Portland Japanese Garden was highlighted as a haven for tranquility and beauty in “Where We Live” by Ken Boddie of KOIN 6. Boddie states, “Portland Japanese Garden is like stepping into another world. There are few places in the world quite like it, and it is an important part of where we live.” Watch the …
KGW News joined Portland Japanese Garden for opening day on June 11. Catch a glimpse of the Garden in spring and learn about the changes made to help ensure the safety of our all our guests, here. Read more about our reopening during COVID-19, here.
(Portland, Ore.) – Portland Japanese Garden will reopen to the public June 11, the first of the cultural organizations in Portland to do so. According to Garden leaders, reopening could not come at a more important time. Founded shortly after the end of World War II, the organization is dedicated to ideals of peace and …
Musings from Diane Durston, Curator Emerita Out on the western outskirts of Kyoto lies the quiet Buddhist temple of Koryuji — esoteric, often overlooked, and one of the oldest in Japan. It is the home of the Miroku Bosatsu, the Bodhisattva of the Future, wooden, simple, and timeless. A bodhisattva is an enlightened person who …
How Japanese Art Presents a Fitting Case for Our Times Topographically and Botanically-inspired Japanese Art Show at Harvard brings a fitting narrative to our own period of isolation Over millennia, Japanese gardens have always been an indispensable part of Japanese architecture and art, but they perhaps became the most visible and critical part of the …
Musings by Diane Durston, Curator Emerita 見渡せば / 花も紅葉も / なかりけり / 浦の苫屋の / 秋の夕暮れ Miwataseba / hana mo momiji mo / nakarikeri / ura no tomaya no / aki no yuugure Casting wide my gaze, Neither flowers Nor scarlet maple leaves– A humble fisherman’s hut, In the autumn dusk. With this poem, Fujiwara no Teika, an …
MUSINGS BY DIANE DURSTON, CURATOR EMERITA Walking the empty streets of Tokyo last week in search of a bit of nature to refresh his spirit, calligrapher Kihachiro Nishiura noticed a camphor tree with a small plaque beneath it that identified it as having grown from the seed of a tree that stood in Nagasaki on …
MUSINGS FROM DIANE DURSTON, CURATOR EMERITA Among the many people I met in Kyoto over the eighteen years I lived there, the most memorable were the craftsmen. Spending time with them I always learned something, not just about crafts, but about life—about what it means to make something you are proud of every day, …
Dear Members, In honor of Mother’s Day, my mom (also a Garden member!), recorded this piano piece that for you to enjoy during this time while the Garden is closed. The Japanese composer, Nobuyuki Tsujii, is a remarkable young man who was born blind and “is said to have achieved pop-star status in his native …