News Flash

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Visitors to Golden Gate Park’s Japanese Tea Garden can now enjoy a redesigned plaza surrounding the garden’s historical pagoda, San Francisco Recreation and Park Department officials announced today.

The new Pagoda Plaza creates a more open atmosphere and will serve as a gathering space for taiko performances, bonsai demonstrations, and other cultural events. The upgraded plaza builds on the complete restoration of the 109-year-old pagoda, completed in 2022.

For the plaza’s redesign, Rec and Park worked with the San Francsico Parks Alliance and the Friends of the Japanese Tea Garden to hire award-winning Japanese Garden designer Hoichi Kurisu to create the vision and construct a cohesive area.

For the base of the pagoda and lanterns across the plaza, Tatsuyama stones were donated by the Matsushita Stonemason Co., Ltd from Takasago, Japan, with support from the National Chamber of Commerce of Japan. Tatsuyama stone has been used as a building material in Japan for more than 1,700 years.

The redesign also added a small, serene space behind the pagoda for contemplation and for observing the moss growing behind the Japanese cryptomeria grove. In addition, seven 60-year-old Japanese black pines cultivated by Kurisu and his family have been planted in the plaza. The plaza’s new permeable pavement will create room for the new trees’ roots to grow.

The redesign also called for the removal of fencing surrounding the pagoda, as well as the creation of two new paths. One path travels from the main gate up to a terrace with views of the gift shop, the bronze Buddha statue, and the Hagiwara Gate. The other path travels through the Sunken Garden, creating scenic connection between the main gate and Pagoda Plaza.

“The Japanese Tea Garden is one of Golden Gate Park’s most revered gardens and it is the oldest public Japanese Garden in the nation,” said SF Rec and Park General Manager Phil Ginsburg. “With the pagoda restored to its former glory, it’s only fitting that we breathe new life into the surrounding plaza, ensuring that this space remains a premier location for celebrating Japanese culture.”

“Great public spaces foster activity and culture, and the new plaza at the Japanese Tea Garden is built to do just that,” said SF Parks Alliance CEO Drew Becher. “The improvements that have been made here over the last five years show a commitment to preserving this San Francisco treasure.”

“We are excited to collaborate with community partners to continue bringing the Pagoda Plaza to life with special programming and create new memories in this beloved space,” said Gardens of Golden Gate Park CEO Stephanie Linder.

“As a designer, I was so excited to contribute to this historic project with such as global impact. Although the open space at the pagoda appears to be empty, it was designed purposefully to allow visitors to experience a sense of calmness; to realize we are unified through humanity; and to contemplate forgiveness, joy, and peace,” said Kurisu.

Restoration work to the garden’s five-story pagoda began in 2020 and finished in 2022, consisting of carpentry, roofing, and masonry work, all performed in-house by Rec and Park’s structural maintenance crew. That included removing rotted wood from the pagoda’s interior and exterior and replacing it with redwood salvaged from water storage tanks at Camp Mather; redoing shingling on the pagoda’s five roofs; and repainting the structure’s vermillion trim. Rec and Park carpenters also created a new spire for top of the pagoda, made from a recycled Douglas fir flagpole, adorning it with traditional bells and giboshis custom-made in Niigata, Japan.

The Japanese Tea Garden’s pagoda was built as a temporary indoor display in the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition’s Palace of Food Products. It was relocated to the Japanese Tea Garden in 1916, where it’s been delighting visitors for more than a century.

Since 2022, the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, which includes the Japanese Tea Garden, the Botanical Gardens, and the Conservatory of Flowers, has remained free for San Francisco residents. For more information about the Gardens of Golden Gate Park, including admission for non-residents, visit their website.

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