Haakon Garden offers people a peaceful and timeless experience
For this zip-trip special, KTVU’s Claudi Wong leads us through the peaceful Hakon Gardens in Saratoga.
Saratoga, California – Hakone Gardens, a public park in Saratoga, is hidden in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Hundreds of visitors can visit the 15-hectare Japanese Garden on a busy weekend.
A Visit to Haakon will blow you through the garden built 100 years ago.
Gardener Shozo Kagoshima took us to this hidden gem.
“This is probably one of the most popular fish and coyotes here,” says Kagoshima.
Unlike other Japanese gardens, Hakone was not built as an exhibition. Instead, he was more personal.
Oliver and Isabel Stein At the Panama Pacific Exhibition in 1915, they loved Japan and its culture. They decided to build a 15-hectare garden in Saratoga and named it Japan’s famous Hakone National Park.
“They have built it as a private residence,” Kagoshima said. They lived in San Francisco. Mr. Stein was constructive, and Ms. Stein was in the arts and culture, so she wanted a place to go on weekends and holidays.
The gardens have since been owned by several owners, including Charles Tilden and his family. The city of Saratoga bought the property and opened it in 1966.
“Hecon’s mission, in principle, is to use Hakone Gardens to promote Japanese culture, Asian culture and the arts, music and entertainment,” Kagoshima said.
Even now, as you walk around the property, you can still see this garden with Mrs. Stein’s eyes.
look out: Ride a steam train in the red woods on the Roing Camp Railroad
“(The upper house) was actually built in 1917 (and) was designed by a Japanese architect,” says Kagoshima. The building is more than 100 years old, so we don’t have to do much work.
A hundred years later, the view of that house is still impressive. Kagoshima said, “Mrs. Stein wanted to see the beauty from the attic.”
One favorite place is Koi Pond. In the pond there are small fish that have just been born this year and a large koi that is well used by all visitors to buy food from the visitor center.
It will be easier to stay in one place, which is why these two friends who are visiting the garden plan to stay for hours.
From Palo Alto Olga Taracheva called the garden atmosphere “unforgettable.” “I think the people who built it had a lot of ideas everywhere,” said Kate, a friend who was visiting North Carolina.
There are many places to browse and many places you may miss. “That was one of the benefits of the epidemic,” Kagoshima said.
One-way street is now gone but here’s the inside advice, you have to follow the arrows.
The gardens are beautiful throughout the year, but some areas are especially impressive during certain seasons. The wisteria arbor blooms in late April, and cherry blossoms are beautiful in spring.
Although this is a private tour, the Cultural Exchange is also a reminder of the lessons to be learned.
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“We are trying to take social responsibility and the current exhibition at the Center for Cultural Exchange is on Executive Order 9066 among Japanese citizens,” Kagoshima said.
That job is personal, and Jacques Sasaki, a hacker gardener, has been forced to leave his garden for many years.
“He and his family worked for four years in Topaz, Utah. After the war, he was welcomed back by the Tilden family, ”said Kagoshima. Her mother was killed during the war. “
There are stories in the beauty of a century later.
A place where people continue to provide timeless, peaceful and quiet things during these difficult times.