2013 | The Garden of the Phoenix: The 120th Anniversary of the Japanese Garden in Chicago
Written by Robert W. Karr, Jr. | Published in the North American Japanese Garden Association Journal, Issue No. 1 (2013) (日本語)
This article was submitted for publication in February 2013, and published in June that year. While awaiting publication, the Garden of the Phoenix Foundation was established on March 1, 2013 - 120 years following the dedication of the Phoenix Pavilion on March 31, 1893. As described in the article, over 120 cherry trees were planted in April and May 2013. People started coming to the Garden of the Phoenix, including Yoko Ono in May 2013. Inspired by this rich and complicated history between the U.S. and Japan, and the site itself, she was inspired to create SKYLANDING, which was completed in 2016. Today, peace is rising from the ashes of the Phoenix Pavilion, and a new era is born.
The following is the article in English, with links to footnotes, which are being added as new karreport blog entries with additional information that is not available in the article. If you are interested in receiving the quarterly report for karreport, which highlights the updates and provides other materials not available on this website, please contact us.
Introduction
The Japanese have long believed that when a phoenix descends from the heavens, a new era of peace and prosperity will begin (1). On March 31, 1893, Japanese and Americans gathered together in the heartland of America, on the Wooded Island in Chicago, to prepare for the opening of the World’s Columbian Exposition (2). They gathered to celebrate the arrival of a Phoenix that would take the form of a pavilion (Fig 1), which they hoped would teach the world about Japan, and, in turn, would lead us to learn about each other and ourselves.
For the past 120 years, enduring through the highs and lows in the U.S.-Japan relationship, Chicago has maintained the site of the Phoenix Pavilion on the Wooded Island as a place for Americans to experience Japanese culture (FN3). In the 1930s, an extraordinary Japanese garden was added to accompany the Phoenix Pavilion. Since the Pavilion and garden were lost following World War II, the garden has risen again from the ashes to become one of the most important sites in the United States that reflects both the past and future of U.S.-Japan relations.
In 2013, to commemorate the 120-year history of the “Garden of the Phoenix,” 120 cherry blossom trees are being planted to celebrate the mutual understanding and respect enjoyed today between these two nations. The newly planted trees will also commemorate the two nations’ hopes to begin a new era of even greater cooperation. As they grow in size and number to be enjoyed each spring in the Japanese tradition of hanami, or cherry blossom viewing, the trees will inspire new opportunities for cultural exchange and learning for generations to come.
Fig. 1 The Phoenix Pavilion on the Wooded Island, 1893.
JAPAN AND THE 1893 WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION AT CHICAGO AND THE WOODED ISLAND
Fig. 2. The Phoenix Pavilion. The United States Pavilion and the Manufacturers Building in the background, 1893
On February 24, 1890, the City of Chicago was selected by the United States government to host one of the most important international events in the country’s history - a world’s fair to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the New World in 1492. (4) Located in the middle of the country, at the crossroads of transportation and commerce, Chicago rose quickly from the ashes of the Great Fire of 1871. By 1890, Chicago’s population exceeded one million, and its skyline had begun to take shape with the world’s first skyscrapers. Selected over New York, Washington D.C. and St. Louis, Chicago represented the ambition and fortitude of this frontier nation that now spanned from “sea to shining sea.”
Seemingly overnight, Chicago’s Jackson Park, on the south shore of Lake Michigan, was transformed from sand and marshland into an electrified city of gigantic neo-classic buildings for the World’s Columbian Exposition. It was there, in what became known as the “White City,” that more than 27 million visitors would come from around the world to see the best examples of industrial, scientific, and artistic talents of the day.
Nearly every nation participated in the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Although everyone understood the importance of making a positive impression in Chicago, perhaps no foreign nation understood this more than Japan. Until 1853, Japan had maintained a centuries-old policy of self-imposed isolation from the world. After its shores were forced open by the United States, Japan began to take bold steps to replace its weak feudal government, and rapidly adopted Western science, technologies, and social systems. (5) By the time of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, Japan was ready to demonstrate to the world how far it had progressed in only 40 years, and prepared the largest budget and the most elaborate plans of any foreign nation participating at the exposition in Chicago. (6)
Japan’s primary goals were to establish itself in the eyes of the world as a modern, industrial nation that was open to trade and commerce with other nations, and to overcome the unequal treaties that had been imposed upon it. Soon after being invited to participate, in June 1890, Japan organized its resources and began sending leaders to Chicago to negotiate for the best locations for its exhibits. (7) After securing sufficient space in the main exhibit halls to display the fruits of its rapid modernization, Japan sought a site where it could construct a building (Fig. 2) that could properly introduce the world to its rich artistic heritage, culture, and traditions.
The Wooded Island, located at the center of the exposition, was the most idyllic site because, for the Japanese, this island resembled the physical characteristics of Japan. (8) It would not only be the perfect natural setting for a traditional Japanese building, but such a location would elevate Japan’s status by being at the center of the grand iconic buildings representing Western civilization.
The role of the Wooded Island, as designed by Fredrick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), America’s foremost landscape architect and the chief of the exhibition’s landscape design, was to provide exposition visitors a quiet sylvan setting, unencumbered by buildings, in which to escape the hustle and bustle of the exposition. In February 1892, following lengthy negotiations between the Japanese and exposition officials, Daniel Burnham (1846-1912), the exhibition’s chief of construction, enthusiastically wrote to Olmsted to explain that the Japanese “propose to do the most exquisitely beautiful things . . . and desire to leave the buildings as a gift to the City of Chicago.” (9) Shortly thereafter, the Japanese Commission was granted permission to build on two acres at the northern portion of the fifteen-acre Wooded Island.
THE HO-O-DEN (PHOENIX PAVILION)
On March 31, 1893, the United States and Japan dedicated the Ho-o-den (Phoenix Pavilion) on the Wooded Island. Never before had the nation been given such a locus for learning about Japan, nor did a building ever have so many meanings and hopes cast upon it.
The Phoenix Pavilion was deliberately designed to showcase for the first time in America the greatest achievements of Japan’s artistic heritage. For the millions of visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition during its six-month run beginning May 1, 1893, the building - and the canon of Japanese art that it contained - would begin to transform their understanding and appreciation of Japan and its people. At the close of the Exposition, the Phoenix Pavilion was gifted by the Emperor of Japan to the City of Chicago to serve not only as a symbol of the relationship between Japan and the United States, but to be a place for future generations to continue to learn about Japan.
Fig. 3. The Phoenix Pavilion Dedication, March 31, 1893
The Phoenix Pavilion in Chicago was modeled after a noted building called the Hōōdō, or Phoenix Hall, located in Uji, near Kyoto. Built in 1052, the Hōōdō is recognized as one of the most important examples of classical Japanese architecture, and remains a symbol of Japan today. (10) The Chicago version was given the name Ho-o-den, or Phoenix Pavilion, signifying that it was modified from a sacred Buddhist worship hall to one of secular purpose. The Phoenix Pavilion consisted of a central hall with two identical smaller structures situated on each side that were connected by a roofed pergola. The arrangement of the buildings was intended to represent the head and body, and flanking wings, of the Phoenix.
The interior of each building was elaborately decorated to display the distinct style of a significant period of Japanese art and architecture. (11) The north wing was in the manner of the Fujiwara (Heian) Period (980-1185), with features taken from those of the Phoenix Hall at Uji and the Imperial Palace at Kyoto. The south wing was in the style of the Ashikaga (Muromachi) (1333-1568), with features resembling Ginkakuji, or Silver Pavilion, built in Kyoto in the late-fifteenth century. The large central hall reflected the taste of the Tokugawa (Edo) Period (1615-1867), and included ranma, or wooden transom panels, designed and carved by master sculptor Kōun Takamura (1852-1934). (12)
The Phoenix Pavilion was designed and prepared in Tokyo, during the summer of 1892, and shipped to San Francisco, then transported by rail to Chicago. (13) When the building arrived in December 1892, it was constructed by 24 Japanese workmen through one of the coldest winters on record. Onlookers were immediately captivated by their discipline and craftsmanship. (14) Dressed in blue-colored caps with ear mufflers, heavy cotton jackets, tight trousers, and split-toed cloth boots, the Japanese workers used exotic hand tools and nimbly climbed from ground to roof without the use of ladders.
