Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, Art museum and Japanese gardens in Delray Beach, Florida.
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is an estate with art galleries and traditional gardens in Delray Beach, Florida. The grounds cover two museum buildings, six separate garden areas, a bonsai collection, a library, a shop, and a café.
George Morikami, a native of Miyazu, Japan, and the last member of the Yamato Colony to remain in Delray Beach after World War II, offered his land to the City of Delray Beach, which declined it. He then gave 160 of his 200 acres to Palm Beach County, asking that it become a park preserving the memory of the Yamato Colony. He died on February 29, 1976, at age 89, and the county opened Yamato-kan and Morikami Park in 1977.
The estate honors a farmer from Japan who once grew crops here and later left his land to create this meeting place for two cultures. Visitors today walk through a setting where garden design and exhibition rooms show how people in Japan connect nature and art in daily life.
The site opens Tuesday through Sunday from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, with entry tickets costing between 10 dollars for children and 16 dollars for adults. Paths lead through all garden sections, and a small restaurant serves dishes with Japanese influence.
The six garden layouts each follow a different style from Japanese history, and one shows a dry stone garden with fine gravel for meditation. Some paths cross small wooden bridges and pass ponds with koi carp that shimmer in different colors.
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