Top 9 Best Japanese Tea Gardens You Should Check Out | US

When it comes to gardens, some of the prettiest you will ever see, are Japanese tea gardens. The beautiful, stylized Japanese tea gardens have a Japanese aesthetic to it, with little artificial ornamentation in order to showcase the natural beauty of the landscape. They’ve been around since ancient times, but recently they’ve become quite popular here in the States. Here, you’ll learn about the top 9 Japanese tea gardens to visit!

Portland Japanese Garden

This is known as the most authentic and most beautiful Japanese garden outside of Japan. It is a 12-acre Japanese garden that has eight different spaces to look at, including a cultural village. The tea garden itself has two places, one which focuses on the tea ceremony, and an authentic tea house, which was originally made in Japan by the Kajima Construction company, and brought here and assembled in 1968.

But the Portland Japanese Garden doesn’t just have a beautiful tea garden, it also has a flat garden, a sand and stone garden, and a strolling pond garden where you can look at the beautiful koi, along with the Heavenly Falls. It’s an award-winning garden worth checking out.

San Francisco Tea Garden

Probably the most famous Japanese tea garden out there, the San Francisco tea garden is the perfectly place for contemplation, and it is nestled in Golden Gate Park. You can experience the natural beauty of this tea garden, and also have some authentic Japanese tea and mochi here as well. It was originally created as an exhibit during the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition, and it originally was just one acre that showcased a Japanese garden.

Once the fair was over, Makoto Hagiwara and John McLauren created a permanent Japanese-style garden here. It soon grew into five times its size when 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to move to internment camps.

Currently, this garden is one and even of the most popular places in San Francisco, with classic elements attached to it, including a drum bridge, pagoda, a tea garden, stepping stone pathways, and even native Japanese plants.

This tea garden is incredibly popular, and it even has a refurbished tea-house on sight with custom irori and a farmhouse-style table that overlooks the beautiful Japanese gardens. Here, you can also hear about the Fortune Cookie Story, which is where the origin story of fortune cookies coming to the united states by Mr, Hagiwara. It is a beautiful tea garden, and in San Francisco, there is nothing else like this. If you ever plan a trip to San Francisco, this is a beautiful place to go, and one location you won’t want to miss.

Seattle Japanese Garden

This is a 3.5 acre Japanese tea garden that’s located in Madison Park. It’s one of the oldest tea gardens in North America, and it’s regarded as an authentic tea garden in the United StatesIt was originally constructed in 1957 after 20 years of fundraising to include a Japanese Garden within the Arboretum.

It involves 500 different granite boulders from the Cascade Mountains, wrapped within bamboo matting and arranged in a culturally appropriate manner with other native Japanese plants. The original tea house was donated in 1959 by Tokyo, but it was burned down in 1973 by vandals.

However, after eight years of fundraising, it was soon rebuilt. The garden has had infrastructure improvements, including a new community meeting space and a gatehouse. It is known as the green gem within the heart of Seattle, and it involves beautiful benches and pathways, and it is known as one of the most beautiful authentic Japanese tea gardens in the United States.

Philadelphia Japanese House and Garden

This is an authentic Japanese tea house and a tea garden. Located in Philadelphia. It was originally constructed in Nagoya and then transported to Philadelphia.

in 1953. It was originally a house, but now it’s got a large hill garden, a tea garden that’s extremely gardening, an ed a courtyard garden. You can also check out the art gallery attached to this, where you can see nihonga paintings and even some authentic sliding screens.

Fort Worth Japanese Garden

This was a tea garden that was originally made with materials that were donated to the location in the 1990s. It got an authentic Mikoshi, and it’s still housed in the precincts of the garden. The tea garden was built within a valley, and it opened to a floodplain near the Trinity River’s Clear Fork branch.

It has a myriad of ponds surrounded by hills, along with interconnected paths, bridges, pavilions, and beautiful Japanese tea gardens. It is a Japanese garden that involves different styles integrated into one garden. It Also has a meditation garden, a moon-viewing deck, and a pavilion that has unusual garden features attached to it as well.

San Antonio Japanese Tea Garden

This is a tea garden that’s situated on an abandoned rock quarry. It originally opened in about 1917, when the Parks Commissioner created an oriental-style pit at the bottom of it. It was renovated and reopened in 2008 with new walkways, wall repairs, and sealing the pond.

It involves a lush garden with a beautiful display of flowers on walkways, bridges made of stone, and even a 60-foot waterfall pond with koi in it. It has beautiful tea garden features including the Jingu house which provides food for visitors, including more lighting for the tea garden areas, and it’s known as the tea garden that’s a diamond in the rough in San Antonio.

Florida Japanese tea garden

This is a beautiful and spacious Japanese tea garden, and it also includes famous gardens inspired by Japanese counterparts, including the Shinden Garden, the Haraniwa Flat Garden, and even the Karansansui Late garden. It also has a set of beautiful workshops that explore elements of Japanese culture, and you’ll be amazed at just how beautiful these Japanese gardens are.

Los Angeles Japanese Garden

This is known as the Garden of water and Fragrance and this is considered a wet garden that has a promenade. It is a traditional strolling garden, which has many different Japanese landscapes, and multiple views of the lake surrounding it.

It has beautiful flora a tortoise island, a three-buddha arrangement made with stones, beautiful “wet-strolling” gardens with lakes and streams, and an authentic 4 ½ tatami mat teahouse and a tea garden next to it.

It showcases a use of water in a sense to reclaim the beautiful location. It is a unique garden simply because of the detail, and how it fits just perfectly with the San Fernando Valley and other buildings nearby. The teahouse is authentic, and as you walk through the beautiful Japanese tea gardens, you’ll feel like you’re transported to Edo-period Japan as you bask in these beautiful features.

Missouri Japanese tea garden

This is a garden that’s almost like a secret in Springfield. It’s a beautiful garden that includes a lake filled with koi, a meditation garden, a tea house, and a beautiful authentic Japanese tea garden. This is a garden that feels peaceful, along with tranquil, and as you walk around the path, you’ll even get to see the moon bridge, one of the garden’s most elegant features.

It is the oldest attraction in Springfield’s botanical gardens, originally created in 1985. It has a beautiful traditional Japanese landscaping that you will definitely enjoy. You can also take private tours, and even pavilion rentals for weddings.

Gardens Galore!

This list of beautiful Japanese tea gardens are all waiting to be explored. If you would like to learn more about what a tea garden involves, or even bask in the beauty of traditional Japanese culture, then a tea garden is what you should be looking into.

There really is something special about walking along a beautiful Japanese bridge, gazing up at the cherry trees overlooking the pathway, with a cup of green tea in your hands as you look along the tea garden there, especially in San Francisco.

A traditional Japanese garden may be a bit far for the average traveler, but since they are growing in popularity, you can visit more of these wonderful Japanese tea gardens that may just a short trip away for you, giving you more chance to experience the Edo-tranquility of these lovely gardens.

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