Formed with traditional lightweight timber construction, the completed buildings (Fig. 3) had low eaves and exposed beams, with moveable and removable shoji screens and extensive use of natural light. By using support columns instead of load bearing walls as in the West, the interior space was flexible and open, which created a fluid relationship between the building’s exterior and surrounding natural environment. This style contrasted significantly with the predominant Beaux-Arts architecture of the exhibition, and fueled both debate and imagination regarding the future development of American architecture. (15)
Architects from all over America were fascinated by the Phoenix Pavilion. Foremost among them was Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), who was only twenty-six years old at the time. For Wright, who would go on to become one of the most important American architects of the twentieth century, this first encounter with Japanese architecture was a revelation. (16) Wright openly admired the intimate relationship between the Japanese house and its garden, and this sense of continuity with the landscape is clearly one of the most important characteristics which his work shares with traditional Japanese architecture. Soon after encountering the Phoenix Pavilion, Wright would begin experimenting with what he eventually called, “the elimination of the insignificant,” an approach that would lead him to transform American residential design by focusing upon principles inspired by Japan rather than formulas found in the West. (17)
Later in life, Wright would have the opportunity to repay this debt to Japan when he was commissioned in 1916 to design the new Imperial Hotel, which would become one of the most important buildings in Tokyo from its completion in 1923. (18) Inspired by the Phoenix Pavilion, Wright created a technical and aesthetic bridge between East and West, and hoped to inspire Japanese architects to create from their soul, rather than imitate the architectural styles of other countries. Being neither entirely Japanese nor completely Western, the hotel was a world in itself - intended as a unique place where people of different cultures could meet on equal terms.
A JAPANESE GARDEN EMERGES BEFORE THE PHOENIX
During the years following the close of the 1893 Exposition, Jackson Park was transformed from the White City into a pastoral urban setting for people to connect with nature and each other. (19) As the neo-classical buildings and canals were dismantled and faded into history, a rugged interconnected system of serene lagoons with lushly planted shores, islands, and peninsulas emerged throughout this remote 600 acre (2.4km2) parkland.
The Phoenix soon spread its wings over the Wooded Island to provide a place for Americans to continue to experience Japanese culture, and for nature to flourish. As the twentieth century wore on, the world outside this sanctuary became increasingly complex. By the 1930s, leading nations fell into the throes of the Great Depression, and found themselves on a collision course toward a second world war.
Despite the persistent difficulties between the United States and Japan, Chicago maintained its promises made to Japan in 1893, when it received the gift of the Phoenix Pavilion.20 In 1934, at the height of the Depression, the United States launched the Public Works Administration as part of the New Deal in order to put Americans back to work. (21) This initiative included funding improvements for Chicago’s parks. George T. Donohue (1884-1962), the first General Superintendent of the Chicago Park District, seized the opportunity to restore the Phoenix Pavilion and add an authentic Japanese garden that would match the building’s beauty and importance. (22)
Donohue quickly enlisted the Chicago Park District’s architect, E. V. Buchsbaum, and landscape architect, Robert E. Moore, Jr. to draw up detailed plans, which would be carried out by relief workers over the next 16 months. The design for the garden was loosely based on that of George K. Shimoda (1866-1931), who, in 1894, drafted plans for a Japanese garden design on this site. The Art Institute of Chicago, along with the Japan America Society of Chicago, Consulate General of Japan at Chicago, and others would provide the specialized knowledge, talent and other critical resources required to successfully complete the project.
