BY CORINNE KENNEDY

Entry sign for the Seike Japanese Garden, originally created at Des Moines Way Nursery and relocated in 2006 to the Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden. (photo: Linda Letters, personal blog)

Japanese immigrants to the Pacific Northwest (Issei) initially found migratory work in our region’s seasonal, extractive economy, laboring on railroads and in lumber camps, Alaska canneries, and Pacific Northwest hop farms. The Issei and their American-born children (Nisei) later found more settled work in agriculture, notably growing vegetables and berries, and in running small businesses, including laundries, restaurants, and small stores and hotels, especially those located in their area’s Japantowns (Nihonmachi).

Less well-known or documented is their establishment of horticulturally-related businesses and creation of Japanese-style gardens. These gardens were built not only to promote their businesses but also to express the creators’ cultural heritage and to provide settings for community gatherings. These were significant contributions to the Japanese American community and to the development of Pacific Northwest horticulture, garden design, and public parks.

What follows are the stories of a small sampling of those businesses (landscaping companies, plant nurseries, and greenhouses), the individuals and families who operated them, and the Japanese-style gardens they created. In addition, I discuss two other businesses (a farm and a restaurant), whose owners also created significant Japanese-style gardens.

Landscape Contractors/Gardeners:

The list below includes the three Japanese American landscape contractors chosen by garden designer Jūki Iida to build the Seattle Japanese Garden (1959-1960).

Their names are listed on a poster displayed this month on the bulletin board in the Garden's entry courtyard. In recognition of Asian American Native Hawai'ian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, the poster celebrates many of the Asian Americans involved in the Garden's beginnings. It is also posted on the Resources page of this website.

Richard Yamasaki (1921-2008)
William Yorozu (1914-2006)
Kazuo Ishimitsu (1929-2018) and Sadamu Ishimitsu (died 1970)

Fujitaro Kubota (1880-1973) and son Tom Kubota (1917-2004): Kubota Gardening Company and Kubota Garden

Fuijtaro Kubota (1880-1973) was the most well-known Issei owner of a landscaping business in our region and Kubota Garden is likely one of the most well-preserved U.S. examples of an early Japanese-style garden built by an immigrant. Fujitaro immigrated to the U.S. from Japan in 1906, and prior to World War I worked in a sawmill and on a farm. He also managed hotels and apartment buildings. Later, he worked for friends in the gardening business before establishing the Kubota Gardening Company in 1923.

He initially purchased 5 acres of South Seattle swampland for his home and business. But because it was illegal for Japanese immigrants, who weren’t eligible for citizenship, to own land, the property was purchased in the name of a friend’s Nisei son. Eventually the property was transferred to his American-born oldest son, Takeshi. Over the years, additional parcels were purchased and the property expanded to 20 acres. The family grew plants for their business there, and Fujitaro created a Japanese-style display garden. Although it wasn’t a public garden, it served as a gathering place for the Japanese American community. Neighbors and people not of Japanese descent were also welcomed.

In 1942 Executive Order 9066 mandated the evacuation and incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast. The Kubota family was incarcerated at the Minidoka camp in Idaho, where Fujitaro oversaw the camp’s grounds. His second son Tom, who served in U.S. Military Intelligence, was not incarcerated.

During the war years, the City of Seattle attempted to repossess the Kubota property but was ultimately unsuccessful. The house was rented and maintained, but the garden was not. After the Kubota family’s return to Seattle, repairing it took nearly four years of intensive labor. During this period, Fujitaro was able to rebuild his landscaping business and in the process transformed the large property into a drive-through nursery/garden where clients could view his designs and choose plants for their own gardens.

Eventually Kubota focused his business efforts on garden design and construction, rather than maintenance. His designs adapted Japanese design principles to American culture, rather than recreating traditional Japanese gardens. Fujitaro and his son Tom built gardens for institutions, companies, and private residences—including the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, Seattle University’s campus, the Rainier Club, The Seattle Times property, Seattle Center, and the Blethyn residence. As a consultant, he also provided a cost estimate for the creation of the Seattle Japanese Garden.

