Florida's Lush Japanese Gardens
A thousand years of Japanese landscape designs unfold at the Morikami Museum in Delray Beach
- By Thomas Swick
- Photographs by Eduardo Rubiano Moncada
- Smithsonian magazine, May 2011, Subscribe
The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida, devoted to the showcasing of Japanese arts and culture, constitutes an oasis of tranquillity in the midst of suburban sprawl. Established in 1977, the museum—bearing the name of the Japanese-American benefactor who donated land for its site shortly before his death in 1976—features one of North America’s premier Japanese gardens.
Landscape architect Hoichi Kurisu was born in Hiroshima, educated in Tokyo and today is based in Portland, Oregon. He labored for nearly two years on his creation, completed in 2001. Kurisu established a series of six separate yet linked gardens spanning 1,000 years of horticultural tradition in Japan, from the 9th to the 20th centuries. His goal, he says, was not simply to “replicate several distinct Japanese period gardens,” but to draw “from the essence of these famous individual gardens to create one garden.”
Thomas Swick trekked Japan’s Kiso Road for Smithsonian in 2010. Eduardo Rubiano Moncada lives in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
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Comments (5)
I visited this beautiful garden a few years ago with my young grandson who was 9 years old at the time. He loved it as much as i did.
I have put a return visit on the top of my wish list for next Winter.
Posted by Geri Collard on May 16,2011 | 03:34 PM
I have posted pictures of my visit to the gardens on webshots.com if anyone would like additional photos.
Posted by Nancy B. Drake on May 8,2011 | 04:46 PM
Morikami is an absolute wonderful place to visit. Peaceful and beautiful.
Posted by Jill Jurgensen on May 4,2011 | 04:08 PM
I visited this wonderful garden in last september. It is really full of peace, a place where you can forget the dayly troubles.
Posted by Antonio Gavioli on April 29,2011 | 04:18 PM
I wish you much success in maintaining this beautiful garden. What a good initiative!
Greetings from an all weather, all season lover of Japanese gardens, now living in Tokyo.
Posted by Wim Schoemaker on April 28,2011 | 08:31 PM