San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens

Infobox_nrhp | name = Chinese Sunken Garden Gate


caption = Chinese Tea Gardens entrance
location = Brackenridge Park, 400 N. St. Mary's St.
San Antonio, Texas, USA
nearest_city =
lat_degrees = 29
lat_minutes = 27
lat_seconds = 40
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 98
long_minutes = 28
long_seconds = 36
long_direction = W
built = 1899
architect=
added = October 22, 2004
refnum=
mpsub=Sculpture by Dionicio Rodriguez in Texas MPS
governing_body =

The San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens (also known as the Sunken Gardens) is a registered Texas historical landmark in San Antonio, Texas. The gardens opened in an abandoned limestone rock quarry in the early 20th century.

History

The San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens (also known as the Sunken Gardens) in the U.S. state of Texas were developed on land donated by George W. Brackenridge, president of the San Antonio Water Works Company, to the City in 1899. The ground was first broken around 1840 by German masons, who used the readily accessible limestone to supply the construction market. Many San Antonio buildings, including the Menger Hotel, were built with the stone from this quarry on the Rock Quarry Road.

In 1880 the Alamo Cement Company was incorporated and produced cement for 26 years in the kiln, the chimney of which still stands today. Supporting the workforce of the quarry was a small "village", populated primarily by Mexican-Americans who worked the site. They and their families became popular with tourists, who purchased pottery, hand woven baskets, and food.

About 1917, City Parks Commissioner Ray Lambert visualized an oriental-style garden in the pit of the quarry. His engineer, W.S. Delery, developed plans, but no work began until individual and private donors provided funds in 1918. Lambert used prison labor to shape the quarry into a complex that included walkways, stone arch bridges, an island and a Japanese pagoda.

At the entrance to the gardens, Mexican-born artist Dionicio Rodriguez (1891-1955) replicated a Japanese Torii gate in his unique style of concrete construction that imitated wood. In 1919, at the city's invitation, Kimi Eizo Jingu, a local Japanese-American artist, moved to the garden. In 1926, they opened the Bamboo Room, where light lunches and tea were sold. Kimi and Miyoshi Jingu maintained the gardens, lived in the park, and raised eight children. Kimi was a representative of the Shizuoka Tea Association and was considered an expert in the tea business nationally. He died in 1938, and 1941 the family was evicted with the rise of anti-Japanese sentiment of World War II.

The gardens were renamed the Chinese Tea Gardens, and a Chinese-American family, Ted and Ester Wu, opened a snack bar in the pagoda until the early 1960s. In 1984, under the direction of Mayor Henry Cisneros, the city restored the original “Japanese Tea Garden” designation in a ceremony attended by Jingu's children and representatives of the Japanese government.

Renovation

For years the gardens sat in neglect and disrepair, becoming a target of graffiti and vandalism. Due to limited funding, the city threatened to close the gardens. Community and Parks supporters rallied, and lobbied to keep the park open.

In 2005, the city used about $550,000 in bond money to reroof the pagoda-like Pavilion and the Jingu House.

In 2007, former Councilwoman Bonnie Conner, vice chairwoman of parks projects for the San Antonio Parks Foundation and former Mayor Lila Cockrell, parks foundation president, began a $1.6 million restoration campaign. For the public re-opening on March 8 2008, Jingu family members returned to San Antonio. Mabel Yoshiko Jingu Enkoji, the sixth child of Kimi and Miyoshi Jingu, who was born at the Gardens, was the senior Jingu family member at the event.

In recognition of the Tea Garden's origin as a rock quarry that played a prominent role in the development of the cement business, as well as its later redevelopment as a garden, the site is designated as a Texas Civil Engineering Landmark, a Registered Texas Historic Landmark, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Sunken Garden amphitheater is located adjacent to the south. It currently comprises 872 permanently installed seats and has the option of adding folding chairs for a total general admittance of 2,700. The general admittance (standing room) to the fenced grounds of the theater is 6,000 spectators. The Parks and Recreation Department’s Cultural Program assumed management of the theater in the early 1970s.

Location

Northwestern edge of Brackenridge Park, near the San Antonio Zoo:

:3853 N. St. Mary's Street:San Antonio, Texas 78212

=

See also

*Japanese garden
*Japanese culture

References

*Walls, Thomas K. The Japanese Texans. University of Texas. Institute of Texan Cultures. San Antonio, 2002. ISBN 0-86701-021-5. [http://www.texancultures.utsa.edu/txtext/japanese/htms/8c.htm]
*City of San Antonio Department of Parks. History of Japanese Tea Garden Rededication Ceremony program, Oct 12, 1984.
*Interview with Mabel Yoshiko Enkoji Jingu, by Michael Nishimuta, at Institute of Texan Culture, March 7 2008.

Further reading

* [http://www.texasalmanac.com/culture/groups/japanese.html Texas Almanac: Japanese-Texans]

External links

* [http://www.sanantonio.gov/sapar/japanhis.asp? City of San Antonio Parks & Recreation Department] A History of the Japanese Tea Garden Online
* [http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/common/viewform.asp?atlas_num=2004001167&site_name=Chinese%20Sunken%20Garden%20Gate&class=2001 Listing in Texas Historical Commission] Source Listing of the gardens by the THC
* [http://jas-sa.org/Russell_EN_Column.pdf Russell, Jan Jarboe. Return to Glory? "San Antonio Express-News". Oct 24, 2004] San Antonio columnist describes history of gardens
* [http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/feature/hispanic/2001/rodriguez.htm Arkansas Sculptures of Dionicio Rodriguez] The Artist who designed the entrance gate
* [http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/RR/frouw.html Handbook of Texas Online] Article describing Dionicio Rodriguez
* [http://www.sanantonio.gov/sapar/sunkenhis.asp? City of San Antonio Parks & Recreation Department] Sunken Garden Theater History Online