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CK Garden Club meets landscape architect, Sadafumi Uchiyama

11/14/2025

The creation of the New Entrance Garden is the second phase of the multi-phase Cranbrook Japanese Garden Master Plan created by renowned Landscape Architect, and Curator Emeritus of the Portland Japanese Garden, Sadafumi (Sada) Uchiyama. The first phase was completed with the rejuvenation of the Lily Pond Cascade in 2018. The New Entrance Garden features an azumaya pavilion, a new pathway with stone steps leading down into the garden where the original Kasuga Lantern is located, and a long wooden bench inspired by the Ryōanji stone garden in Kyoto.

After four months of construction, an informal ribbon cutting was held in the Cranbrook Japanese Garden to celebrate the completion of this phase and this special moment in Cranbrook's history. Sada, here from Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan, joined in the ribbon cutting alongside lead patrons for the project, Lois and Thomas Booth. Mr. Booth is the great-grandson of George and Ellen Booth and the great-great-grandson of Henry Wood Booth, who Cranbrook credits with starting the Japanese Garden in 1915.

In the true Cranbrook Schools spirit of outdoor experiential and place-based learning, the CK Upper School Garden Club joined in the celebration. Rebecca Daryl Smith, Head of Weaving, Fashion Design, and Fiber Arts and Advisor to the Cranbrook Kingwood Garden Club shared comments from the students about their experience:

“As I walked around, I was listening to people share their memories of times in the garden. It was great to see how the community is brought together through shared space!”
“The architect, Sada, is really cool! I appreciate how he pointed out details in the space and discussed the pruning process like a watercolor painting; you have to complete an entire ‘wash’ within the time you have. You don’t approach it in sections, but as an entire work of art.”
“As a Cranbrook ‘lifer’ I was flooded with nostalgia!
“The garden felt like home.”

The opportunity for the CK Garden Club to meet and hear directly from Sada about his master plan for the Cranbrook Japanese Garden served as a valuable learning opportunity — teaching them about the thoughtful planning and attention to detail required in the preservation of a historic garden.

The New Entrance Garden will open in late November once stone paving on the upper terrace and around the new azumaya (covered viewing pavilion) is completed. A walk thru the garden in winter is always a delight but be sure to visit next spring and summer to see it in bloom!

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