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Kubota Gardens: Seattle Japanese Garden
My family loves Kubota Garden, one of the earliest Japanese gardens in Seattle. It’s located in the Rainier Beach neighborhood on the south shore of Lake Washington. Fujitaro Kubota bought the land on which the garden exists in 1927. Then he built a family home and created a nursery business and eventually a garden. Now it is a Seattle city park and beautiful Japanese garden. In my opinion it is one of the more beautiful and least-known local park.
Last weekend, the sun shone full and gorgeous and we decided to pack Jonah in the car and make a visit. The garden is set on 20 acres, though it feels quite compact. The major features are a small manmade “mountain,” a natural stream and waterfalls, a set of “necklace” ponds replete with ducks and Japanese painted bridges, a lawn and stately old evergreens and other tree varieties. The mountain was created in the 1960s by hauling in thousands of tons of rocks and building a promontory several hundred feet high giving a visitor splendid views of the lawn, trees and ponds below.
For an excellent summary of Kubota Garden and its history see Historylink.org.
