In September 2026, Portland Japanese Garden was delighted to welcome back an old friend: Suminori Awata. A fifteenth-generation Japanese stone mason, Awata’s talents were tapped by the Garden in 2016 to construct its impressive Zagunis Castle Wall, an 18.5-foot tall and 185-feet long granite structure believed to be the first of its kind built outside of Japan.
Awata, back in the Pacific Northwest as he builds a new wall for Seattle Japanese Garden, drove to Portland and met with Hugo Torii, Garden Curator and Director of the Japanese Garden Training Center. The two of them inspected the wall together.
“Awata-san shared that he has been checking in on the Garden through its Instagram and knew that the Castle Wall has been looking good,” Torii shared. “We plan to keep in touch so he can continue to give guidance on its upkeep and maintenance.”
“I also asked Awata-san what, in his opinion, makes the Castle Wall special,” Torii continues. “He shared that it combines ware-hada and shizen-hada stones. Ware-hada is split surface and shizen-hada is natural surface—he typically only uses the natural surface stones in Japan. That he used two different kinds here is quite fitting as the Garden itself uses a combination of different materials, techniques, and perspectives to achieve the beauty we all enjoy today.”
“It was an honor to receive Awata-san today,” Torii concludes. “Next year we will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Cultural Village and expert craftspeople like him are the reason why it’s become such a revered space, not just in the Garden, but the entire city of Portland.”
