Japanese Garden of Peace

Found deep within the heart of Texas Hill Country is a peaceful Japanese flora and rock garden available to visitors for the enjoyment of its beauty and serenity. Little known to those who enter is the complex history responsible for its existence. Woven together throughout the property is a display dedicated to two Naval war heroes: the United States Admiral Chester Nimitz and Japanese Marshal-Admiral the Marquis Tōgō Heihachirō. Visible to all is the beauty of the two worlds as they combine their architecture and cultures in an expression of desired peace between nations.

The German heritage city of Fredericksburg, Texas, where the National Museum of the Pacific War resides, facilitates a campus exhibiting battlefield artifacts, memorials, a stage for combat reenactments, and the Garden of Peace, a Japanese garden. The intimacy of this vista inside this war complex against the Texas backdrop on the surface is perplexing. A small amount of text on the property explains that the garden exists as a symbol of friendship, but its surroundings contradict this story. Why then is it here, in Texas, roughly 1,200 miles away from the Pacific Coast?

Nestled within the original exterior retaining rock wall of the Admiral Nimitz Gallery, the Garden of Peace was officially opened and dedicated on May 8, 1976, the 130th founding of the German Texas Hill Country city Fredericksburg, and was as a special project of the American Bicentennial. Designed by architectural designer Taketora Saita, the garden contains a 360 square foot replica of Marshal-Admiral the Marquis Togo Heihachiro’s study at his home in Maizuru City, Japan. Sourcing rocks, trees, and plants locally in Texas, Saita designed the garden using two distinct Japanese garden styles. Situated on the north end of the site, the craftsman referenced Togo's home garden, a traditional Japanese style, along with its waterfall and pond, for reproduction in the small space beside the replica Togo study. The small building gazes south towards the rear of the Nimitz Gallery. Between them lay a stone garden, symbolic of the "expansive and infinite [Pacific] ocean." Strewn among this sea of water-worn white pebbles, the placement of large rocks represent the Pacific islands. According to descriptions in the local press, Saita explained that coupling the two garden styles "gives rhythm and tempo by aligning immutable stones against fresh and bright greens for a background and lends harmony to the plan and to the space." When asked about his vision for the garden, the designer said, "...careful attention has been given to making you feel an Oriental mood and presenting genuine objects refined by the unique Japanese traditions."

However, the prospective concept of the museum grounds developed in 1971 did not include plans for a Japanese garden as its focus was upon a flower and vegetable garden. Born from the conviction of a local group of Fredericksburg citizens and the city's Chamber of Commerce in 1963, the Admiral Nimitz Museum operated a few years before struggling to maintain operations. Ownership of the museum was transferred to the state, rendered an agency in 1970, and then administered by a commission established by the 61st Texas legislature. The commission's original development plan presented a holistic vision for the museum that incorporated each component of the original property (hotel, ballroom, saloon, garden, outdoor structures). It also specified how it should function, stressing the importance of recreating the period style and 1890's atmosphere in which the young Nimitz matured. Threading this authentic experience of the historic traveler's rest stop throughout the facility, the concept not only paid particular attention to decorative details but also included the casting of "real characters" to entertain guests with stories of bygone days. An article at the time boasts of the design, "The visitor will feel a wave of nostalgia, for life was quiet and reasonable in this day." In this regard, the proposed 1971 design is vaguely reminiscent of the cultural and spiritual affinity for cultivating tranquility found in Japanese gardens, yet not entirely a direct correlation. According to Sakuteiki, the oldest published Japanese text on gardening, "There is no need to include extraneous things." Limited sources reveal when or why the modifications to the original garden plan changed. However, a 1980 Texas Legislature Sunset Commission report acknowledges that two separate modifications, once in 1972 and again in 1977, were made since the master plan's origination. Given the dates of the proposed concept and the installation of the Garden of Peace, the possibility exists that the first modification included the new vision for the natural space.

Though no longer in office in 1971, President Lyndon B. Johnson had always favored the museum and committed to aid in its development. "We are going to do all in our power to make this one of the finest museums in the country," he said in an address at a banquet in the Texas city. The project was of personal interest. Johnson served briefly as a lieutenant commander under Nimitz during the war. Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chief of Naval Operations under Johnson, received a request from the President to assist in making the museum's plans become a reality. Moorer wrote his Japanese Naval colleagues to ask for their cooperation. This request garnered enthusiasm as Admiral Nimitz had engendered the utmost respect from the Japanese. Nimitz, an admirer of Japanese Naval hero Admiral Heihachiro Togo, marched in a 1934 funeral procession, played a significant role in restoring the Russo-Japanese veteran's flagship Mikasa, and contributed to the reconstruction of the Togo Shrine that found destruction during the Second World War. Keen on expressing their gratitude for Nimitz's display of respect, the Japanese commission then raised $83,366 (25 million yen) from the citizens of Japan to fund the garden. Artisans used the money to construct a replica of Togo's study on the island, dismantle it, bring it stateside to reconstruct it along with the build-out of the garden.

Altogether, the Garden of Peace enhances the landscape on the grounds of the historic Nimitz Hotel and Stagecoach Stop, the Fleet Admiral's childhood home. Organized by a committee of Japanese retired admirals, the garden finds its dedication in the great "friendship" of two war heroes.

(edited by Laura Bailey)

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