Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, California, is an 18-acre traditional Japanese garden begun in 1915 as the summer retreat of Oliver and Isabel Stine and developed over more than a decade with Japanese designers and builders. Inspired by Isabel Stine’s travels to Japan, the site grew into one of the oldest Japanese-style residential gardens in the Western Hemisphere, with its Hill and Pond, Zen, Tea, and later Bamboo gardens, along with distinctive historic buildings. It also became a cultural venue, hosting the West Coast premiere of Madama Butterfly in 1923. Saved from neglect and redevelopment in the 1960s, it remains a public site of restoration and cross-cultural exchange.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain