Nitobe Memorial Garden

Nitobe Memorial Garden during July

The Nitobe Memorial Garden is a 2½ acre (one hectare) traditional Japanese garden located at the University of British Columbia, just outside the city limits of Vancouver, Canada. It is part of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research.

Memorial

One of the most authentic Japanese gardens in North America,^[1] it honours Japanese author, educator, diplomat, and politician Nitobe Inazō (1862–1933), who died in Victoria, British Columbia (now the sister city of Nitobe's home town Morioka), and whose goal was "to become a bridge across the Pacific."

The garden has been the subject of more than fifteen years' study by a UBC professor, who believes that its construction hides a number of impressive features, including references to Japanese philosophy and mythology, shadow bridges visible only at certain times of year, and positioning of a lantern that is filled with light at the exact date and time of Nitobe's death each year. The garden is behind the university's Asian Centre, which is built with steel girders from Japan's exhibit at Osaka Expo.^[2]

Features

The Garden features a fully functional Japanese tea house called Ichibō-an, surrounded by an outer roji tea garden with a waiting bench and an inner garden.

The Garden also features several lanterns of different varieties, including a snow viewing lantern, and the Nitobe Lantern, featuring carvings of lotus blossoms and a dog (Nitobe's birth sign), and the inscription "I.M., Inazo Nitobe, 1861–1933, Apostle of Goodwill Among Nations, Erected by his friends.”^[3]

Another feature of the garden is its pond, which supports a small ecosystem of fish as well as some water skimming insects.

Water walking insects on the pond

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nitobe Memorial Garden.

Nitobe Memorial Garden Homepage

Canada–Japan relations

Japan

Issues	Japanese war crimes

Places	Canadian Academy Embassy of Canada, Tokyo List of Canadian ambassadors to Japan

Events	Canada WET

Canada

Issues	Japanese Canadian internment Reference re Persons of Japanese Race

Events	Powell Street Festival

Places	Embassy of Japan, Ottawa Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre Japantown, Vancouver Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada Kuroki, Saskatchewan Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre Nitobe Memorial Garden

Organisations	Hitachi Canadian Industries Kokoro Dance Japan Canada Oil Sands Limited Sony Canada

Works	Minoru: Memory of Exile Obasan Skim Yellow Fever Warclouds in the Pacific

Other

Coordinates: 49°16′00″N 123°15′35″W / 49.26667°N 123.25972°W / 49.26667; -123.25972

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