a new park)

Day 11: Learn Rikuzentakata and tour surrounding coastline ( New National Park)

Day 12: Departure from Rikuzentakata to Tokyo( Free on your own in PM)

Day 13: Leave for Seattle ( Delta Air)

3/22/15 - UW hanami: quanzans

Option Plan

For those going to Kyoto area:

Day 13:  Departure from Rikuzentakata to Kyoto

Day 14:  Kyoto: Town, Temples and Gardens

Day 15:  Kyoto

Day 16:  Nara/Osaka

Day 17:  Leave for Seattle from Kansai Air Port (Osaka)