{"id":"Fujitaro Kubota and His Garden (film)","doctype":"articles","links":{"html":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Fujitaro%20Kubota%20and%20His%20Garden%20(film)/","json":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/api/3.0/articles/Fujitaro%20Kubota%20and%20His%20Garden%20(film)/"},"title_sort":"fujitarokubotaandhisgardenfilm","description":"Documentary on the life of Fujitaro Kubota and Kubota Garden. An Issei who cycled through various businesses before discovering landscape gardening, Kubota built a large garden in Seattle to showcase his nursery stock that became an attraction. He and his sons later designed Japanese-style gardens for large clients such as the Rainier Club, Bloedel Reserve, and the University of Washington. The Kubota Garden was eventually sold to the City of Seattle in the 1980s and continues to be operated by the city. The film also covers the Kubota family's wartime incarceration at\n \n Puyallup\n \n and\n \n Minidoka\n \n and the difficult postwar period. The film is based on interviews with Kubota family members, those who worked him, and historians tied to the Kubota Garden Foundation.","rg_rgmediatype":["films"],"mediatype_label":"Films and Video","mediatype_icon":"fa-film","rg_interestlevel":["Grades 9-12","Adult"],"rg_genre":["Documentary","History"],"rg_theme":["Expression through art","Man against nature","Nature as beauty"],"rg_availability":["Widely available"],"categories":[{"title":"Arts"}],"topics":[],"authors":[{"title":"Brian Niiya","json":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/api/3.0/authors/Brian%20Niiya/","html":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/authors/Brian%20Niiya/"}],"sources":[],"title":"Fujitaro Kubota and His Garden (film)","published_rg":true,"modified":"2025-06-09T14:23:30","databoxes":{"rgdatabox-Core":{"rgmediatype":["films"],"title":["Fujitaro Kubota and His Garden"],"creators":[],"interestlevel":["Grades 9-12","Adult"],"readinglevel":[],"guidedreadinglevel":[],"lexile":[],"theme":["Expression through art","Man against nature","Nature as beauty"],"genre":["Documentary","History"],"pov":["Told from the perspective of scholars and family and friends of Kubota"],"relatedevents":[],"availability":["Widely available"],"freewebversion":["Yes"],"primarysecondary":[],"hasteachingaids":["Yes"],"warnings":[],"denshotopic":["Geographic communities-Washington-Seattle [293]"],"geography":["Seattle"],"chronology":["1920s to 1980s"],"facility":["Puyallup (Camp Harmony) [11] - Puyallup, Washington","Minidoka [8] - Hunt, Idaho"]},"databox-Films":{"title":["Fujitaro Kubota and His Garden"],"date":["2019"],"genre":["Documentary","History"],"released":[],"director":[],"producer":["Kubota Garden Foundation Film Editorial Committee","Ernie Dornfeld","Joy Okazaki","Ellen Phillips-Angeles","Jason Wirth"],"writer":[],"screenplay":[],"story":[],"basedon":[],"narrator":[],"starring":["Linda Kubota Byrd (interviewee)","Terry Welch (interviewee)","Don Shimono (interviewee)","Mary Anne Parmeter (interviewee)","Ernie Dornfeld (interviewee)","Susan Mise (interviewee)","Marilyn Ahearn (interviewee)","Kentaro Kojima (interviewee)","Karl Schearer (interviewee)","Margaret Ann Wiltse (interviewee)","Ciscoe Morris (interviewee)","Richard Brown (interviewee)","Allan Kubota (interviewee)","Joy Okazaki (interviewee)","Don Brooks(interviewee)"],"music":["Michael Langdon","Justin Kuhn","Patty Bear","Blue Dot"],"cinematography":["Gary Thomsen"],"editing":[],"studio":["Kubota Garden Foundation"],"distributor":[],"runtime":["50 minutes"],"country":[],"language":[],"budget":[],"gross":[],"imdblink":[],"trailerlink":[]}},"rg_title":["Fujitaro Kubota and His Garden"],"rg_pov":["Told from the perspective of scholars and family and friends of Kubota"],"rg_freewebversion":["Yes"],"rg_geography":["Seattle"],"rg_chronology":["1920s to 1980s"],"rg_hasteachingaids":["Yes"],"body":"
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\n Title:Fujitaro Kubota and His Garden;\nDate:2019; \nGenre:Documentary; History;\nReleased:;\nDirector:;\nProducer:Kubota Garden Foundation Film Editorial Committee; Ernie Dornfeld; Joy Okazaki; Ellen Phillips-Angeles; Jason Wirth;\nWriter:;\nScreenplay:;\nStory:;\nBasedOn:;\nNarrator:;\nStarring:Linda Kubota Byrd (interviewee); Terry Welch (interviewee); Don Shimono (interviewee); Mary Anne Parmeter (interviewee); Ernie Dornfeld (interviewee); Susan Mise (interviewee); Marilyn Ahearn (interviewee); Kentaro Kojima (interviewee); Karl Schearer (interviewee); Margaret Ann Wiltse (interviewee); Ciscoe Morris (interviewee); Richard Brown (interviewee); Allan Kubota (interviewee); Joy Okazaki (interviewee); Don Brooks(interviewee);\nMusic:Michael Langdon; Justin Kuhn; Patty Bear; Blue Dot;\nCinematography:Gary Thomsen;\nEditing:;\nStudio:Kubota Garden Foundation;\nDistributor:;\nRuntime:50 minutes;\nCountry:;\nLanguage:;\nBudget:;\nGross:;\nIMDBLink:;\nTrailerLink:;\n

