Nitobe Memorial Gardens - UBC, Vancouver, BC, Canada - Japanese Gardens on Waymarking.com

Nitobe Memorial Garden is a 2.5 acre (1.0 ha) Japanese tea and stroll garden dedicated to the memory of Inazo Nitobe (1862-1933). It contains an authentic Japanese teahouse and Zen tea garden, a large pond with carp, traditional wooden bridges, and a variety of different styles of stone lanterns. (visit link)

HISTORY:
In 1933, noted Japanese author and scholar Inazo Nitobe died of pneumonia in Victoria, BC while travelling back to Japan. Two years later, the Japanese government honored his memory by sending a kasuga-style stone lantern (visit link) to Vancouver, which became part of a small memorial park.

With the onset of World War II, anti-Japanese racism caused the small park to be vandalized and neglected. In 1958, University of British Columbia (UBC) leadership and the government of Japan cooperated to create a large new garden dedicated to Nitobe's memory.

Kannosuke Mori of Chiba University was sent by the Japanese government to design the garden and oversee its construction in 1958. Nitobe Memorial Garden opened on the grounds of UBC in 1960, after 14 months of work. As Mori worked, he taught Japanese-Canadians to properly maintain the garden, which led to the formation of the Vancouver Japanese Gardeners’ Association (visit link) in 1959.


REFERENCES and FURTHER READING:

Wikipedia: Nitobe Memorial Garden (visit link)

UBC Botanical Garden: History of the Garden (visit link)

Wikipedia: Nitobe Inazo (visit link)

National Diet Library, Japan: Nitobe Inazo, (visit link)

EXPERIENCING NITOBE GARDEN:

UBC Botanical Gardens: Nitobe Memorial Garden map (includes notes on significance of some points in the garden) (visit link)

The Ubyssey: Ryo Sugiyama curates the Nitobe Garden, UBC’s cultural bridge (visit link)

Pacific Rim Magazine (PRM): Leaving the Garden - After 25 years, Nitobe master gardener moves on (visit link)

Name: Nitobe Memorial Garden Location (specific park it is located within): Campus of the University of British Columbia (UBC) City: Vancouver Fees: yes Designer: Kannosuke Mori Date of Creation: 1960 Garden Website: https://botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/visit/nitobe-memorial-garden/ Parking Coordinates: N 49° 15.972 W 123° 15.497

Visit Instructions:
To help give a different perspective and to better the waymark for future visitors please tell us about your visit and upload a favorite photograph you took while visiting the garden. Although visiting this waymark in person is the only thing required of you to receive credit for your visit, taking the time to add this information is greatly appreciated.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.