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Kurisu and the
San Francisco
Japanese Tea
Garden Renovation
Kurisu is a company that has been creating Japanese style gardens around the world since 1972, incorporating the ancient techniques of Japanese Gardening to reawaken the connection between people and nature. Kurisu is currently renovating the San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden using a kind of stone very special to Japanese culture that was transported from Japan to the US with the help of a successful crowd funding campaign. This video speaks with the Japanese stone masons who've come from Japan to do the renovation and shows the intricate restoration process over several months.
KURISU FOOTAGE SAMPLE
The Pagoda project represents a touchpoint in the arc of the Tea Garden’s own long history, a history marked by both beauty and cultural exchange but also by acts of suppression and destruction. While for centuries Japanese gardens have been a beloved export around the world, it is only recently they have begun to transcend cultural exoticism and become active spaces addressing some of society’s most pressing needs.
Japanese gardens are an evolving art, and in significant ways, the San Francisco Tea Garden exists at the forefront of this evolution. More than simply much needed renovations to an historic garden, the Pagoda project is a story of the healing power of nature. It is an opportunity to further the garden’s central mission of peace by both creating a beautiful space utilizing fine Japanese craftsmanship and meaningful materials as well as furthering the process of reconciliation.
Friends of the Japanese Tea Garden
The renovation of the Garden's Pagoda is financed in part by the diligent work of the Friends of the Japanese Tea Garden group. The Friends of the Japanese Tea Garden is a volunteer organization founded to help promote, protect and enhance the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park.
In commemoration of the 125th Anniversary of the Japanese Tea Garden in 2019 and the 150th Anniversary of Golden Gate Park in 2020, San Francisco Parks Alliance, Friends of the Japanese Tea Garden, and the Recreation and Parks Department of San Francisco collaborated on a $2 million capital campaign to revitalize and restore the Pagoda and the surrounding areas. The restoration was successfully completed in Fall, 2022.
The group encourages you to learn more about the history of the Pagoda, and is grateful for all of the support and donations from the community.
JAPANESE TEA GARDEN
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