Shofuso Japanese House and Garden facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Japanese House |
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Bright blue sky over the Japanese House.
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| Alternative names | Shofuso |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Shoin-Zukuri (17th Century) |
| Address | Horticultural and Lansdowne Drs. West Fairmount Park |
| Town or city | Philadelphia |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 39°58′53″N 75°12′47″W / 39.9814°N 75.213°W |
| Opened | 1954 |
| Relocated | 1958 |
| Renovated | 1976 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Junzo Yoshimura |
| Other designers | Heizaemon Ito, 11th (Master carpenter) |
Shofuso (which means "Pine Breeze Villa" in Japanese), also known as the Japanese House and Garden, is a special traditional Japanese house and garden. It's built in a 17th-century style and is located in West Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. This beautiful place is open to the public and welcomes over 30,000 visitors every year for tours.
Shofuso was built in 1953 as a gift from Japan to the people of America. It was a symbol of peace and friendship after World War II. The house was made using traditional Japanese building methods and materials brought from Japan. It was first shown in the courtyard of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. After two years, it was moved to Philadelphia and rebuilt in 1958. In 1976, Japanese artists helped restore it for America's 200th birthday celebration. Later, in 2007, a modern Japanese artist named Hiroshi Senju created and gave 20 amazing waterfall paintings for the inside of the house.
The city of Philadelphia owns Shofuso. A private group called the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia takes care of it, making sure it stays beautiful and open for everyone to enjoy.
Contents
How Shofuso Came to Be
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York had a series of "House in the Garden" exhibits. They wanted to show how modern Western houses were similar to traditional Japanese homes. So, they decided to build a Japanese house for their third exhibit.
John D. Rockefeller III, who led the Japan Society (New York), and MoMA's curator, Arthur Drexler, went to Japan in 1953. They asked Japanese business leaders for help with the project. The Japan-America Society (JAS) agreed to support it. They decided the house should be a gift from Japan to the American people. This gift would help share Japanese culture. Many companies and people in Japan gave money to make this happen. Japan's National Forestry Agency even gave special permission to use "hinoki" cypress wood, which was hard to get.
A special committee chose a 17th-century style house called shoin-zukuri. This style best showed traditional Japanese architecture. They picked Junzo Yoshimura to design the house. He was a well-known architect. The 11th-generation master carpenter, Heizaemon Ito, was chosen to lead the building work. His family had been master carpenters for the Tokugawa family, who ruled Japan for a long time.
Shofuso at MoMA
Building the house started in January 1953 in Japan. It was finished a year later. The builders used traditional Japanese methods, which means they used very few nails. Instead, they fit pieces of wood together using special joints and hand tools. After it was built, the house was taken apart and shipped to New York.
Architect Yoshimura and his team came to New York in March 1954. They rebuilt the house by mid-June with help from carpenters from Hawaii. The house opened to the public on June 19, 1954. Even the Japanese Prime Minister, Shigeru Yoshida, visited Shofuso. People in America loved the house's natural wood, simple design, and flexible layout. The exhibit closed in October 1955. Almost a quarter of a million people visited it, which was a huge success!
The Old Temple Gate
Before Shofuso was built in Philadelphia, there was an old Japanese building called the Nio-Mon Temple Gate in Fairmount Park. This gate was built around 1600 in Japan. It was first shown at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. After the fair, it was bought and moved to Fairmount Park. People also called it the "Japanese Pagoda." A Japanese garden and lotus pond were added around it in 1909.
Sadly, a fire completely destroyed the Temple Gate on May 6, 1955. This event, though sad, created the perfect spot for Shofuso to be rebuilt.
Moving to Philadelphia
Many people asked if Shofuso could stay open permanently after its exhibit at MoMA. It was decided that Shofuso would be given as a gift to the Fairmount Park Commission in Philadelphia. This was a good idea because there was already a Japanese garden in the park.
In 1958, the carpenter, Okumura, and the gardener, Sano, who had built Shofuso at MoMA, came back from Japan. They rebuilt Shofuso in its new home. Shofuso opened to the public in Philadelphia on October 19, 1958.
Over time, Shofuso started to show wear and tear because it needed repairs. In 1975, Philadelphia's Mayor Frank Rizzo asked Japan if they could help restore Shofuso for the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration. The Japan-America Society raised money to fully restore the house and garden in June 1976. To keep Shofuso in good shape, a non-profit group called "Friends of the Japanese House & Garden" was started in 1982. This group managed Shofuso until 2016, when it joined with the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia.
Amazing Waterfall Murals
When Shofuso was at MoMA, its special alcove (called a tokonoma) and sliding doors (called fusuma) had murals painted by Kaii Higashiyama. Sadly, these were destroyed by vandals. In 2003, a famous Japanese painter named Hiroshi Senju offered to give 20 new murals to Shofuso.
Senju's murals show beautiful waterfalls. He even created a special "Shofuso color" by mixing colors from the house and garden. The paintings were made on special mulberry paper by a master paper maker.
Shofuso is the first and only place in the United States to have modern Japanese art inside a traditional Japanese house. The City of Philadelphia celebrated Senju's murals on April 27, 2007. Mayor John F. Street even declared April 27 "Senju Day"!
Shofuso's Design
Shofuso was designed to look like a guest house built in 1601 in Japan. This guest house had all the main parts of shoin-zukuri architecture. These parts include a built-in desk, staggered shelves, a special alcove (toko-no-ma), and an ornamental doorway. The house was built using a set of rules that made sure all parts of the building fit together perfectly. This helped carpenters create a beautiful and balanced house.
Architect Yoshimura changed the original design a little to fit the MoMA courtyard. He added a kitchen, bathroom, and a tea house to make it a working home. He didn't just copy the old house. Instead, he created a design that would help Americans understand traditional Japanese architecture. The tea house part was inspired by a famous tea house in Kyoto, Japan.
The Beautiful Garden
| Shofuso's garden | |
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Bright haze looking at the waterfall from the Tea Garden
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| Location | Horticultural and Lansdowne Drs. West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, United States |
| Area | 1.2 acres |
| Created | 1958 |
| Designer | Tansai Sano |
| Operated by | Friends of the Japanese House and Garden |
| Visitors | 18,000 |
| Open | April through October |
| Designation | National Register of Historic Places |
The garden at Shofuso was designed by Tansai Sano. He was a landscape architect from Kyoto, Japan. His family had taken care of the famous dry garden at Ryoan-ji temple for many generations. Eighty large stones for the garden were shipped all the way from an old temple in central Japan.
The original Japanese garden in Fairmount Park was built in 1909. When Shofuso moved to Philadelphia in 1957, Tansai Sano changed the garden design. He added a waterfall and new plants. In 1976, during a big restoration, Ken Nakajima made more changes, including adding a small hill. The Journal of Japanese Gardening has named Shofuso one of the top Japanese gardens in North America many times!
See also
In Spanish: Casa y jardín japonés Shofuso para niños
- List of houses in Fairmount Park
- List of Japanese gardens in the United States
- Philadelphia Register of Historic Places
