The Huntington Adds A Major Attraction To Its Japanese Garden, Opening Saturday, Oct. 21
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The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Garden has a new attraction that brings the essence of a 17th-century farming village to San Marino.
Shobha, known as the Japanese Heritage House, will open its doors to the public on Saturday, October 21.
The house was built around 1700 in the city of Marugama in western Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. According to Huntington garden curator and program director Robert Hora, Showa was the leader of the village.
"Showa Japanese Heritage House takes visitors back in time," he said in a telephone interview. "The rural village we built has a house, a wall, a gate, and a paddy field to build it on."
The Huntington's Show Japan House will be on display in San Marino on Friday, October 13, 2023. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by Japanese craftsmen and local construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Huntington's Show Japan House will be on display in San Marino on Friday, October 13, 2023. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by Japanese craftsmen and local construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Huntington's Show Japan House will be on display in San Marino on Friday, October 13, 2023. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by Japanese craftsmen and local construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Huntington's Show Japan House will be on display in San Marino on Friday, October 13, 2023. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by Japanese craftsmen and local construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A renovated aquarium is seen Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at Showa House, the Japanese heritage of the Huntington in San Marino. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by local Japanese craftsmen and construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A woman walks out the back door of a Huntington Show home where a crop of cosmos covers is blooming, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, in San Marino. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by local Japanese craftsmen and construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Japanese planes are used for carving and smoothing wood at the Showa Japanese Heritage House in Huntington, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, in San Marino. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by local Japanese craftsmen and construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Huntington's Show Japan House will be on display in San Marino on Friday, October 13, 2023. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by Japanese craftsmen and local construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Japanese farmers use composting toilets as part of their sustainable village, seen Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at Showa Japanese Heritage House in Huntington, San Marino. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by local Japanese craftsmen and construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A woman looks at Showa Japanese House on the Huntington in San Marino, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by local Japanese craftsmen and construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Huntington's Show Japan House will be on display in San Marino on Friday, October 13, 2023. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by Japanese craftsmen and local construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Jana Monji of Torrance on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, at Showa Japanese Heritage Huntington in San Marino. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by local Japanese craftsmen and construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The Huntington's Show Japan House will be on display in San Marino on Friday, October 13, 2023. The historic 320-year-old family home, located in a small farming community, was donated by Los Angeles residents Yoko and Akira Yokoi and has been restored since 2019 by Japanese craftsmen and local construction workers. (Photo by Sarah Ringwartz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
The project is an addition to the nine-acre Japanese Railroad Garden built by Henry Huntington on the property in 1912.
The Japanese Garden Teahouse and Moon Bridge are among Huntington's top attractions, along with paintings of Pinkie and the Boy in Blue, Gutenberg's Bible and Shakespeare's first volume.
The Japanese Garden has always had a Japanese house, but the structure that Henry Huntington put up, although it was built in Japan, was not a residence at all, Huntington President Karen R.
"It's totally different. It's the real deal."
Showa House takes Japanese gardening in a new direction. A new 2-acre site is opening to visitors in 2020 as part of a major expansion of the 207-acre site between the original Japanese garden and the Chinese garden.
The 3,000 square foot building has been in the Yokoi family for centuries. Los Angeles resident Akira Yokoi, a 19th-generation descendant, and his wife, Yoko, proposed to Huntington in 2016, according to a press release.
In the 17th century, the house served as a public space for both civic affairs and private residences, Horry explained.
Making connections has been a seven-year project and is still ongoing Japanese workers dismantled the house in San Marino and spent years putting it back together. It covers two acres and has the present gate which houses offices and public toilets.
In addition to rice, Huntington planted other crops in his yard, including sorghum and kidney beans. There is also a garden. But some plants attract rabbits.
The paddy fields will help show visitors sustainable agriculture, Hori said.
"Cereals and rice are seasonal indicators, so you'll see changes in location throughout the year from early spring planting to fall," he explained. “You see the end of the plants. We are ready to harvest.
According to The Huntington's website, the project cost $10.2 million in philanthropic support.
Huntington
Where: 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino.
Opening hours: Wednesday to Monday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm; Closed on Tuesdays.
Admission: $25 to $29 for adults; $21 to $24 for military personnel, 65 and older, and students ages 12 to 18
Info : Huntington.org
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