Just off Stone Canyon Road, in the heart of Bel-Air, sits a
Japanese-style gate to one property. It is surrounded by a bamboo
fence, styled after those in the 17th century, and has two parking
spots in front. It is the entrance to the UCLA Hannah Carter
Japanese Garden, a place that many students may not have heard of
during their time at UCLA, but has been a part of UCLA for over 40
years.
“People have called this an oasis, a jewel,” said
Tom Tong, the Friday volunteer for the garden. As a volunteer, Tong
gives tours of the garden to visitors, and is an authority on the
garden’s history and symbolism.
The Japanese-style garden ““ one and one quarter acres in
size ““ is maintained by UCLA, and has been a part of UCLA
since 1965, when UC Board of Regents Chairman Edward W. Carter and
his wife Hannah purchased and donated the estate.
The garden is open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, by
reservation only.
It sits tucked away from the constant construction and buildings
that make up the UCLA campus, and acts as a refuge for anyone
seeking stress relief or relaxation.
Tong said there is one professor who, at the end of his summer
session, will bring his class to the garden as a retreat from the
stress of having such quick and intense course.
Tong came to the garden for the first time in 1970, and was
encouraged by a friend to take the open Friday volunteer spot that
was available. He obliged, and has been a part of the garden ever
since.
Just outside the entrance sits a black pine tree. Joe Ross, the
principal agricultural technician for the garden, said the tree was
purchased in 1959 for $5,000 and is representative of
masculinity.
Ross is responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the entire
garden. He is an alumnus of UCLA, and started working at the garden
17 years ago, where he was trained by the original foreman for the
building of the garden, Gabriel Aquilera. Aquilera maintained the
garden for Gordon Guiberson, who owned the estate prior to the
Carters.
Guiberson was the man who paid for the original construction of
the garden, employing landscape architect Nagao Sakurai of Tokyo
and garden designer Kazuo Nakamura of Kyoto to design the garden in
1959.
Ross has been in charge of maintaining the garden since
Aquilera’s retirement in 1992, and is currently training a
new technician for the garden.
Cornelio Franco, the trainee, said he enjoys learning the
techniques involved with upkeep of the garden. He has been training
for approximately six years.
“He just built his first boar chaser,” Ross said. A
boar chaser is a device that perpetually fills and empties water,
causing it to lift and fall, slamming into the ground and making a
loud noise. It is traditionally used, as the name implies, to chase
away boars and other animals.
The entrance to the garden is a replica of one from the Ichida
estate in Kyoto. It is built of Cryptomeria, a Japanese tree
similar to the California Redwood, which is the material used for
sacred structures.
The wood is unpainted and untreated, following the custom for
Japanese wooden structures, because it is considered more valuable
to let the wood age and mellow.
On it there is a piece of an antique waterwheel, with the
salutation of the high priest of Kyoto painted on it in an ancient
script.
Stepping through the entrance, visitors are hit with just a
taste of what is to come.
An antique stone, carved between 1,000 and 1,200 years ago, sits
across from a specially designed waterfall. The stone depicts
Buddha in 16 different positions of worship, 16 being
representative of immortality.
The waterfall was built to formula. The stones that make up the
waterfall sit in specific horizontal, vertical and diagonal
positions.
A stairway, adorned with several ancient stonework and lanterns,
leads up to the focal point of the garden: an 18,000-gallon pond,
filled with 30 koi fish, some as old as the garden itself.
A waterfall flows down the towering garden into the pond.
“The waterfall is absolutely done perfectly,” Ross
said. He added that several Japanese garden designers had seen this
waterfall and were astounded by how well it was built.
Only a few fish were visible in the pond, but Ross said in about
two weeks, when the temperature starts to rise, the fish will find
the water more to their liking, and will be scurrying about the
pond.
Here, visitors witness the sheer size and brilliance of the
garden, filled with complex aesthetic traditions from Japanese
style gardens in Kyoto.
Ross said the concept of the Japanese-style garden is not so
much based on botanical care, but on the patterns and aesthetic
formulas for a garden.
One of the most significant antique pieces is a five-tiered
pagoda. Each tier represents an element ““ sky, wind, fire,
water and earth ““ and a cardinal virtue ““ humanity,
justice, politeness, wisdom and fidelity. The white stones that
surround the base of the pagoda represent the bones of Buddha, as
an indication of the pagoda’s holiness.
Maintenance of the garden is absolutely necessary to making sure
it is kept in the best condition possible, though sometimes it is
inevitable that natural causes will affect the garden.
In 1969, the garden was reconstructed due to heavy rains. UCLA
art professor and campus architect Koichi Kawana was employed to
design the reconstruction.
Ross said that an earthquake in 1978 brought the entire front
face of the garden down, pouring into the pond. In order to prevent
this from happening again, a retaining wall filled with concrete
cinder blocks and re-faced with stones was placed at the top of the
hill.
Even through all these struggles, the garden looks just as
beautiful as ever, and several people have come to bask in its
beauty.
Tong said several Buddhist monks, in ages ranging from seven and
older, came to meditate and pray at the garden’s hokora, a
family shrine that was placed by Sakurai, several years ago. The
shrine holds an antique hand-carved Buddha decorated with gold
leaf, and is built of the same Cryptomeria used for the main
gate.
The garden itself has several paths going through several
different areas, many of which may not be exactly Japanese in
style.
One area, called the “Hawaiian section,” sits near
the original entrance to the garden. It is delineated as Hawaiian
because it does not follow the specific rules for Japanese-style
gardens.
Ross said this is important to realize because the garden is
only a Japanese-style garden, not an authentic Japanese garden. He
said many parts of the garden are not Japanese at all, including
many of the antique stones and sculptures, nor is the garden being
manicured and maintained by a Japanese person.
Tong said though this may be true, it does not mean that someone
cannot care as much for the garden.
“Even though Joe isn’t the owner, he really pours
his heart out,” Tong said. “Without Joe, it really
wouldn’t be like this.”
Tong also acknowledged Hannah Carter as the generous benefactor
of the garden, and said Carter enjoys sharing it with the
community.
“A garden is a mirror that reflects the heart of the
owner,” Tong said.