Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, Japanese garden in Bel Air, Los Angeles, US
Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is a 1.5-acre hillside space with stone paths leading to a central koi pond featuring a black pebble beach and traditional stone bridges. The garden uses 400 tons of stones from Santa Paula Canyon to connect different elevation levels throughout the landscape.
Created in 1923 as a Hawaiian garden, the space was redesigned in 1959 by designers Nagao Sakurai and Kazuo Nakamura into a Japanese garden. This transformation established the current layout of pond, bridges, and shrines.
The garden features a Japanese entry gate, a shrine housing a gilt Buddha, and a tea house that visitors encounter along winding paths. These structures create quiet spots for reflection that echo traditional garden design.
The garden can be explored at multiple elevation levels, so visitors should expect varying degrees of difficulty on different paths. The walkways are well-maintained but require some climbing and navigation through different heights of the hillside.
At the garden's highest point sits a traditional hokura shrine housing a hand-carved gilt Buddha that overlooks the entire space below. This elevated shrine offers visitors a special vantage point and a place for quiet reflection.
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