What is Heavenly Falls?

A waterfall in the strolling pond garden

Portland Japanese Garden Quiz: Ponds, Stones and Maples

This Portland Japanese Garden quiz walks the quiet paths in the hills of Washington Park, Oregon. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on its 1967 opening, designer Takuma Tono, the strolling pond garden, sand and stone garden, the zigzag bridge and irises, Heavenly Falls, the tea house, sister city Sapporo and Kengo Kuma's Cultural Village.

Start Portland Japanese Garden Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

City
Which city is this Japanese garden in?
Year
When did the garden open?
Designer
Who designed the original garden?
Sister
Which Japanese city is Portland's sister city?
Raked
What is raked into patterns in the sand and stone garden?
Bridge
What kind of bridge crosses the iris beds?
Falls
What is Heavenly Falls?
Tea
Which building hosts tea ceremonies?
Village
Which architect designed the Cultural Village added in 2017?
Trees
Which trees give the garden brilliant autumn color?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which city is this Japanese garden in?
Answer: Portland, Oregon
It sits in Washington Park.
Q2: When did the garden open?
Answer: 1967
It grew from a sister city link.
Q3: Who designed the original garden?
Answer: Takuma Tono
He was a Japanese professor of landscape design.
Q4: Which Japanese city is Portland's sister city?
Answer: Sapporo
The link began in 1959.
Q5: What is raked into patterns in the sand and stone garden?
Answer: Gravel
Patterns suggest flowing water.
Q6: What kind of bridge crosses the iris beds?
Answer: A zigzag bridge
Zigzags slow walkers down.
Q7: What is Heavenly Falls?
Answer: A waterfall in the strolling pond garden
Koi swim in the ponds below.
Q8: Which building hosts tea ceremonies?
Answer: A traditional tea house
Its path is a dewy tea garden.
Q9: Which architect designed the Cultural Village added in 2017?
Answer: Kengo Kuma
It added a learning center and cafe.
Q10: Which trees give the garden brilliant autumn color?
Answer: Japanese maples
Visitors flock there in fall.

Ponds, Stones and Maples in Washington Park

The Portland Japanese Garden opened in 1967 in the hills of Washington Park, Oregon, growing out of Portland's sister city link with Sapporo, Japan. Professor Takuma Tono designed the original garden, which visitors from Japan have praised as one of the most authentic outside the country.

The garden combines several traditional styles. In the strolling pond garden, Heavenly Falls tumbles into ponds full of koi, and a zigzag bridge crosses beds of irises. The sand and stone garden uses raked gravel to suggest water, while a tea house sits beside a mossy tea garden path.

Japanese maples blaze red and orange in autumn, and moss glows green in the rainy months. In 2017 the Cultural Village, designed by architect Kengo Kuma, added a learning center, gallery and cafe while keeping the calm of the original garden.

What This Quiz Teaches

Garden fans will enjoy these questions.

When the garden opened
Who designed it
Which styles it includes
Which features stand out
How it has grown

Did You Know?

The garden offers views of Mount Hood on clear days.
Gardeners prune pines by hand to shape them.
Workshops teach Japanese arts like ikebana.
Stone lanterns line many paths.
Each season brings a different mood to the garden.