The 3-acre garden of paths, ponds, pagodas and koi is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States.
A world's fair exhibit
It began as the Japanese Village and Tea Garden at the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition. Australian-born George Turner Marsh built it with Japanese craftsmen. After the fair closed, he sold the concession to the city for $4,500.
The Hagiwara years
Japanese immigrant gardener Makoto Hagiwara was hired to turn the temporary exhibit into a permanent garden. He cared for it for most of the years from 1895 to 1925, imported plants, birds and koi from Japan, and more than tripled its size. After the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the South Gate, the Temple Gate and the Pagoda came over from that fair's Japanese exhibits.
After Hagiwara died in 1925, his daughter Takano and her children ran the garden. During World War II, the family was evicted from its home there and sent to an internment camp. They were among about 120,000 people of Japanese descent forced into the camps.
Visiting today
The garden is one of the three Gardens of Golden Gate Park, with the Conservatory of Flowers and the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Tickets are sold online and at the gate, and a three-day multi-garden pass is available.