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'

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