Gardens for Peace at BBG
As part of the North American Japanese Garden Association’s annual Gardens for Peace project, which brings communities together in Japanese gardens to promote peace, Brooklyn Botanic Garden is presenting free public programming in and around the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden.
Gardens for Peace
Saturday, September 6, 2025 | 11:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.
Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden – 990 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn
Free with Garden Admission: $24.22 | $17.52 Seniors and Students | Free for Children under 12
As part of the North American Japanese Garden Association’s annual Gardens for Peace project, which brings communities together in Japanese gardens to promote peace, Brooklyn Botanic Garden is presenting free public programming in and around the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden.
Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden | Photo from bbg.org
Related Activities
Japanese Garden Mini Tours
Tours run every fifteen minutes between 11:00 a.m. and noon
Meet at Duck Landing, next to Viewing Pavilion.
Enjoy a peaceful stroll through one of BBG’s best-known specialty gardens. These 15-minute tours highlight the Japanese garden elements in this historic garden designed by Takeo Shiota in 1914.
Drop-in Japanese Woodblock Printing
From noon until 2:00 p.m. at the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden Viewing Pavilion
Try your hand at woodblock printing with Sato Yamamoto, a Japanese artist inspired by culture and diversity. Choose from patterns by Sato or the Gardens for Peace pattern, designed by Toshiko Tanaka, an A-bomb survivor and advocate for world peace.
Gardens for Peace pattern, designed by Toshiko Tanaka, an A-bomb survivor and advocate for world peace
Shamisen Variation
At noon at the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden Viewing Pavilion
Enjoy a relaxing traditional Japanese shamisen variation.
Koto Performance
1:00 p.m. at the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden Viewing Pavilion
Stroll the Japanese Garden paths as you listen to a traditional style koto performance.
Bonsai Mini Drop-In Tours
1:00 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. at the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum
Drop by to talk with trained Garden Guides about BBG’s bonsai collection, view season standouts, and ask questions. Get hands-on at the special interactive station featuring tools, pots, and trees from BBG’s Education collection.
Details
Gardens for Peace is free with admission to Brooklyn Botanic Garden. No registration is necessary to join the activities. To purchase tickets, please visit BBG’s website. Tours can be canceled due to inclement weather, so check BBG’s website for updates.
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BBG TO HOST GARDENS FOR PEACE
Gardens for Peace
Sunday, September 8 from noon until 1:00 p.m.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden – 990 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn
Admission: $22 Adults | $16 Seniors & Students | Free to members & children under 12
As part of the North American Japanese Garden Association’s annual Gardens for Peace project, which brings communities together in Japanese gardens to promote peace, Brooklyn Botanic Garden is presenting free public programming in and around its iconic Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden.
Stop by for free tours of the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden and a drop-in Japanese woodblock printing workshop with Sato Yamamoto.
The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Photo by Michael Stewart.
Japanese Garden Mini Tours
Tours run every five minutes between noon and 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 8.
Meet at Duck Landing, next to Viewing Pavilion.
Enjoy a peaceful stroll through one of BBG’s best-known specialty gardens. These 20-minute tours highlight the Japanese garden elements in this historic garden designed by Takeo Shiota in 1914.
Drop-in Japanese Woodblock Printing
Stop by from noon until 2:00 p.m. at the Japanese Garden Viewing Pavilion
Try your hand at woodblock printing with Sato Yamamoto, a Japanese artist inspired by culture and diversity. Choose the Gardens for Peace pattern or other patterns by Sato and create your own print.
Gardens for Peace is free with admission to Brooklyn Botanic Garden. No registration is necessary to join the tour. To purchase tickets, please visit BBG’s website. Tours can be canceled due to inclement weather, so check BBG’s website for updates.
Support JapanCulture•NYC by becoming a member! For $5 a month, you’ll help maintain the high quality of our site while we continue to showcase and promote the activities of our vibrant community. Please click here to begin your membership today!
TEA CEREMONY DEMOS AT THE MET
Tea Ceremony Demonstrations
Tuesday, September 26 at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art – 1000 Fifth Avenue
Free with Museum Admission
Instructors from the Urasenke Chanoyu Center will demonstrate a traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. There will be two sessions, one at 11:30 a.m. and one at 1:30 p.m. Each session will last one hour.
The demonstrations will take place in Gallery 209, The Astor Forecourt. For more information, please visit The Met’s website.
Set of Utensils for the Tea Ceremony, Kubo Shunman 窪俊満 (Japanese, 1757–1820)
Image: Kubo Shunman (1757–1820), Set of Utensils for the Tea Ceremony, Japan, Edo period (1615–1868), 1810s. Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper. H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (JP1974)
“Surimono” is a style of woodblock print that were produced in small quantities and particularly for private commissions. In this elegant still-life surimono by writer and artist Kubo Shunman, New Year’s tea ceremony utensils are arrayed with a branch of camellia, a flower associated with the end of winter and beginning of spring according to the lunar calendar.
Translation of the Poem on the Woodblock Print
At a tea gathering
on the day spring arrives:
Sipping auspicious tea
made with New Year’s water,
the tea ceremony begins—
as spring arrives before
the official start of the year.
— Kokin no Nakanari
(translated by John T. Carpenter, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art in the Department of Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Support JapanCulture•NYC by becoming a member! For $5 a month, you’ll help maintain the high quality of our site while we continue to showcase and promote the activities of our vibrant community. Please click here to begin your membership today!