On July 27, 1935, the Chicago Park District opened to the public the new Japanese garden (Fig. 4), along with the restored Phoenix Pavilion, that was timed to coincide with the arrival of Sadao Iiguchi, the newly appointed Consul General of Japan at Chicago. (23) Other additions included a Japanese tea house, lanterns and torii gate that had been part of Japan’s exhibit at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition, Chicago’s second world’s fair. During final inspection of the buildings and garden before their public opening, the Japanese Consul remarked “our people will always be grateful for what Chicago has done for this place. We revere this ground as a bit of our home land transplanted in the heart of a great and friendly nation.” (24)
Fig. 4. The Phoenix Pavilion and Japanese Garden, c. 1935
The new garden (Fig. 5) for the Phoenix Pavilion included most of the major elements of a traditional Japanese hill-style stroll garden - a landscape type developed during the Tokugawa Period. (25) The design evolved from the site’s physical conditions, and strived to symbolize a large, natural landscape in a small, concentrated area. In contrast to those Western garden styles that feature lines of trees, symmetrical planting beds, and straight pathways, the stroll garden does not express dominion over nature. Rather, it is designed to emulate natural settings and to achieve harmonious beauty through the careful placement of elements. This garden type was in keeping with Olmsted’s larger plans for the Wooded Island and Jackson Park, which evolved from the English “landscape garden.”
The Japanese garden included a double-pond with islands, a cascading waterfall, stepping stones and a moon bridge. Beautifully carved stone lanterns were placed along the paths to guide visitors throughout the garden. From nearly every vantage point, there were views of distant vistas, which included the beautifully restored Phoenix Pavilion, tranquil lagoons and Palace of Fine Arts -a structure from the 1893 Exposition that, after extensive renovation, reopened in 1933 as the Museum of Science and Industry.
The care of the Phoenix Pavilion and its garden was entrusted by the Chicago Park District to Shoji Osato (c.1885-1955) and his wife, Frances Fitzpatrick (1897-1954), who together would operate this site as a Japanese tea garden from 1935 through 1941. (26) During this brief period, the Phoenix Pavilion and its garden became, arguably, the best examples of their kind outside of Japan. For Shoji and Frances, this would become a place where they could escape the mounting challenges that stemmed from their contrasting cultural backgrounds and interracial marriage.
As difficult as it may have been for Shoji and Frances, their eldest daughter, prophetically named Sono (b. 1919), or “garden” in Japanese, believes that her parents’ enduring relationship was “perhaps some inexplicable kind of a commitment to a decision once made, whatever the consequences; or it may simply have been the most simple explanation, yet the most difficult bond to describe - love between two people.” (27)
Fig. 5 Japanese Garden Design and Phoenix Pavilion Restoration Project, c. 1934-35
THE PHOENIX RISES FROM THE ASHES
Shoji Osato was born in northern Japan beforethe 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. After his parents died, he immigrated to the United States around the turn of the century, seeking a new life and new opportunity. Following the path from Japan taken by the Phoenix Pavilion, he travelled by ship to San Francisco, and then eventually made his way to Chicago. Along the way, in Omaha, Nebraska, he met and married Frances, the daughter of a prominent architect. Their three children were raised to pursue their own American dreams.
After war broke out between the United States and Japan on December 7, 1941, the Phoenix Pavilion was boarded up and its garden, soon abandoned, fell into decline. Shoji, like more than 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent, was taken from his family and interned by the government of the only country he now called home.28 Despite Shoji’s fate, or in spite of it, his family persevered. Sono, who had left home in 1934 at age fourteen to join the famous Ballet Russe, developed into a national sensation and performed on stage across the country - except in California, where it was illegal for her to enter during the war. Teru, their second daughter, married a U.S. naval officer and started a family in Norfolk, Virginia. Timothy, their only son, upon turning eighteen years-old in 1943, joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of the United States Army to fight on the front lines in Europe.
