Nitobe Memorial Garden, Japanese garden at University of British Columbia, Canada

Nitobe Memorial Garden is a 2+1⁄2-acre (one hectare) traditional Japanese garden on a right-triangle-shaped site at the University of British Columbia, next to the Asian Centre. It combines a pond-and-stream strolling garden with a tea garden around the tea house Ichibō-an, which has an outer roji with a waiting bench and an inner garden. Lanterns include a snow-viewing lantern and the Nitobe Lantern, carved with a zodiac, chrysanthemums, a dog and an inscription.

A stone memorial to Nitobe Inazo, who died in Victoria in 1933, was erected at UBC by his friends, Vancouver's Japanese community and the Government of Japan, but it was ruined during World War II. The Japan-Canada Society in Tokyo and a Japanese Canadian fundraising campaign paid for the present garden, designed by Kannosuke Mori of Chiba University, who arrived in early 1959 and saw it open in June 1960; it was his last work.

The garden is named after Inazo Nitobe, a Japanese scholar and educator whose legacy is honored through the design of this space. You can observe how plants, pathways, and water features are arranged intentionally to encourage reflection and stillness.

The garden is open year-round with extended hours during warmer months and shorter hours in winter. You can access it easily from the university campus and enjoy a leisurely walk through the grounds following established pathways.

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited in July 2009, while he was still reigning; the sources record the visit but no comment by him on the garden's design. A UBC professor has studied the garden for over fifteen years, arguing its layout hides references to Japanese philosophy and mythology, shadow bridges visible only at certain times of year, and a lantern lit at the exact date and time of Nitobe's death each year.