Kubota Garden in the 1970s. (photo: Seattle Municipal Archives, #197730)

After Fujitaro’s death in 1973, Tom maintained the landscaping business, but once again the garden declined, in part due to changing economic conditions and developmental pressures. Designated a City of Seattle landmark in 1981, the property was sold to the City of Seattle in 1987 and then opened as a public park. Maintained by Seattle Parks and Recreation and the Kubota Garden Foundation, it’s popular and beloved by visitors, who pay no admission charge.

Plant Nurseries and Greenhouses:

Zenhichi Harui (1886-1974) and son Junkoh Harui (1933-2008): Bainbridge Gardens, Grocery, and Nursery

Zenhichi Harui immigrated from Japan to Bainbridge Island in 1908. After working at the Port Blakely Mill, Zenhichi and his older brother Zenmatsu Seko started a small fruit and vegetable farm on the island. By the 1930s, they had obtained 30 acres, purchased in the name of a Nisei friend, where they built Bainbridge Gardens and Nursery. Their property included a farmhouse, small produce stand, plant nursery, and greenhouses. In addition to growing trees and shrubs, they were known for growing flowers, including prize-winning chrysanthemums. They built a large and very successful grocery store and Bainbridge Island’s first gas station.

A skilled gardener, Zenhichi also created Japanese-style ornamental gardens on the property. Eventually the property included beautiful trees and shrubs, bonsai pines, fountains, and ponds with koi fish. The gardens became a well-known attraction in the Puget Sound region.

The Harui family was able to escape World War II incarceration by moving to Moses Lake in Eastern Washington and agreeing to farm there throughout the war. The only Japanese American family in the area, they endured the small community’s racism and anger towards Japan and people of Japanese descent.

After the war, the family returned home to discover that the grocery building, which had been rented out, had been well maintained, but the nursery and gardens had been severely damaged. The property had been vandalized, nursery stock had been stolen or had died, the greenhouses had collapsed, and the ornamental gardens were in a state of ruin.

Zenhichi tried to save his business but was unsuccessful. But decades later, in 1990, his son Junkoh dedicated himself to restoring the business and gardens on their original site. The restored six-acre nursery has thrived since then. Junkoh’s 2008 passing left his wife Chris in charge, and when she died in 2014, their daughter Donna Harui became the nursery’s third-generation owner.

Shinichi Seike (c1888-1983) and sons: Des Moines Way Nursery and Seike Garden

Shinichi Seike immigrated to Seattle from Japan in 1919 and ran an import-export business. A decade later, he purchased 13 acres of land, including a farmhouse, near present-day SeaTac Airport, with future plans to open a nursery there.

During World War II the family was incarcerated in the camps at Heart Mountain and Tule Lake. All three sons, however, served in the U.S. military. Toll, the middle son, was killed in action in France, having served in the all-Japanese 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated military unit in U.S. history.

After the war, the Seike family returned to their property, which had been maintained by a German American family. Unlike most West Coast Japanese American families, they did not lose their property and belongings. In 1953, after sons Hal and Ben graduated from Washington State University with degrees in Horticulture, the family opened Des Moines Way Nursery.

On their property, the Seike family also built a traditional Japanese-style garden—as a family retreat and even more importantly, as a memorial to their son Toll. It was designed by Shintaro Okada, a family friend and garden designer from Hiroshima, with construction beginning in 1961. The garden included major rockwork, a stream and large waterfall, ponds, bridges, stone lanterns, and meticulously pruned plants.

The Seike Garden in its HSBG location, April 17, 2010. (photo: brewbooks, Wikimedia Commons)

This important garden was saved from destruction after the property was purchased by the Port of Seattle for construction of SeaTac Airport’s third runway. Community leaders and state and local officials worked together to raise funds and move the garden in 2006 to the newly created Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden (HSBG).

One of the largest relocations of a Japanese Garden in U.S. history, the relocation included recreating the water features and moving the stonework, bridges, and lanterns. Only the most valuable plants were saved. According to the HSBG’s website, “The garden is at once a beautiful place to find peace and contemplation, a faithful recreation of designer Shintaro Okada’s intent, and an historical amenity.” Admission is free.

