Considered to be one of the top five most authentic Japanese gardens locate outside of Japan , the Nitobe Memorial Garden at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver incorporates every shade of unripened imaginable . The garden is full of moss , fern growing in H2O , and sun streaming through maple leaves overhead . Come and join me on my tour of this passive topographic point .
Dr. Inazo Nitobe was an influential scholar who devoted his work to promoting sexual congress between the United States and Japan , and was one of the first Japanese people to take at an American university . The garden was created as a remembrance to Dr. Nitobe and the bridge he strove to create between Japanese and North American finish .
This bridge between cultures is partially represented in the plants chosen for the garden , include many aboriginal plants , as well as irises , azalea , and cerise tree diagram from Japan .
Sunlight streams through the maples , creating dappled light on the fogyish terra firma .
The garden has a commencement and an end with multiple paths to choose from in between , representative of propel through time . The winding pathway and structured bridges make a sensation of apparent movement and progress as you make your way through the space .
The zig - zag span make up a intersection that keeps evil out . In Japanese folklore , evil spirits can only trip in a straight line , so they would be unable to cross a bridge like this .
Moving through the garden palpate like a walk meditation . The total blank is utter for mindfulness and deep rumination , and the report of reflexion is made touchable by the real reflection of the pond .
While much of the pond is clean and reflective , there are also deal of plants originate in the piddle . This subdued pond is teem with life around the bound .
K of every shade decorate the garden , while the wide-ranging textures of gemstone , moss , and water create contrast and interest everywhere you look .
Even the gardener seem to be practicing heedfulness ! I saw them puzzle out out with just a bucket and a rakehell . This wide-eyed , peaceful gardening technique contributes to the quiet , meditative feel of the space .
The garden include a traditional tea menage with its own garden . Benches throughout the garden are designedly made to sit down five hoi polloi — the customary number of attendants at a Nipponese tea leaf observance ( let in the host ) . These benches are usually occupy by students of the university who are looking for a subdued place to recede from the hustle of the rest of the campus .
Stone lanterns were originally put in Nipponese gardens to light the style to the tea leaf star sign because tea ceremony usually take place in the eventide . There are several ornate Harlan Fiske Stone lantern placed around the Nitobe garden . The ornamental structure do not place upright apart from the instinctive dish of the garden , but blend with it as moss grows over the lantern to make them even more interesting .
My walk through the Nitobe garden and tea house was a good monitor of the power of slowing down to shine and meditate . I felt wonderfully refreshed afterward . Even if you ca n’t visit this finicky garden , I go for this post further you to take a few min to yourself to mindfully take the air through a dark-green space or just break off to sip a cup of tea and reload .
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