URL:   http://www.bbg.org/  Name: Brooklyn Botanic Garden    Alternate Name: Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden  Address: 1000 Washington Avenue  Mailing Address:   City: Brooklyn  State: New York  Postal Code: 11225  Country: UNITED STATES  Latitude/Longitude: lat=40.666715; long=-73.962223 Find Gardens Nearby Weather:   Phone: +1.718.623.7200  Fax:   E-Mail:   Contact:   Designer(s): Takeo Shiota (1881-1943)  Contruction Date: 1915 (restoration 1999-2000)  Public/Private: PUBLIC  Hours: October-March Tuesday-Friday: 8 am-4:30 pm Weekends and holidays: 10 am-4:30 pm April-September Tuesday-Friday: 8 am-6 pm Weekends and holidays: 10 am-6 pm Closed Monday (open holiday Mondays, except Labor Day)   Admission: Adults (16 and over) -- $5.00 Children under 16 -- Free Seniors and students with valid IDs -- $3.00 Members -- Free School groups -- Free Frequent Visitor Pass holders Admission to the Garden is free to the public every Tuesday (except holidays) and Saturdays until noon. The Garden is closed Mondays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day (but open holiday Mondays, except Labor Day)   Added to JGarden: 1/1/1995  Last Updated: 12/29/2004  Sources:   JGarden Description: This three-and-a-half acre garden is the oldest Japanese-inspired garden in an American public garden. Built on the grounds of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden from 1914 to 1915 and extensively restored in 1999 and 2000, the garden is highly acclaimed and considered the masterpiece of Japanese landscape designer Takeo Shiota (1881-1943). It was constructed at a cost of $13,000, a gift of early BBG benefactor and trustee Alfred T. White. The layout of the garden features a combination of elements from the ancient hill-and-pond style and the more modern stroll garden. A traditional-style viewing pavilion offers a panoramic view of the curved pond, which covers nearly half the site, against a backdrop of man-made mountains or tsukiyama. An elaborate vermilion torii gate modeled after the famous one at Miyajima stands in the pond and frames a Shinto shrine on the hill beyond. The present shrine was built in 1960 to replace the original structure and it features traditional construction techniques, such as the use of wooden pins instead of nails. Next to the shrine, a naturalistic waterfall flows down into an inlet and on toward a traditional turtle island (kame-jima), symbolizing longevity, which is connected to the mainland by a high, rounded wooden drum bridge (taiko-bashi). Several lanterns of various styles grace the garden, including a snow-viewing lantern (yukimi-doro), a Kasuga lantern and an impressive ten-foot high, three-ton, 350-year-old lantern presented to New York in 1980 by its sister city, Tokyo. The garden incorporates plants traditionally used in Japanese gardens, such as Japanese irises, tree peonies, azaleas, maples and flowering cherries, as well as plants native to North America. A pleasant surprise awaits visitors to the garden’s website: the Historic Image Collection contains dozens of photos of the garden during and immediately after construction, featuring shots of carpenters hewing logs, the foundations of the waterfall and the original plantings as well as scenic views and visitors. The photos date from 1914 to 1916, the 1920s and 1930s and provide tidbits of information for those interested in garden history and construction methods.

I would have the plum flowers always in my garden       never falling like the ones       that bloom before me now Ume no hana ima sakeru goto chiri sugizu waga e no sono ni arikosenu kamo   Manyôshuû