Excerpt from
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Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre Ikeda Tower and Garden
6 Garamond Court
Look up! The Sid and Marie Ikeda Tower was erected in 1998 when the JCCC moved to its current location at 6 Garamond Court. It acts as a welcoming beacon to the community and has become one of the JCCC’s signature architectural features. It was designed, in the style of a Japanese andon lantern, by Bruce Kuwabara of KPMB Architects.
As you walk under the tower and closer to the JCCC’s main entrance, on either side of the walkway you find the Ijusha Garden, named in honour of the post-war new immigrant community. This traditional Japanese landscape garden was officially opened in June 1999 by Prince and Princess Hitachi-no-Miya of Japan. It was designed by landscape architect Scott Yonezo Fujita, who first trained in Japan and then received his Canadian credentials at the Ryerson Institute of Technology.
Shin-ijusha is the Japanese word for Japanese immigrants who arrived in Canada after WWII. Fujita-san, through his design and building of this garden, sought to bring the established pre-war Japanese Canadians and the Shin-ijusha communities together to celebrate their common heritage. About 70 children from four different Japanese language schools of Ijusha families volunteered to plant boxwoods in the garden.
On both sides of the garden, you will see Japanese flowering cherry trees. Stepping onto the central sidewalk is like strolling through a landscape in Japan. The garden evokes images of the mountains and seas of Japan. Pine trees shaped like bonsai as aged, large rocks, raked gravel and other trees and bushes are strategically placed after much consideration to create that impression. Textures of hard and soft, large trees and small shrubs, subtle colours in varying shades of green, strong lines and shapes contrasting with more diffuse backgrounds– these elements are all carefully chosen and placed to create a natural harmony. Drawing from traditional Japanese garden elements, there are bamboo fences and a large stone lantern. As the garden is a living installation, it is always evolving and requires constant maintenance. Left to nature, the plants would overgrow and lose their form, weeds would take over and the tranquillity, balance and harmony of the garden would be lost. Today, the Toronto Japanese Garden Club and volunteers tend the gardens.