Although the Phoenix Pavilion survived the war, Shoji and Frances’ life in the garden would be no more. In 1946, less than a year after the war ended in the Pacific, vandalism in the garden would lead to flames that would reduce the Phoenix Pavilion, and their dreams, to ashes. (29)
In April 1952, nearly 100 years following the “opening” of Japan by the United States, and 60 years following the arrival of the Phoenix Pavilion, a peace treaty between the two nations came into force and officially ended the war. With a renewed hope, the two countries would start over on a new path toward peace and prosperity.
Fig. 6. View from within the Japanese Garden, 2012
In its neglected condition, the island garden that was once graced by the Phoenix Pavilion became overgrown and developed into a refuge for hundreds of varieties of migrating birds, including herons, hawks, falcons, cardinals, catbirds, robins, red-wing blackbirds, yellow warblers and geese. By the early 1970s, conservationists began to embrace the area as an extraordinary wildlife ecosystem, and the island was designated as the Paul Douglas Nature Sanctuary in 1977. This ecological interest and strengthening ties between the United States and Japan, as evidenced by the new sister-city relationship between Chicago and Osaka forged in 1973, led to the rediscovery of the Japanese garden and its restoration and formal re-dedication on June 21, 1981. (30)
The restoration of the Japanese garden on the northern end of the Wooded Island was made possible by public and private support. Kaneji Domoto (1912-2002) was commissioned by the Chicago Park District to design the new garden, for which he was awarded the Frederick Law Olmsted Award in 1983. Uniquely qualified, Domoto was a Japanese American garden designer and an architect who had studied at Stanford and Berkeley. He was interned during World War II, and had worked closely with Frank Lloyd Wright. (31)
In 1993, in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Chicago’s sister-city relationship with Osaka, the Japanese garden was renamed the Osaka Japanese Garden. (32) To deepen its commitment to Chicago, the City of Osaka donated funds for the construction of a new traditional Japanese-style entrance gate designed by Seattle landscape architect, Koichi Kobayashi, and hand-crafted and installed in 1995 by local craftsman, John Okumura. In 2002, a complete renovation of the ponds (Fig. 6) and stone settings -including a new waterfall - was undertakenby Sadafumi Uchiyama, an accomplished third-generation Japanese landscape gardener and curatorof the Portland Japanese Garden. Critically, Uchiyamaemphasized that in order to cultivate the garden’sfuture, we must first understand the past. (33)
Today, visitors to the Wooded Island can experience one of the most compelling connections to nature in an urban setting in the United States (Fig. 7). Amidst this wildlife and an array of native trees and shrubs, including the American Basswood, White Mulberry, Weeping Willow, Sycamore, Bur Oak and Northern Catalpa, the Osaka Japanese Garden continues to grow both in beauty and service to the community. Thus, as we strive to balance human culture with nature’s power, it is once again possible to hear the song of the Phoenix.
Fig. 7. Master Plan of the Japanese Garden by Sadafumi Uchiyama, 2001
Fig. 8. Rendering of the 120th Anniversary Cherry Blossom Trees, 2012
UNDERSTANDING THE PAST TO CREATE THE FUTURE
Every spring, extraordinary wildlife migrations pass, little seen, through our communities. After long nights of travel, birds sift down from the sky to settle in trees. They begin singing at dawn, and continue throughout the day while searching for food. After the sun vanishes, they flutter into the air to continue their travels.
On March 31, 1893, when the sun rose above the waters of Lake Michigan, its warm rays stretched down to touch the western shores of the Wooded Island. In that morning light, when the Phoenix arrived from Japan, this symbol of rebirth raised its serpent-like neck, extended its tail, lifted its chest forward, and spread its powerful wings across the island. Its feathers, like dragon scales piled upon one another, glistened in the sunlight. As it opened its almond shaped eyes and sparrow-like beak, marvelous notes flowed from deep within it, and were released into the sky above the vast frontier plains of America to signal the dawn of a new day.
In Japan, human life can be measured in sixty-year cycles. This significant concept, called kanreki, enables one to reflect upon one’s past, and experience a rebirth with a new understanding of one’s future. When kanreki is applied to the legacy of the Phoenix Pavilion and the surrounding garden, we understand that the concept of Phoenix teaches us lessons about ourselves.