Denjiro Nishitani (1878-1926) and son Kelly Nishitani (1900-1969): Oriental Gardens

Denjiro Nishitani immigrated to Seattle in 1906, leaving his wife Jin and their four children behind in Japan. He first worked as a dishwasher and then a farm laborer, but in 1908 was hired as gardener at J.D. Treholme’s estate in Seattle’s Green Lake neighborhood. Jin joined Denjiro in Seattle after Treholme encouraged him to develop a cut flower business.

In 1912, again with Trenholme's encouragement, Denjiro leased a five-acre site in a rural area, north of the Seattle city limits (now the southern edge of Seattle’s Lake City neighborhood) and established a retail nursery. His business, Oriental Gardens, included a plant nursery, greenhouses, and fields for growing cut flowers. The Nishitanis were one of the first Japanese American families in the area, but by 1930 it would become home to about 50 families of Japanese descent.

In 1919, the family was able to purchase the property—in the name of their first American-born son, George. By that time, all four of the children left behind in Japan had immigrated here. Eventually there were ten children, including renowned modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher Martha Nishitani (1920-2014). In addition to his business, Denjiro landscaped the grounds around what is now known as Willow Creek. Oriental Gardens Nursery and Florist Shop became well-known for its beautiful park-like garden and the quality of its products. Denjiro and his eldest son Hiromu (known as Kelly) also operated a landscaping business during the nursery’s slack season. Several Seattle churches, hotels, and Capitol Hill homes were landscaped by the company.

Kelly operated Oriental Gardens from his father’s death in 1926 until World War II, when he, his siblings and his mother were incarcerated at Minidoka. During the war years, Kelly’s Caucasian wife Pearl and their two sons maintained the property and ran the business. After the war, the business again flourished, and Kelly remained an active nurseryman and Japanese American business leader until his death in 1970.

Kelly’s son Sam operated the business briefly, but the neighborhood was changing rapidly and in 1973 the property was sold for office building development. The new businesses tried to maintain some of the trees and landscaping, and even though many years have passed, the site still reveals a little of its fascinating history.

Grounds of the former Dexter + Chaney Building, on the site of Oriental Gardens Nursery. Still remaining are some elements of the site’s original landscaping. (photo: Joe Mabel, 4/4/2021, Wikimedia Commons)

A Farm and its Garden:

B.D. Mukai (died 1972) and Kuni Mukai (died 1957): Mukai Farm and Garden

This example differs from the other gardens discussed here: it’s the only garden built on agricultural property, a strawberry farm, and it’s also a Japanese garden designed by an Issei woman, Kuni Mukai. In Japan, gardens were traditionally designed by men.

Ben Den Ichiro Mukai, known as B.D., immigrated from Japan to San Francisco in about 1885. After working in various jobs, he started an employment agency, but in 1907 he and his first wife Sato moved to Seattle. He briefly operated a restaurant, then was introduced to the strawberry business while working in a wholesale warehouse. In 1910, he moved the family to Vashon Island, where they became tenant farmers, growing strawberries. Sato died in 2015, and B.D. married her sister Kuni, who raised their son Masa as her own.

In 1926 the family purchased 40 acres of land on Vashon in the name of 15-year-old Masa. Strawberries were a major Puget Sound crop and very profitable at that time, even during the Depression. The Mukai family were innovators and became the island’s most prominent Issei family. Mukai Farm and Garden included the family home, various other buildings (a 10,00 square foot Mukai Cold Process Fruit Barreling Plant, barn, office building, and outbuildings), the extensive strawberry fields, and the formal garden designed by Kuni and built by B.D. and Masa.

Designed as a traditional Japanese-style garden, with construction beginning in 1926, Kuni’s garden included a large hill, waterfall, several koi-filled ponds, and traditional Japanese plants, including flowering cherries. Kuni’s vision for her garden was as an aesthetic/cultural creation and as a space for community events—including weddings, Buddhist ceremonies, and cherry blossom viewing, held on the property’s expansive lawn. The garden was featured on postcards of the period.

The family was separated during World War II. B.D. was visiting Japan when the war broke out and was forced to remain there. Masa arranged to leave their property and business to a trusted associate. Then he and Kuni, now divorced from his father, voluntarily relocated to a farming community in Idaho, where they faced racism and hostility but were not incarcerated.

