Seike  Japanese Garden

The Highline Botanical Garden Foundation and the City of SeaTac are pleased to announce that the Seike Japanese Garden has been relocated to the Highline SeaTac Botanical Garden. The grand re-opening was held on June 24, 2006.

The Seike Japanese Garden was previously located at the former site of the Des Moines Way Nursery in the City of SeaTac. In danger of being sold due the expansion of SeaTac Airport, the garden was saved by four different governments and the Highline Botanical Garden Foundation. The project is believed to be the largest relocation of a Japanese Garden ever attempted in the United States.

Shinichi Seike immigrated from Ehime, a southern Japanese island, in 1919 and ran an import/export business in Seattle. In 1929 he purchased 13 acres near Des Moines Memorial Drive and moved into a farmhouse with his wife Kameno, daughter Ruth, and sons Ben, Toll, and Hal.

 

Along with over 100,000 other Japanese-Americans, the family was interned during World War II. Eventually all three sons served in the military, and middle son Toll was killed in action during WWII in France while serving with the distinguished 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated military unit in U.S. History.

Many Highline area Japanese American families lost their property during the internment, but the Seikes were ironically fortunate in that a German -American family managed their property in their absence. Upon their return Shinichi Seike started a nursery in 1947, and the nursery store was opened in 1953 after sons Hal and Ben earned Horticulture degrees from Washington State University.

 

 

 

In 1961 the family began construction of a Japanese Garden as a memorial to their brother and to capitalize on their proximity to Seattle's 1962 Worlds Fair. The family hired Shintaro Okada, a garden designer from Hiroshima, to assist with planning and construction. Mr. Okada arrived in December of 1960, and construction started in January of 1961.

Construction was complete by June, and a gala opening was held on June 25 to promote the garden. A twenty-five cent admission fee was collected to benefit Children's Hospital, and anyone wearing a kimono was admitted free. Garden club tours were available by appointment, and the garden was opened to the public several times a year until about 1973. Due to increasing theft and vandalism, the garden was closed for about 10 years, and was reopened in 1983. The garden remained a Highline "best kept secret" for nearly two additional decades.

 

A classic pond-and-mountain style garden, the original project was built at a cost of around $75,000. The mountain required 350 tons of stone and 100 yards of topsoil to create. The 1500 square foot pond, supplied by an artesian well located on the property, took 12 hours to fill. Many of the plants were from Shinichi Seike's personal collection, including a gnarled laceleaf Japanese maple now over 100 years old. Red and Black pines installed as saplings are now magnificent hand-pruned specimens, and many of the trees and shrubs used to screen the garden had since grown beyond transplantable size.

 

 

 

The $350,000 relocation effort focused on recreating the stonework, pond, and built elements such as the bridges and lanterns, saving only the most significant plants.  The ultimate goal remained a faithful recreation of designer Shintaro Okada's intent, and the preservation of a significant local horticultural, cultural, and historical amenity. Future planned additions to the garden include an improved entry path, interpretive signs, security fencing, and additional stonework and plantings.

 

 

 

 

The Highline Botanical Garden Foundation would like to thank the following for their help in preserving the Seike Japanese Garden: the Seike family; Rep. Bob Hasegawa (the 'key' sponsor' who formally requested the project to be included in the Capital Budget); Reps. Dave Upthegrove and Shay Schual-Berke; Senator Margarita Prentice (Chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee) and Senator Karen Keiser; Rep. Hans Dunshee (Capital Budget Chair), Rep. Sharon Santos, and former Rep. Velma Veloria.

 

 

 

 

In addition, the project would not have succeeded without the active support of the City of SeaTac, particularly City Manager Craig Ward and Parks Director Kit Ledbetter; the City of Burien, particularly former Councilmember Stephen Lamphear and former City Manager Gary Long, and the Port of Seattle, specifically former Commission member Paige Miller and staff members Diane Summerhays and Marlys St. Laurent, Murase Landscape Architects, the Seattle Parks Dept., and Don Brooks of Kubota Gardens.