Morikami Japanese Gardens

Delray Beach, January 10 - After leaving John Prince Park last Tuesday, we spent the morning at the Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach. Here on the former farm of George Morikama, who originally came from Japan, six separate gardens have been created representing different eras of Japanese horticultural history. The gardens are interconnected by trails and bridges and are laced with ponds. To move along the paths among the exotic plants and settings is to remove yourself from the hectic nature of daily life and settle into peaceful serenity.

We found it interesting that there had been a Japanese colony in nearby Boca Raton in the early 1900s. In 1903, Jo Sakai, a resident of Miyazu, Japan who had just graduated from New York University, founded a small agricultural colony here in south Florida and recruted Japanese countrymen to join the effort. The project thrived for only a few years and most of the residents returned to Japan. By the 1970s, the only remaining Yamato Colony member still living in the area was George Morikama. He donated his Delray Beach farm to Palm Beach County to be preserved as a park and to honor the memory of the Yamato Colony. The gardens and accompanying Japanese museum were constructed after his death in 1976.