Taniguchi`s gift to the city of Austin

U.S. Japanese Gardens
a railroad odyssey from Atlanta to San Francisco
View the blog at:
http://us-japanesegardens.com/2012/07/15/taniguchis-gift-to-the-city-of-austin/
(photos by Bill F. Eger)
Taniguchi’s gift to the city of Austin
The Isamu Taniguchi Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden undoubtedly has the best view of
Austin, Texas.
“The best view in town” according to one garden volunteer
is from the Isamu Taniguchi Garden at the Zilker Botanical Garden.
Many thanks are due Marion Alsup for her hospitality during our recent visit to the Taniguchi
Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin, Texas. She greeted us at the train station, hung
cool scarves around our necks, pressed bottles of water into our hands, plus she organized
other garden personnel to meet us on site to answer additional questions. Alsup is vice
president of the Austin Area Garden Center with responsibility for education and president of the
Docents of Zilker Botanical Garden. She provided running commentary as we toured the
winding trails.
Marion Alsup and Donna Friedenreich explain the Sister City
relationship with Oita, which gave this stone gate to the garden.
Three acres of rugged caliche hillside were transformed into a garden in the late 1960s by
Isamu Taniguchi when he was 70 years old. Working for 18 months with occasional help from
two parks and recreation department staffers, Taniguchi brought forth his gift to the city of Austin
first in gratitude for the education that his two sons received there and second in an aspiration
for peace.
lantern at top entry to the garden
Taniguchi was born in Osaka, Japan. By the age of 16 he was raising bonsai. Migrating to
Stockton, California in 1915, he farmed vegetables and fruit, returning to Japan only once to
marry. During World War II, he and his family were interned in California and Texas. The family
moved to the Rio Grande Valley at the end of the war to continue farming.
The Austin Area Garden Center and the Parks and Recreation Department could not turn down
his generous offer of a garden. Working without a salary, a contract or a written plan, Taniguchi
showed up for work, rain or shine, and created paths and streams, waterfalls and ponds, stone
arrangements and plantings. The garden opened to the public in 1969. Taniguchi’s son Alan was
Dean of the UT School of Architecture that year.
An essay by the elder Taniguchi – The Spirit of the Garden – describes not only the garden, but
its builder:
“It has been my wish that through the construction of this visible garden, I might provide a
symbol of universal peace. By observing the genuine peaceful nature of the garden, I believe
that we should be able to knock on the door of our conscience, which once was obliged to be
the slave of the animal nature in man rather than of the humanity which resides on the other
side of his heart. It is my desire for the peace of mankind which has endowed this man of old
age the physical health and stamina to pile stone upon stone without a day’s absence from the
work for the last 18 months. It is my desire for peace of mankind which encouraged me in my
voluntary labor to complete this long-dreamed gift for the city of Austin – this Oriental Garden. It
is my wish that you have pleasant communion with the spirit of the garden.”
A small lantern and a hidden waterfall are part of the ponds that spell out “Austin.”
Several garden ponds spell out the word “Austin.”
A rustic wooden log Togetsu-kyo or “Bridge to Walk Over the Moon” is nearby.
The final pond holds lotus Taniguchi raised from a seed from Japan and several varieties of
water lily. There is a small central island in the shape of a boat with stepping stones through the
pond in the shape of the boat’s chain and anchor.
The lowest pond features a boat-shaped island with wisteria,
water lilies and lotus grown by Mr. Taniguchi. The story
of the lotus seed — Journey of the Third Seed —
is recounted as a children’s story by Jane Scoggins Bauld.
Taniguchi continued to be involved with the garden leading occasional tours. He died in 1992.
Terry Ward, bonsai master and garden volunteer was present for the planting of many of the
older trees in the garden. “I’ve helped train several garden staff in the art of pruning the trees.”
New staffer Robert “Spider” DeVictoria came to the Taniguchi garden two and a half years ago
from Brooklyn where he recalled falling in love with Japanese gardens at the botanical garden
there.
Terry Ward enjoys the view from one of several comfortable
benches throughout the garden.
There are some outstanding maples and 21 kinds of bamboo in this 3-acre garden.
Thirty different garden clubs such as the Austin Pond Society, Texas Bamboo Society, the Austin
Bonsai Society, the Austin Ikebana Study Group and other associations were organized into the
non-profit Austin Area Garden Center in 1955. The Austin Park and Recreation Department
owns the land. The Garden Center built the building, organizes volunteers, trains docents and
staffs the gift shop, according to Donna Friedenreich, president of AAGC.
The Heart O’Texas Orchid Society donated a Japanese teahouse with a view of the Austin
skyline beyond the bamboo. It is named Ten-Wa-Jin (Heaven, Harmony, Man) to convey once
more Taniguchi’s message that man exists in harmony with nature and that a “garden is the
embodiment of the peaceful coexistence of all the elements of nature.”
Ten Wa Jin teahouse at the Taniguchi Garden
interior detail
Local materials were used in tea house construction.
The bamboo society helps every year.
detail of roof
view from the teahouse
Stone gates flanking a newer slate path were a gift from Austin’s Sister City Oita, dedicated in
November 1999 to mark the lasting friendship between the two cities.
English text is on the interior of the western gate.
“Once a year, a garden festival is held, usually during the last weekend in March. In 2013, the
garden festival will be held the first weekend in April due to the Easter holiday,” said Marion
Alsup, Docent Club president.
new gate at the north end
The garden recently received a generous donation from the Orton family, which was used to
reconstruct an existing path to meet ADA requirements, adding a new gate at the north end. See
more here: http://www.taniguchigarden.org/a_pages/laurens_trail.html
detail of new gate
In addition, the garden receives welcome support from the Japan America Society of Greater
Austin.
The city books weddings to be held in the garden and retains the revenue. Other events are
partnered with AAGC and the proceeds are split. According to Friedenreich, one highly
successful event has funded repair of leaking ponds with Dragon Coat.
Each year, the garden hosts several hundred thousand people. Thousands of school children
are reached by the Zilker Botanical Garden’s educational outreach programs and many school
groups come for a visit. It was a delight to see the school children enjoying the waterfall,
lanterns, niche in the stone tea house for tea cups, resident snake, and trimmed bushes all with
respect and deepening calm.
One group of school children enjoyed the garden while we were there.