During its first 60 years (1893-1953), the Phoenix signaled mutual understanding and respect at a time when both were badly needed. After the world joined together in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate enlightenment and modernization, it entered a time of grand success and equally grand failure. The fragility of existence was apparent in devastating wars, when humans learned that modern civilization contains the means of construction or destruction with equal efficiency and completeness.
During the next 60 years (1953-2013), the United States and Japan worked hard to evolve from enemies in the Pacific to global allies. While the focus remained on peace between nations and economic prosperity, citizens in both countries broadened their cooperation to include how to live and grow together with our planet.
Today, as we reflect upon the past to embrace the lessons of the Phoenix, the Japanese garden on the Wooded Island embarks on the next phase in its illustrious history. We now celebrate its one-hundred and twenty-year history and rebirth as the “Garden of the Phoenix” as one of the most important American sites that links the past and future of U.S.-Japan relations.
As a first step in this next incarnation, the Chicago Park District will plant 120 cherry blossom trees along the south side of the Museum of Science and Industry, around the Columbian Basin, and along the banks of the lagoon to the north end of the Wooded Island (Fig. 8). These trees commemorate the 120th anniversary of the gift of the Phoenix Pavilion to the City of Chicago and our understanding and appreciation of the historical and ecological significance of the site. It is the hope of the people of Chicago that they shall grow in number and size as a symbol of the enduring friendship between Japan and the United States, following the tradition established by Japan and the United States in 1912 with the planting of cherry blossom trees in Washington D.C. on the north banks of the Tidal Basin and along the Potomac River.
In Japan, beginning with the era of the construction of the Phoenix Hall in Uji, Japan, cherry blossoms have signified life itself—luminous and beautiful, yet brief and ephemeral. Each spring, people throughout Japan look forward to the blooming of the cherry blossoms, and come together under the trees upon their arrival to celebrate life and renew their spirit. While these moments pass quickly, the hope and progress that they inspire remains. As future generations visit the Garden of the Phoenix in Jackson Park, we can all hope that they will be inspired to join friends and family under the cherry blossom trees to celebrate life, and remember those people on both sides of the Pacific, like Shoji and Frances Osato, who committed their lives to cultivating peace among nations. As time passes, may these blossoms bloom and the birds continue to sing, so that this hope springs eternal, and together we can create a more peaceful and prosperous future.
[END OF 2013 ARTICLE]
Videos
SKYLANDING by Yoko Ono (2016)
The Making of the Garden of the Phoenix Website (2016)
Jackson Park from Above (2015)
Websites:
The Garden of the Phoenix (gardenofthephoenix.org)
SKYLANDING by Yoko Ono (skylanding.com)
Footnotes
Kakuzo Okakura, The Ho-o-den (Phoenix Hall): An Illustrated Description of the Buildings Erected by the Japanese Government at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Jackson Park, Chicago (Tokyo: K. Ogawa Publishing Co., 1893; printed by C.D. Arnold and Co., Chicago).
.“In Japan’s Temple. Building of the Nation Is Dedicated to Fair Uses,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 1, 1893, p. 9.
The site of the Phoenix Pavilion is the earliest enduring site in the United States dedicated by Japan and the United States as a symbol of the two countries' friendship and place for Americans to experience Japanese culture. On February 11, 1892 representatives of the Japanese Exhibition and South Park Commissioners concluded a written agreement whereby Japan would build the Phoenix Pavilion and gift it to the City of Chicago, and the City of Chicago through the South Park District (Chicago Park District) would maintain the building permanently and properly on its site on the Wooded Island as a symbol of the relationship between the two countries and as a place to experience Japanese culture. See Chicago Park District, Special Collections. See also, “Permanent Japanese Exhibit – The One Prepared for the Fair to be turned over to the City of Chicago,” Chicago Daily Tribune, February 19, 1892, p. 8.
