Japanese Teahouse Awaits Huntington Unveiling

After being disassembled, shipped to Japan, restored at the workshop where it was built and sent back to the United States, the ceremonial teahouse donated to the Japanese Garden at the is waiting for its moment to shine.

The LA Times reported that, “As of Tuesday afternoon, the teahouse remained wrapped up, with only its copper roof visible. A bamboo fence encircles it, and a waterfall trickles down one side. … “In the older section of the Japanese Garden, wooden bridges and water structures have been replaced, and the Japanese House is being restored.”

Named Seifu-an, the Arbor of Pure Breeze, the . It was formerly at the Pasadena Buddhist Temple and was donated by the temple for the Huntington’s Japanese Garden, which will re-open to the public April 11 after a year of $6.8 million renovations.

Architect and craftsman Yoshiaki Nakamura restored the teahouse and, in one of those intriguing twists of fate, it turns out that the house was originally built by Nakamura’s father, .

A Japanese-born volunteer docent for the Japanese Garden shared in a Huntington Blogs entry last month that she is particularly excited about the teahouse aspect of the garden and sharing its significance.

Are you going to the opening of the Japanese Garden?