Portland Japanese Garden - History and Awards

History and Awards

The garden was designed by Professor Takuma Tono, one of the most important Japanese landscape architects of his time. The garden was dedicated and design began in 1963, though the garden opened to the public in 1967.

In a study conducted in 2004 by the Journal of Japanese Gardening, it was ranked a very close second place out of 300 public Japanese gardens outside of Japan for highest quality. The Japanese ambassador to the U.S., Nobuo Matsunaga, said "I believe this garden to be the most authentic Japanese garden, including those in Japan." This is notable because a traditional Japanese garden normally takes hundreds of years to evolve and mature, but the Portland Japanese Garden evolved much more quickly—a fusion of hurried western style and stately eastern expression.