The Japanese Garden

The Real Japanese Garden was brought to the Garden of Wales piece by piece from the Chelsea Flower Show where it won a gold medal and the prestigious Best of Show Award. 

The Garden was designed by Professor Masao Fukuhara, a lecturer in design at Osaka University, and the Professor and his team came to NBGW to supervise the installation of the Japanese Garden alongside Wolfgang Bopp and his team of horticulturists and volunteers.  It can be seen alongside the southern wall of the Double Walled Garden.

In building the Real Japanese Garden, Professor Fukuhara has hand-picked the natural materials he needs to recreate scaled-down Japanese scenery and areas of peace and harmony within the 568 acre Garden of Wales.

The Professor listens to the “voice” of each stone and places it precisely within the design according to its character and sexuality.  Each element of the Garden is symbolic – an area of white gravel stones represents the sea, larger stones are small islands and waterfalls.

The Water Feature is an encapsulation of a Japanese landscape representing mountains, mountain stream and lake.  The Tea House or ‘lori’ is also an important component.