After the war, B.D. lacked the papers needed to re-enter to the U.S., so Masa met him in Mexico and smuggled him over the border. B.D. later moved to California and eventually returned to Japan, where he died in 1972. Kuni died in 1957. Unfortunately, the economics of the strawberry business had changed, and in 1969 Masa sold the farm to focus on his own design/construction business. The 40-acre property was sold off to various buyers, and eventually only two acres remained.

Although designated a King County Landmark in 1993 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, the property fell into disrepair. Decades later, the non-profit Friends of Mukai was formed and gained control of the site. Restoration of the house and garden was largely completed by 2020, and the garden remains open and free to the public. According to its website, “Today, Mukai Farm & Garden is a vibrant gathering place that tells the story of Vashon’s rich Japanese American and agricultural heritage.”

A Restaurant and the Family’s Home Garden:

Kaichi Seko (1896-1966) and son Roy Seko (1928-2004): Bush Garden Restaurant and the Seko Garden

Kaichi Seko immigrated to Seattle with his mother and siblings in 1914, reuniting with their father Zenmatsu, who had left Japan years earlier. In the years before World War II, Kaichi and his wife Suye operated a grocery store in downtown Seattle; during the war, the family was incarcerated at Minidoka. Kaichi alone was incarcerated elsewhere—in a New Mexico Justice Department camp for “dangerous persons.” The U.S. military considered him a spy because his son Roy had made drawings of airplanes.

In 1953, after the war, Kaichi opened the Bush Garden Japanese Restaurant in Seattle’s Nihonmachi. It was relocated in 1957 to a larger property nearby, becoming popular with Japanese and non-Japanese community leaders, politicians, and celebrities as well as regular restaurant patrons. A large red Torii gate and waterfall were at the entrance, with Japanese gardens featured inside.

In 1959, Kaichi and his son Roy built a one-acre Japanese-style garden at the Seko family home on Phantom Lake in Bellevue, Washington. To assist them, he hired Richard Yamasaki, whose company was one of three Nisei landscaping businesses chosen to construct the Seattle Japanese Garden. The garden included elements of traditional Japanese stroll gardens, including stonework, three ponds, a waterfall, sculpted trees, and stone lanterns.

After Kaichi’s death in 1966, his son Roy and daughter-in-law Joan moved to the Phantom Lake home and took over the garden’s maintenance. Although it was a private residential garden, numerous community events were held there over the years. An important asset for the Japanese American community and the citizens of Bellevue, it was featured in articles in The Seattle Times and Sunset magazine.

The garden declined after Roy’s death in 2004, and in 2017 his wife Joan purchased a condo. At that time, Seattle landscape architect Koichi Kobayashi worked diligently to find a buyer for the property who would restore the garden and open it to the public, preserving the culture and history of Japanese Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find any articles about the garden that were published after 2017, so it appears that efforts to save it were unsuccessful.

In Conclusion:

I hadn’t intended to write such a long article, but in researching these stories, I found them to be fascinating and very moving. Historically and culturally significant, they highlight the critical importance of preserving cultural landscapes, especially those of marginalized groups. I’m grateful for the privilege of sharing these stories with readers of the Seattle Japanese Garden’s blog.

*I’m indebted to Tama Keiko Tochihara for much of the information in this article. Her Master of Arts Thesis from Cornell University, A Generation of Gardens: Japanese Style Gardens of the Issei in Seattle (2003) documents in text and photos the history of Japanese-style gardens built by Japanese immigrants in Seattle and the Puget Sound region. A fascinating study, her work is also a plea for the preservation of cultural landscapes:

“Japanese style gardens and landscapes dotted the city and outlying region. These gardens were more prolific than previously realized, but there is no inventory of these historic gardens and there is little documentation to prove their existence. Oral histories and photographs are frequently the only manner of tracing them. These gardens are often not public or well known and many have been forgotten.”

For readers interested in Tochihara’s thesis, the Elisabeth C. Miller Library has a copy, available for in-library use only.

Corinne Kennedy is a Garden Guide, frequent contributor to the Seattle Japanese Garden blog, and retired garden designer.

Issei Contributions to Pacific Northwest Horticulture: Stories for Asian American Native Hawai'ian Pacific Islander Heritage Month