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\n RGMediaType:films;\nTitle:Fujitaro Kubota and His Garden;\nCreators:;\nInterestLevel:Grades 9-12; Adult;\nReadingLevel:;\nGuidedReadingLevel:;\nLexile:;\nTheme:Expression through art; Man against nature; Nature as beauty;\nGenre:Documentary; History;\nPoV:Told from the perspective of scholars and family and friends of Kubota;\nRelatedEvents:;\nAvailability:Widely available;\nFreeWebVersion:Yes;\nPrimarySecondary:;\nHasTeachingAids:Yes;\nWarnings:;\nDenshoTopic:Geographic communities-Washington-Seattle [293];\nGeography:Seattle;\nChronology:1920s to 1980s;\nFacility:Puyallup (Camp Harmony) [11] - Puyallup, Washington; Minidoka [8] - Hunt, Idaho;\n

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\n Documentary on the life of Fujitaro Kubota and Kubota Garden. An Issei who cycled through various businesses before discovering landscape gardening, Kubota built a large garden in Seattle to showcase his nursery stock that became an attraction. He and his sons later designed Japanese-style gardens for large clients such as the Rainier Club, Bloedel Reserve, and the University of Washington. The Kubota Garden was eventually sold to the City of Seattle in the 1980s and continues to be operated by the city. The film also covers the Kubota family's wartime incarceration at\n \n Puyallup\n \n and\n \n Minidoka\n \n and the difficult postwar period. The film is based on interviews with Kubota family members, those who worked him, and historians tied to the Kubota Garden Foundation.\n

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\n The film came out of a project by the Kubota Garden Foundation—an organization formed to support the operation of the garden by the city—to organize its archive and document its history. After conducting around two dozen oral histories, the foundation decided to produce the film and a book. Work on the film took some four years and was led by archivist and historian Ernie Dornfeld. Kubota Garden Foundation board chair Joy Okazaki told Sharon H. Chang they wanted the film \"to be accessible to people, factual, interesting, inspirational.\" They also wanted to make sure the World War II incarceration story was included.\n

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\n \n Fujitaro Kubota and His Garden\n \n premiered at the Ark Lodge Cinemas in Seattle in December 2019. The book\n \n \n Spirited Stone: Lessons from Kubota's Garden\n \n \n was published in 2020.\n

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\n \n Authored by\n \n Brian Niiya\n \n , Densho\n \n
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\n Niiya, Brian\n
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\n Might also like\n \n \n Designing the Path: Japanese American Architect, Gyo Obata\n \n \n (2014);\n \n \n Lost LA: Descanso Gardens\n \n \n (2017);\n \n \n Fugetsu-Do\n \n \n (2020)\n

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\n \n For More Information\n \n

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\n \n Kubota Garden Foundation website\n \n [includes a link to the discussion guide for the film]\n

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\n Chang, Sharon H. \"\n \n Documentary tells the extraordinary story of Seattle's Kubota Garden.\n \n \"\n \n International Examiner\n \n , Jan. 13, 2020.\n

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