The Japanese Friendship Garden is a walled section of

Kelley Park Kelley Park is a city park in San Jose, California, United States. Location and facilities Kelley Park is bounded by Story Road (on the northwest), Senter Road (on the southwest), Roberts Street (on the northeast), and Yerba Buena High School a ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Dedicated in October 1965, it is patterned after

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 ...

's famous

Korakuen Garden In Japanese, the term kōraku in Kōrakuen (後楽園, "Kōraku Park") refers to later pleasures. It comes from a yojijukugo which means "hardship now, pleasure lat" It is derived from a poem by Fan Zhongyan. Places named Korakuen include: * Kōra ...

Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...

(one of San Jose's

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

) and spans six acres. Its three main ponds were stocked with

koi or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens. Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...

sent from Okayama in 1966. The ponds are at different elevations in the park, and are inter-connected by streams. The park is open daily from 10 AM to 7 PM. There is no admission fee, but the city does charge for parking at Kelley Park.

History

In 2009 a deadly fish virus killed 90% of the Koi in the ponds. In 2017 the Coyote Creek flooded the Japanese Friendship Gardens submerging the lower pond and most of the tea house. The main pumps for the three Koi ponds were damaged. The tea house and park's restrooms remained closed to the public pending repairs. As of 2022, the tea house is repaired, while other repairs from the flood remain incomplete.

Gallery

File:Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park) view 5.JPG , A

pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

in the garden File:Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park) view 6.JPG , The garden around the upper pond File:Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park) view 8.JPG , Koi fish in the upper pond File:Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park) view 10.JPG , Waterfall between ponds File:Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park) view 3.JPG, Lower pond File:Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park) view 4.JPG , Lower pond File:Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park) view 2.JPG , Lower pond File:Entrance to Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose.JPG, Entrance to the garden File:Cherry blossom at Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose.jpg, Cherry blossom near the lower pond File:Lower pond at Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose.JPG, Lower pond

References

City of San Jose Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Japanese Friendship Garden Web page

History

Gallery

References

References

See also