Parks on Tap: Shofuso Japanese House

HOURS:

WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY | 4 – 10PM

SATURDAY – SUNDAY | 12 – 10PM

ABOUT:

Shofuso Japanese House and Garden is a traditional-style Japanese house and nationally-ranked garden in Philadelphia’s West Fairmount Park that reflects the history of Japanese culture in Philadelphia, from the 1876 Centennial Exposition to present day.

The garden offers a koi pond, teahouse garden, and courtyard garden as well as the Sakura Pavilion which hosts various events.  The Japanese House and Garden was conceived as part of an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Designed by Japanese mid-century modernist architect Junzo Yoshimura in 1953, the house was built in Nagoya, Japan using traditional materials and techniques. The house was part of “The House in the Museum Garden” series, which exhibited three different types of structures that influenced mid-century modern American architecture. Shofuso was the last structure in the exhibit and was moved to Philadelphia at its conclusion in 1954. Shofuso was reassembled at the current site in 1957-58, where there has been a continuous Japanese presence since the 1876 Centennial Exposition when the first Japanese garden in North America was installed behind a small Japanese bazaar.