Bringing communities together in Japanese gardens to promote peace
Join our September 19th webinar to learn about this year’s amazing projects, hear from Dr. Kendall Brown about how gardens have been symbols of peace and learn about Rake Day.
GARDENS FOR PEACE IS SUPPORTED BY
G4P is for Peace
Gardens for Peace (G4P) is a NAJGA project that brings communities together in Japanese gardens to promote peace. This year activities at participating gardens will take place during the months of August and September.
Join the G4P project to use your garden as a conduit for peace, and involve the community around you!
G4P is for Community
Through the warm inclusion of community organizations in this project, the North American Japanese Garden Association aims to bring Japanese Gardens and local community members together through G4P to inspire inner peace by connecting with others around us who are working towards peace.
G4P is for Exploration
G4P exists to encourage the exploration of Japanese arts and culture firsthand through the common theme of promoting peace, a long-time thread in Japanese Gardens historically. NAJGA aims to continue expanding the scope of our project and encourage even more gardens and communities to explore Japanese arts and culture for the purpose of peace together.
Join us on September 19th via Zoom
and participate in Rake Day!
What is Gardens for Peace?
Gardens for Peace (G4P) is an annual NAJGA event. It brings communities together in Japanese gardens, both public and private, to promote peace.
G4P’s precursor, Patterns for Peace, brought together five karesansui gardens in 2020. The gardens raked a peace pattern designed by Hiroshima-based artist, Toshiko Tanaka, a peace activist and A-bomb survivor. Her pattern represents “heiwa”, or peace in Japanese.
This peace pattern is raked into dry gardens to promote peace and involve the community. Gardens that do not have a dry garden join in in other creative ways!
How Can I Participate?
Participation is easy! To join us, select an activity and complete the application here.
All G4P activities take place during the months of August and September. We ask gardens to share their projects via photo or video footage for a culminating event held via Zoom on September 19th, 2023. This year we are also partnering with Longue Vue on Rake Day 2023 to put down leaf blowers on September 19th.
2023 Participating Gardens
*Click on the garden’s name to visit their website
Amorim Residential Garden
Anderson Japanese Gardens
Chicago Botanic Garden
Cleveland Botanical Garden
Descanso Gardens
Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden
The Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park
Fort Worth Botanic Garden
Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden
Harn Museum of Art
Hikaru Mizu at Four Rivers Cultural Center
Innisfree Garden
Japan House Gardens, University of Illinois
Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum
Japanese Friendship Garden of Phoenix
Kubota Garden
Marian University Japanese Garden
Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens
Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden
Normandale Japanese Garden
Robles Residential Garden
Shinzen Friendship Garden
ShōKōga-en
Sister Mary Grace Burns Arboretum of Georgian Court University
Towson University Asian Arts & Culture Center Asian Garden
UMW’s “Little Sun” Zen Garden
Yume Japanese Gardens of Tucson