By Charles Infosino | SDUN Reporter

San Diego’s Japanese Friendship Garden is a unique piece of Balboa Park that transports its visitors to Japan. The sight of the garden, the sound of the waterfall, the smell of the flowers, the taste of the green tea and the feel of the koi pond’s breeze immerse all of the senses in Japanese culture.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is named “San-Kei-En” which means “Three Scene Garden” and refers to water, pasture and mountain. It was named in honor of the San-Kei-En Garden in Yokohama, San Diego’s sister city in Japan.

The Garden features 160 cherry blossom trees, a koi pond with waterfall, an exhibit hall, lanterns, bonsai trees, bamboo trees, rocks, flowers and plants. It also highlights a tsukubai, a small basin used in Japanese Buddhist temples for visitors to purify themselves with a shi-shi-odoshi, a water fountain used in Japanese gardens that trickle water down a tube to make sounds.

They also teach cultural, horticultural and wellness classes, such as tea ceremonies, yoga and ikebana, which is Japanese flower arrangement. The facility also houses a Tea Pavilion, which serves 45 hot teas, sushi, miso and noodle soups, salads, rice bowls and Japanese snacks.

San Diego’s Japanese Friendship Garden’s history dates back to 1915, when the Japanese government presented a Japanese-built Tea House to the City of San Diego for the Panama-California Exposition. The Asakawa family operated the Tea House until the 1940s. A group of citizens banded together in the late 1970s to restore the symbol of friendship between the United States and Japan and started the process that led to the Garden’s construction. In 1991, the Garden opened in Balboa Park.

The Garden’s koi pond is the feature that makes the Japanese Friendship Garden a unique venue in San Diego. “The koi pond is probably our most popular area,” Operations Assistant Marisa Espinosa said, “We have very top quality koi. I think that is one of the things that stand out about the Garden.”

All but one of the Garden’s current koi fish were born in Japan. Espinosa credits The Koi Club of San Diego for the quality of the Garden’s koi. Club members purchase the Japanese Friendship Garden’s koi at auctions with Garden funding, go to the Garden on a weekly basis to care for the koi and if there is any issue, they bring in a veterinarian.

The bonsai collection is another highlight of the Garden, which features bonsai trees that are over 100 years old.

Its Exhibit House, built in the sukiya Japanese architectural style, features a permanent art collection, as well as its temporary exhibits, which showcase works from local and Japanese artists that change every three months.

Additionally, Japanese Friendship Garden is preparing for a vast expansion. The two-and-a-half acre venue will grow into an 11-acre Garden by 2014. The expansion will add a pavilion building, which will be a multipurpose room for exhibits, classes, weddings and special events; an amphitheater that will fit 300 people; a larger tea house; and a maintenance building.

Dennis Otsuji, President of the Japanese Friendship Garden, said, “The uniqueness is that the Garden presents an atmosphere of elegant simplicity and quiet beauty. While always in a state of change, the Garden’s basic element of trees, shrubs, rock and water are balanced to create a peaceful, harmonious and transcendental environment conducive to contemplation and meditation.”

He added, “It has taken these elements and transformed itself into a Japanese–style garden adapted to the topography, horticulture and climate in San Diego, making it special and unique to this region… it is a major horticultural and cultural addition to Balboa Park which is enjoyed by millions of people both locally and from all over the world.”

Admission to the Garden is free on the third Tuesday of each month as a part of the Residents Free in Balboa Park program.

The Japanese Friendship Garden will be hosting their annual Cherry Blossom Festival on March 17, from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. The Festival is included in the admission to the Garden and will offer a preview to the expansion site. For more information, visit niwa.org.