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“Though less than a quarter mile from downtown Hayward, the Japanese Gardens provide a quiet retreat from urban noise and distractions.
“At 1.5 acres, the gardens are small compared with the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco or Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. But the neatly trimmed gardens contain curving pathways with nooks and crannies perfect for sitting, reading, writing or contemplating.
“ ‘It really is a little jewel, and not everybody knows about it,’ said Dan Giammona, park superintendent for the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District.
“The gardens are in a residential neighborhood, near the Douglas Morrisson Theatre and next to the Hayward Senior Center. The site was used for Hayward Union High School agricultural programs from 1913 until June 1962, and it was acquired by HARD.
“Kimio Kimura, a master gardener from Japan, designed the gardens using the principles of traditional Japanese garden art, combined with native stone and rock and California trees and plantings. The gardens opened in 1977.”
The garden is temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Click here to read the full story by staff writer Rebecca Parr.
Head caretaker at the Japanese Gardens in Hayward, Calif. is Manuel Burciga, 47.If you look real closely, he is in the upper middle of the scene, pruning a Black Pine. He studied with Kimio Kimura, the landscape architect that designed the garden that was opened in January of 1980. Manuel is responisble for keeping the 4,500 trees and scrubs on the one acre site pruned and trimmed. (Jim Stevens/Staff)
Bay Area News Group Archives
Koi swim in the pond at the Japanese Gardens on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013 in Hayward, Calif. (Jim Stevens/Staff)
HAYWARD, CA - DECEMBER 10: A tree displays fall colored leaves at the Japanese Garden in Hayward, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
HAYWARD, CA - DECEMBER 10: A tree displays fall colored leaves as a visitor strolls through the Japanese Garden in Hayward, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
At one end of the Hayward Japanese Gardens is a pond with koi fish and turtles, January 4th, 2018. (Photo by Aubrielle Hvolboll)
A pair of red-eared turtles sun themselves on rocks in the koi pond at the Japanese Gardens on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013 in Hayward, Calif. (Jim Stevens/Staff)
Visitors stroll through the Hayward Area Recreation and Park District's Japanese Garden in Hayward, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 8, 2014. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
Bernice Phelps of Castro Valley, left, along with Georgina McCallum, 3, and her mother, Pam McCullum, both visiting from Michigan, watch the koi fish in the pond at the Japanese Gardens on Monday, Jan. 7, 2013 in Hayward, Calif. (Jim Stevens/Staff)
HAYWARD, CA - DECEMBER 10: Visitors sit at the Japanese Garden in Hayward, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
Head caretaker at the Japanese Gardens in Hayward, Calif. , Manuel Burciga, 47, prunes a Podacarpus tree on Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. He studied with Kimio Kimura, the landscape architect that designed the garden that was opened in January of 1980. Manuel is responisble for keeping the 4,500 trees and scrubs on the one acre site pruned and trimmed. (Jim Stevens/Staff)
Head caretaker at the Japanese Gardens in Hayward, Calif. is Manuel Burciga, 47. He studied with Kimio Kimura, the landscape architect that designed the garden that was opened in January of 1980. Manuel is responsible for keeping the 4,500 trees and scrubs on the one acre site pruned and trimmed. (Jim Stevens/Staff)
Head caretaker at the Japanese Gardens in Hayward, Calif. , Manuel Burciga, 47, prunes a Podacarpus tree on Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. He studied with Kimio Kimura, the landscape architect that designed the garden that was opened in January of 1980. Manuel is responisble for keeping the 4,500 trees and scrubs on the one acre site pruned and trimmed. (Jim Stevens/Staff)
Bradley Yuen, 73, feeds the Koi fish at the Japanese Gardens in Hayward, Calif.on Monday, Sept. 28, 2009. Manuel Burciga, 47, is the head caretaker at the one acre garden that has 4,500 trees and scrubs. (Jim Stevens/Staff)
Head caretaker at the Japanese Gardens in Hayward, Calif. is Manuel Burciga, 47, uses ladder in the water to gain access to some of the trees. He studied with Kimio Kimura, the landscape architect that designed the garden that was opened in January of 1980. Manuel is responisble for keeping the 4,500 trees and scrubs on the one acre site pruned and trimmed. (Jim Stevens/Staff)
