The Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre is located in the town of

Cowra Cowra is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 9,863. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the ...

, in the Central West region of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The garden was established to recognize and develop the historic and ongoing relationship between the people of

Cowra Shire The Cowra Shire is a local government area in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to the Lachlan River, the Mid-Western Highway and the Lachlan Way. The largest town and council seat is Co ...

and the people of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Background

The garden was designed by

Ken Nakajima was an important landscape architect and designer of Japanese gardens. Outside Japan, he designed the Montreal Botanical Garden, the Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre in Australia, the Japanese Garden in Hermann Park, the Japanese Gard ...

(1914–2000) in the style of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

as a '' kaiyū-shiki'' or strolling garden. The rocky hillside, manicured hedges, waterfalls, streams, and lakes provide a serene environment for a variety of aquatic birds. Special features of the garden include a

Bonshō , also known as or are large bells found in Buddhist temples throughout Japan, used to summon the monks to prayer and to demarcate periods of time. Rather than containing a clapper, are struck from the outside, using either a handheld mall ...

(bell), a traditional

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

cottage, an authentic open air

tea house A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...

, and a

Bonsai Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of ''penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produce ...

house.

History

In 1960 the

Japanese Government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, c ...

decided to bring all their war dead from other parts of Australia to be re-buried at Cowra, which already featured a cemetery for the remains of 231 Japanese soldiers killed during the 1944

Cowra breakout The Cowra breakout occurred on 5 August 1944, when 1,104 Japanese prisoners of war attempted to escape from a prisoner of war camp near Cowra, in New South Wales, Australia. It was the largest prison escape of World War II, as well as one o ...

from the nearby

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp. The Japanese War Cemetery was maintained after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by members of the Cowra

Returned and Services League of Australia The Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) is a support organisation for people who have served or are serving in the Australian Defence Force. Mission The RSL's mission is to ensure that programs are in place for the well-being, care ...

, and ceded to Japan in 1963. In 1971 Cowra Tourism Development decided to celebrate this link to Japan, and proposed a

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

for the town. The

Japanese government The Government of Japan consists of legislative, executive and judiciary branches and is based on popular sovereignty. The Government runs under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan, adopted in 1947. It is a unitary state, c ...

agreed to support this development as a sign of thanks for the respectful treatment of their war dead, with the development also receiving money from the Australian government and private entities. The Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre opened in 1979, and the second stage opened in 1986.

Festivals

An annual '' Sakura Matsuri'' (

cherry blossom A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

festival) is held in the gardens during September and celebrates the arrival of spring. The garden hosts

Girl's Day Girl's Day () is a South Korean girl group formed by Dream T Entertainment in 2010. The group consists of members Sojin, Minah, Yura, and Hyeri. Members Jisun and Jiin officially left the group in 2010, while Jihae left in late 2012. Afte ...

and Boy's Day festivals, tea ceremonies, demonstrations, and workshops on traditional Japanese crafts, including

calligraphy Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

origami ) is the Japanese paper art, art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of pape ...

, and

Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It is also known as . The tradition dates back to Heian period, when floral offerings were made at altars. Later, flower arrangements were instead used to adorn the (alcove) of a traditional Japan ...

, as well as garden talks.

References

External links

Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre
{{coord, -33.8265, 148.6971, type:landmark_region:AU-NSW, format=dms, display=title Gardens in New South Wales Japanese gardens in Australia Japanese strolling gardens Asian-Australian culture in New South Wales Cowra

Background

History

Festivals

See also

References

External links