Shiosai Project

North America's Best Japanese Gardens

There are more than 300 public Japanese gardens in North America. A few dozen are noteworthy. In 1999 JOJG launched a survey to try to identify those top gardens. Our primary goal was to help JOJG readers decide which ones to visit. Another goal was to recognize outstanding gardens for their superb efforts.
　　　Here is the latest update to that survey. In 2008 JOJG distributed a questionnaire to 45 Japanese garden specialists. The letter posed one question: “What are the highest-quality public Japanese gardens located in North America?” We encouraged participants to apply their own definition of the word “quality,” and we encouraged them to avoid selecting gardens merely on the basis of size or fame.
　　　The latest survey results look familiar. As in the past, participants favored well-maintained gardens. They also favored gardens displaying intimate traits such as subtleness, moderation, and human scale. Three of the four newcomers to the list are small-scale “spa” type gardens.
　　　The race for the top two positions was close. In the end, Anderson Gardens nosed out the Portland Japanese Garden as N. America’s highest-quality garden. Portland did, however, have more first place votes than Anderson. Four new gardens appeared on the list. The top-ranked newcomer was the Osmosis Spa in California. Other rising “stars” include Garvan Woodland Gardens in Arkansas and the Nishinomiya Garden in Spokane.
　　　The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston suffered the largest drop among top gardens. This is largely because the museum has looked upon its garden as routine landscaping rather than a work of art. Hakone Gardens, in Saratoga, California, has also fallen from grace. No public garden in North America has more potential than Hakone, but several decades of poor maintenance and spotty management has eroded its reputation.