Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden
  Location in Lethbridge | |
| Established | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Location | Henderson Park, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada |
| Coordinates | 49°41′22″N 112°48′30″W / 49.68945°N 112.80839°W |
| Type | Botanical garden |
| Director | Michelle Day |
| Website | Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden |
Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden is a 4-acre (16,000 m2) garden near Henderson Lake in Lethbridge, Alberta, designed by Dr. Tadashi Kubo of Osaka Prefecture University in Japan. The pavilion, shelter, bridges and gates were built in Kyoto, Japan, by five artisans who later reassembled them in the garden. It was opened in 1967, during the Canadian Centennial.
History
In the early 1960s, Lethbridgian Reverend Yutetsu Kawamura, a minister of Buddhist churches in Alberta, and Cleo Mowers, editor and publisher of the Lethbridge Herald independently considering the possibility of a Japanese garden being built in Lethbridge. Kurt Steiner, the manager of the Lethbridge Travel and Convention Bureau, eventually brought the two together and a steering committee was formed.
The steering committee, headed by Rev. Kawamura, brought a proposal to the Lethbridge City Council that was subsequently approved on 6 January 1964. The committee proposed a Japanese Garden Committee be appointed to oversee the garden's construction. By the following summer, the committee was granted official society status and later became the Lethbridge & District Japanese Garden Society.
Initially, Dr. Tadashi Kubo, landscape architect from the University of Osaka, provided design expertise, but he later handed the responsibility to his assistant Masami Sugimoto, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony. He provided consultation on maintenance and improvements presently. The original basis for the design was created by Ayako Hitomi, a student of Dr. Kubo at the time.
After 21 months of construction, the garden publicly opened for the first time on 3 July 1966. The grand opening was held the following year, on 14 July 1967 during Canada's centennial celebrations. Japan’s Prince and Princess Takamatsu attended the grand opening celebration.
Features
Core design concepts utilized in the garden include Wabi-sabi, (beauty in age/simplicity), Shakkei, (borrowed view), and Miegakure, (hide and reveal).
Water, as well as its simulated form in sand, comprise some of the major features of the Nikka Yuko, as in all Japanese landscape gardens. Trees are primarily conifers and may be trained to graceful lines. Stones and rocks are used liberally, either in representation of their natural form, or symbolically to suggest other aspects of a setting such as mountains, waterfalls or islands set in seas or oceans.
- Dry rock garden
- Mountain and waterfall
- Streams and bridges
- Ponds and islands
- Flat prairie garden
Governance
The management and administration of the garden is overseen by the Lethbridge & District Japanese Garden Society, which was established 20 May 1965. Its board of directors consists of 13 volunteers elected for a three-year term. Additionally, the garden is staffed by a general manager, assistant manager, two gardening staff, two maintenance staff, a pruning technician and up to twelve interpretive guides.
