288 DAYSSan Francisco · 1915 ⌕
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Foreign pavilion · States & Nations

Pavilion and Gardens of Japan

Three acres of transplanted Japanese garden, ton-weight rocks, cascades, dwarf trees and tea houses, around a golden pavilion modeled on Kyoto's Kinkaku-ji.

Torii gate, shops and tea houses in the Japanese section
Torii gate, shops and tea houses in the Japanese sectionRichmond Times-Dispatch, June 13, 1915, public domain

Japan was the first nation to dedicate its pavilion, on February 24, 1915, and its garden was one of the most admired places at the fair. The landscape engineer H. Izawa, who had built the Japanese Gardens in London, worked on a little over three acres of bare ground. He used 257 rocks of more than a ton each, seven of them over three tons, nearly 1,300 trees of 36 species and 25,200 square feet of turf. Paths wound past pools, cascades and dry watercourses bridged with stepping stones, stone lanterns and bronze Buddhas, dwarfed cycads said to be 800 and 1,000 years old, and a wistaria two centuries old. From one spot the garden seemed to run on into the Presidio hills.

The main building, the 'Golden Pavilion', copied in large part the Kinkaku-ji of the Rokuon-ji temple in Kyoto. It held the offices and reception room of the Imperial Commission and was built entirely of Japanese material by Japanese carpenters. Another building held a tourist office, life-size scenes of silk culture and a model of the Nikko shrines, some 25 buildings at one-twentieth scale on a base about 18 by 40 feet. Two tea houses, one for the Japan Central Tea Association and one for Formosa Oolong tea, stood at the northern end of the garden. A tea-ceremony room about nine feet square sat in a far corner.

The gardens opened with a small piece of theater: a silken cord was pulled from a balcony, and water rushed down a rock cascade to fill the pool. Japan's government appropriated 1,200,000 yen for its participation. It was separate from the commercial Japan Beautiful concession on the Zone.

Here you heard the murmur of little streams and the gurgling of cascades. At a certain spot you felt the illusion that this fairy region extended to the Presidio hills.

Frank Morton Todd, The Story of the Exposition, vol. III (1921), p. 210

At a glance

  • Dedicated February 24, 1915, the first foreign pavilion dedication; site dedicated September 18, 1912.
  • Garden area 'a little over three acres' (Todd); the Official Guide says 'nearly four acres'.
  • 257 rocks over a ton each; nearly 1,300 trees; about 4,400 smaller plants; 25,200 sq ft of turf.
  • Appropriation 1,200,000 yen for 1913-16, plus 21,506 yen preparatory.
  • Nikko shrines model about 18 by 40 feet at 1:20 scale.
Japan Tea Pavilion
Japan Tea PavilionMilton McFarland Painter Sr., 1915 (Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History), no known restrictions

Afterward

The city accepted the main pavilion for Lobos Square, but it collapsed in a high wind while being moved (Todd V, p. 247). The Kinkaku-inspired Commissioners' building was barged in 1916 to what is now Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont; it burned in 1941 (CSU East Bay Museum). A tea house was barged to Belmont and became The Van's restaurant at 815 Belmont Ave (closed 2020; the site is slated for housing; whether it still stands in 2026 is unverified). The pavilion site is now Presidio land near the Palace of Fine Arts.

Where it stood

Pavilion and Gardens of Japan stood at about 37.80016 N, 122.45008 W on today's map. The whole fairground over the city →

Sources