ISAMU TANIGUCHI
Isamu Taniguchi was born in Osaka, Japan, and by the age of 16 he
was raising bonsai. He migrated to Stockton, California in 1915
where he continued to farm for many years during which time he
returned to Japan only once--to marry his childhood sweetheart.
During World War II, he and his family were placed in a detainment
camp for Japanese Americans. After the war he moved his family to
the Rio Grande Valley where he continued to raise vegetables and
cotton, but always made room for some flowers. He sent his two sons,
Alan and Isumu, to the University of Texas at Austin. It was Alan
who convinced his father to move to Austin upon his retirement in
1967.
Taniguchi wanted to give the city of Austin a gift of an oriental
garden. It would be his gesture of gratitude to the city that had
provided an education for his two sons. The Parks and Recreation
Department in conjunction with the Austin Area Garden Council agreed
that such a generous gift could not be ignored. There was no
contract, no design, and no blueprints of any kind because--as
Taniguchi explains--gardens are not created by such methods.
Instead, the plans for the Oriental Gardens existed only in
Taniguchi's mind, in his soul and in his heart. He died in 1992.
Isamu Taniguchi was born in Osaka, Japan, and by the age of 16 he
was raising bonsai. He migrated to Stockton, California in 1915
where he continued to farm for many years during which time he
returned to Japan only once--to marry his childhood sweetheart.
During World War II, he and his family were placed in a detainment
camp for Japanese Americans. After the war he moved his family to
the Rio Grande Valley where he continued to raise vegetables and
cotton, but always made room for some flowers. He sent his two sons,
Alan and Isumu, to the University of Texas at Austin. It was Alan
who convinced his father to move to Austin upon his retirement in
1967.
Taniguchi wanted to give the city of Austin a gift of an oriental
garden. It would be his gesture of gratitude to the city that had
provided an education for his two sons. The Parks and Recreation
Department in conjunction with the Austin Area Garden Council agreed
that such a generous gift could not be ignored. There was no
contract, no design, and no blueprints of any kind because--as
Taniguchi explains--gardens are not created by such methods.
Instead, the plans for the Oriental Gardens existed only in
Taniguchi's mind, in his soul and in his heart. He died in 1992.