The Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden

Between the Main (Gailey) Building and East Wing is our small but valued and loved Japanese Garden with its distinctive toro or Ishidourou , – a type of Japanese stone shrine originally used as devotional votives in a Buddhist shrine and later in time to illuminate the path to the shrine. Various features crop up repeatedly in Japanese gardens including one or more of these stone lanterns. It is believed that these lanterns serve to add to the balance, harmony, and enduring nature of the garden and have become almost iconic in their significance. The light held in the lamp may represent the teachings of the Buddha that help overcome the darkness of ignorance. As such, the lanterns represented important symbolic offerings to the Buddha.