![\"Park\u2019s](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/DSC_0189.jpg\" "\\"DSC_0189\\"")
<\/a>Escape from the everyday world is its very intention. It is carefully designed around the Zen principle of niwa, meaning \u201cpure place,\u201d according to Lennox Tierney on the garden\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe garden path, or roji, is not merely a functional entry into the garden,\u201d Tierney writes. \u201cIt is a philosophical path separating the viewer step-by-step from the work-a-day world which he leaves behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the garden is fairly small \u2013 so far \u2013 and with the advent of summer will surely be fairly crowded (try visiting on a weekday lunch hour), it is a place for contemplation, a soothing natural experience enhanced by manmade artifice, a quick journey to a state of tranquility.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Japanese garden is a representation of the universe and its elements \u2013 fire in the form of a stone or iron lantern, earth in the form of stone, and water, air, plant and animal life in their true forms,\u201d Tierney says.<\/p>\n
The garden\u2019s roji, or path, winds and bends around stones placed among the plantings, or becomes composed of stones itself that lead you to its secret spots.<\/p>\n
Stones should look as though they have always been there. Jagged stones are meant to suggest mountain areas, while smooth pebbles represent streams or shorelines. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese landscape effects are often more symbolic than realistic,\u201d he says. \u201cFor example, there is generally an island in either a stream or pond which suggests the island of everlasting life, or Nirvana \u2013 a place without time or space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balboa Park\u2019s Japanese Friendship Garden is named \u201cSan-Kei-En,\u201d meaning \u201cThree-Scene Garden,\u201d for its water, pastoral and mountain elements.<\/p>\n
It is also an expression of the friendship between the people of San Diego and Yokohama, one of our first sister cities when Charles Dail, mayor from 1955-1963, established the link with Japan in 1957. The Charles C. Dail Memorial Gate in the garden commemorates that connection.<\/p>\n
That history is even more interesting considering the earlier story of the original Japanese tea house in Balboa Park that was built for the Panama-California Exposition in 1915. While the city couldn\u2019t maintain the operation after the exposition, a Japanese couple, Hachisaku and Osamu Asakawa, managed it until 1941. When the U.S. entered World War II that year, the Asakawas along with other Japanese-Americans were interned during the war, according to the San Diego Historical Society. Left to deteriorate, the teahouse was finally razed in 1955 to make way for the Children\u2019s Zoo.<\/p>\n
The new two-acre version of the teahouse and garden opened in August 1990, along with a second phase in 1999. Future plans call for an expansion to 11 acres, including a traditional teahouse, a pavilion for 300 people, outdoor amphitheater and more meandering paths.<\/p>\n
Today, the first stop on the winding path is the Exhibit House, designed in traditional sukiya style featuring shoji screen doors and large windows with half-round transom windows above. Benches inside invite viewing the Zen rock garden outside.<\/p>\n
The \u201cSekitei,\u201d or rock garden, often called a Zen garden, encourages meditation in traditional Japanese culture. The seven large rocks placed among the raked gravel were imported from Japan. Beyond this Zen garden you can see a vast green canyon of Balboa Park. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis \u2018borrowed view,\u2019 called \u2018shakkei,\u2019 is very common in Japan where open space is often limited,\u201d says the garden\u2019s brochure.<\/p>\n
Currently on view in the Exhibit House are several fine examples of Japanese ceramics and paintings, scrolls and other art. <\/p>\n
Just beyond the Exhibit House are the Koi Pond and waterfall, which are alone worth the price of the modest admission. I could watch the large, colorful koi fish for a very long time indeed, finding meditation in the moment.<\/p>\n
The Koi Pond is characteristic of a typical San-Sui (mountain and water) style garden. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe waterfall reflects the mountain, river and oceanscapes of the San Diego area,\u201d the garden brochure says. \u201cKoi represents longevity and virility in Japan. The island in the pond, in the shape of a turtle, symbolizes the longevity of the garden and a wish for the people of San Diego.\u201d<\/p>\n
The garden also offers traditional tea ceremonies \u2013 typically twice a month on a Saturday from 1 to 2 p.m. and a Tuesday from 11:30 to 12:30 p.m. \u2013 where you can enjoy Japanese matcha tea and sweets for $3.<\/p>\n
Yoga classes began June 2 and will continue through summer on Wednesdays, 5:30-6:30 p.m. and Thursdays, 8-9 a.m., for $10 per class. Space is limited; for information, e-mail programs@niwa.org.<\/p>\n
Ikebana, origami and bonsai classes are also offered at the garden.<\/p>\n