A vivid blue and white design, bringing to mind a waterfall or falling rain. A quiet elegance, and an iconic silhouette. We are honored to showcase Untitled (Dango), a beautiful sculpture by famed Japanese-born artist Jun Kaneko in Portland Japanese Garden’s Jubitz Oregon Terrace. This charming outdoor space was designed by Sadafumi Uchiyama, Curator Emeritus, …

Portland Japanese Garden welcomed Anne Hunter, gardener and curator for Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s three-acre Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden and Japanese Tree Peony Collection, to become the latest professional to participate in its guest gardener exchange program.

In August, retired U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, his wife Ruth Harkin, former county attorney and author, and his sister-in-law Jean Harkin, also an author, visited Portland Japanese Garden for a tour of the landscape and to reconnect with Aki Nakanishi, Director of the Japan Institute and Arlene Schnitzer Curator of Culture, Art, and Education.

On May 31, Portland Japanese Garden partnered with Chamber Music Northwest to host the West Coast premiere performance of Lost Freedom: A Memory. Inspired by autobiographical accounts of the incarceration of Japanese-American citizens in World War II, the event weaved together music and spoken word in a profound exploration of a chilling time in American history. It …

On June 6, Hugo Torii, Garden Curator of Portland Japanese Garden and Director of Japan Institute’s Japanese Garden Training Center, was formally knighted as part of the 2025 Honorary Knighting Ceremony and Rose Festival Queen’s Coronation. It was part of a more than 100-year-old Portland tradition organized by the Royal Rosarians, a group that “are …

Special Visit Precedes the Tenth Anniversary of Return of Torii Gate Beams On May 21, Portland Japanese Garden welcomed 13 students representing 13 different junior highs in the City of Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture. While Hachinohe, nationally renowned for its fishing industry and manufacturing sector, is sister cities with Federal Way, Washington, a special bond exists …

Here is a quick guide to some of the springtime flowers you can expect to see over the next few weeks at Portland Japanese Garden.

Catch up on some of the maintenance that has been going on at Portland Japanese Garden this spring.

Spring is a time of magical transformation at Portland Japanese Garden. Warmer temperatures begin to populate our weather forecasts, flowers like azaleas and rhododendrons bloom, and the lush greens of our pines are joined by moegi-iro, a Japanese word for the fresh glowy energy of new leaf green. The soft beauty of spring can feel …