Portland Japanese Garden


Heavenly Fall & Lower Pond in The Strolling Pond Garden 'Chisen Kaiyu Shiki'



This week we visited the Portland Japanese Garden. Portland Japanese Garden is ranked first out of 300 public Japanese gardens outside of Japan and considered to be one of the most authentic. Different from the Classical Chinese Garden in crowded downtown Portland, this peaceful spot is located in the Washington Park and is surrounded by a natural forest. Quiet and ease are the major experience one can touch and feel while walking though it.




Moon Bridge & Upper Pond in Chisen Kaiyu Shiki

This garden represents the traditional design and decoration of a Japanese courtyard by using stones, water, and plants, to construct the feelings of strength, smoothness, texture, and color. Rocks and stone symbols are plenty used to enhance the feeling of classical Japanese scene and cultural pieces. Beautiful ponds are connected by thin and stretched creeks and falls to compose the motion and life of the garden. Even the trees and plants are creatively designed to give image contrast when enjoyed from different angles. Their colors may change, especially in the fall season, and give images with saturate and harmonic tones. Although it was not the most colorful period of the year in the garden when visited, we can image the beauty of the garden during the foliage through the delicate design of trees and their postures.

Pavilion hall in Flat Garden 'Hira Niwa'

Although this is a medium-sized garden (5.5 acres), the design of curved pathways and the gradual change of the scene give us an illusion that the whole area is quite large. For every step we can really enjoy the scene, no matter it is a landscape view or a tiny spot next to the path, and there is no sudden transition of the scene between different areas of the garden.



Portland Japanese Garden Symbol on Tea House Roof Ridge


In contrast to the Classical Chinese Garden, I enjoy this kind of scenic design more simply because it is more natural without losing its subtlety. The Chinese Garden gave me a whole lot of impression and background information in the beginning, and I do feel surprised about their plentiful culture and crafts. However the Japanese Garden is more natural and has itself merged to the surrounding beauty. It emphasizes more about the harmony of the whole feeling and scene. I do have more wonderful aftertaste and memory after the visit.



Pathway to Tea House 'Kashin Tei'


This visit reminded me our trip to the wonderful world historical heritage, Nikko (日光), in Japan early this year. The famous Kinugawa (鬼怒川) hot spring is also nearby. Portland is the sister city of Sapporo (札幌) in Hokkaido (北海道), Japan. Maybe next time when we fly back to Taiwan, we will plan to visit another site of Japan again. The Hokkaido Island is a good choice in our list.


One spot in the inner Tea Garden 'Uchi Roji'

...more pictures

6 comments:

material girl said...

其實 Portland 附近的日本移民比中國移民要多喔.
妳的照片真是美啊! 加州的日本花園感覺都有點遜... 而且裡面居然還有加州的紅木, 真是太不考究了. 不知道 Portland 的日本花園是本來就很美還是被妳拍得美呢?

Anonymous said...

Nice place! It looks so beautiful and peaceful.
Your photography skill is just amazing! !

Yi-Ying Yu (Vicky) said...

Sis,
對阿~這邊的日本餐廳很多,可是中國菜就很少了。照片其實是 CT 照的啦!這篇也是他寫的。他說,是日本花園本來就很美。呵呵 我覺得是他的照相技術也是有進步啦!

Aya,
Thank you for the compliments! : )

Anonymous said...

哇塞,原來是CT拍的照片,將來你們一定可以
夫唱婦隨地上山下海去攝影,因為你們倆都有
這個天份.

Anonymous said...

攝影技術真的進步多多!!

Yi-Ying Yu (Vicky) said...

sorry 這麼晚才回...我來幫 CT 跟爸媽回留言...

CT 說 謝謝!

為什麼他不自己來留呢? 因為他覺得...說"謝謝"太普通了 可是他又不知道要說什麼...