J.B. Campbell, Campbell’s Illustrated History of the World’s Columbian Exposition (Toledo, Ohio: Carothers Pub. Co., 1894), and Donald L. Miller, City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America (New York: Touchstone, 1997).
Marius B. Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000) especially 371-473.
Masahiro Mishima, “The Factors and Motivation of the Ho-o-den’s Construction in the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893,”[in Japanese] Journal of Architecture, Planning, Environment, Engineering, No. 429 (November 1991).
“Space Japan Wants,” Chicago Daily Tribune, November 1, 1891,p. 2.
“What the Japanese Propose to Do,” Chicago Daily Tribune, December 5, 1891, p. 8. After assessing various options, the Japanese government officially requested two acres of space on the northern portion of the Wooded Island for a building of the “most ancient style of architecture of Japan, and to make to the City of Chicago a gift of the structure at the close of the World’s Fair.”
Letter from Burnham to Olmsted, February 5, 1892, The Daniel Burnham Papers, The Art Institute of Chicago. See also, Thomas S. Hines, Burnham of Chicago: Architect and Planner (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1974), 107; and, Kevin Nute, Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993) p. 53.
The Hōōdō, or Phoenix Hall, was constructed as a sacred building for religious purposes upon the 1500th anniversary of the death of Buddha. In 1994, UNESCO listed the Hōōdō as a World Heritage Site as part of the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.” The Phoenix Hall, and its statue of Amida, have been designated as National Treasures by the Japanese government.
Mishima, “The Factors and Motivation of the Ho-o-den’s Construction in the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893;” and Masahiro Mishima, “The Factors Surrounding the Form of the Ho-o-den in the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893,” [in Japanese]Journal of Architecture, Planning, Environment, Engineering, No.434 (April 1992).
“Phoenixes Reappear after 118 Years of Journey,” The Chicago Shimpo, August 26, 2011, pp. 1-3.
According to Mishima, “The Factors Surrounding the Form of the Ho-o-den in the World’s Columbian Exposition, 1893,” the approval of the final designs of the Phoenix Pavilion was issued by Daniel Burnham in July 1892. However, the preparations for building began in Tokyo as early as May 1892.
“Workmen of Japan,” Oak Park Reporter, December 16, 1892, p. 6.
While Daniel Burnham embraced the use of classical architectural forms for the main exhibition buildings, Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), who designed the Transportation Building for the World’s Columbian Exposition, defiantly opposed him.
See Nute, 53.
Frank Lloyd Wright, An Autobiography (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1962 (first published in 1932), 196. Wright wrote, “Becoming more closely acquainted with things Japanese, I saw the native home in Japan as a supreme study of elimination—not only of dirt but the elimination of the insignificant. So the Japanese house naturally fascinated me and I would spend hours taking it all to pieces and putting it together again. . . . At last I had found one country on earth where simplicity, as natural, is supreme.”
Frank Lloyd Wright, “The New Imperial Hotel,” (1922) in Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, ed., Frank Lloyd Wright Collected Writings (New York: Rizolli, 1992). See also, Kathryn Smith, “Frank Lloyd Wright and the Imperial Hotel: a Postscript,” The Art Bulletin (June 1985), and The Imperial Hotel: The First 100 Years (1890-1990) (Tokyo: Imperial Hotel, 1990).
Julia Bachrach, The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago’s Parks (Chicago: Center Books on American Places, 2001). Bachrach is the resident historian of the Chicago Park District.
See Note 3.
Bachrach, Ibid. Until 1934, the Phoenix Pavilion was under the management of the South Park Commission, which was one of three original park commissions established by the Illinois State Legislature in 1869.
“Lovely Temple of 1893 Fair Being Restored, ”Chicago Daily Tribune, February 18, 1934, p. 7.
See “Renewed Japan Gardens to be Opened July27,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 15, 1935, p. 7.
Ibid.
See undated narrative seven-page typed report maintained in the Chicago Park District Special Archives, which appears to have been written soon after the completion of the Japanese Garden, and describes in detail the newly established garden. Author and date unknown.
On May 23, 1935, Shoji Osato entered a contract approved by the Chicago Park District that provided him the sole and exclusive right to operate concessions, including the sale of Japanese novelties, in the Japanese buildings on the Wooded Island. Among his contractual responsibilities was to provide 24-hour “watchman service” to guard the buildings, and the contents thereof, against vandalism. See “Journal of the Proceedings for Tuesday, May 21, 1935,” Chicago Park District Special Archives. Shoji Osato and S. Nagano are credited with the donation to the Chicago Park District of the Japanese tea house that was installed in the Japanese garden in 1935. The tea house was imported from Japan and exhibited by Japan Central Tea Association at the Century of Progress World’s Fair held in Chicago in 1933 through 1934. See the menu entitled “Japanese Tea Gardens” (c. 1936-41), Chicago Park District Special Archives.
Sono Osato, Distant Dances (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980). Author’s interview with Sono Osato, New York City, November 2012.
After Pearl Harbor was attacked, President Roosevelt signed executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, forcing over 120,000Japanese Americans mainly from California, Oregon and Washington into ten concentration camps. See Alice Murata Ph.D., “Japanese Americans in Chicago” (Chicago: Arcadia Press 2002). For Shoji Osato’s ten-month internment experience in Chicago, see Osato, 198.
“Fire Destroys 1893 Fair Building: 2 Boys Set Fire in Jap Pagoda in Jackson Park,” Chicago Daily Tribune, October 13, 1946, p. 3. The Chicago Park District prepared drawings following the fire to rebuild or commemorate the only building, entitled “Rehabilitation of the Japanese Garden,” which is dated April 20, 1948 and includes there construction of shelter building that echoes the basic shape of the Phoenix Pavilion. A 1957 Chicago Park District Jackson Park survey drawing identifies “Japanese Garden” on the Wooded Island, and shows the ponds in their proper shape. See Chicago Park District, Special Archives. See also, “Famed Japanese Garden Restoration Is Sought,” Chicago Daily Tribune, December 26, 1960, p. W1, which explains the surrounding Hyde Park-Kenwood community proposed restoration.
Beginning in approximately 1977, the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District with community involvement began reviewing the possibilities for reestablishing the Japanese garden and a tea house as part of what became called the Wooded Island Restoration Project. The design and implementation of the first phase of restoration was made possible through grants from the federal, state and city and strong community support, including the Japanese Garden Committee, which was led by Miya Hayashi. See Wooded Island Restoration Project (Chicago: Department of Planning and Community Development,1978); George S. Cooley and Arthur P. Traczyk, Ho-o-den (Chicago: Department of Planning, City and Community Development, 1978); and “Jackson Park’s Wooded Island, Japanese garden to thrive again,” Chicago Tribune, April 12, 1979, p. W2.
Death Notice of Kaneji (Kan) Domoto, New York Times, February10, 2002.
In 1997, the Osaka Garden Steering Committee was established to support the garden, and included numerous organizations, including the Chicago Park District, Chicago Sister Cities International, Friends of the Parks, Jackson Park Advisory Council, University of Illinois Master Gardeners, Museum of Science and Industry, University of Chicago, and Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust. The committee has evolved over the years, and in 2009, the Friends of the Japanese Garden was established as a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit entity to become partners with the Chicago Park District to support the maintenance and development the garden. Over the years, these organizations have worked together to support the Japanese garden in various ways, including running Japanese cultural programs in and around the Japanese garden. See “7,000 Visit the Osaka Garden Fest,” The Chicago Shimpo, September 20, 2002, pp. 1-2.
Through Sadafumi “Sada” Uchiyama’s guidance over the years, we have come to understand and appreciate that caring for a garden is a journey, and a garden is not just a destination. We have learned that this garden, the “Garden of the Phoenix,” is truly a reflection of those who have cared about the U.S.-Japan relationship since the dedication of the Phoenix Pavilion on March 31, 1893.
