Seeing the orange Tori gates jolted me back to Japan, the Hanami (cherry blossoms ) and the sound of Taiko drumming. I was not in Japan, instead, I was at the entrance to the Japanese Gardens (Japanse Tuin) in Hasselt, Belgium.
The history of the garden dates back to 1985, when Hasselt and Itami, in Hyogo Prefecture became Sister Cities.
Soon after the Sister City formalities there was great enthusiasm to build upon the relationship. This lead to regular events being held and even annual student exchanges were taking place. Itami proposed that there should be a symbolic presence of both cultures. Hasselt donated a tower Carillon and Itami City decided on building a Japanese Garden within Hasselt.
A visit from Takayuki Inoue, a well-known Japanese Architect led to choosing the location for the garden. Initially, a smallish area was proposed, though this idea grew and grew to incorporate a 2.5ha space. This led to the city of Hasselt providing a piece of land which was at the time used for pasture purposes.
Itami City provided the bulk of the financial contributions along with the materials for the building. Hasselt City also sourced a significant amount from the European Regional Development Fund. Many other partners and supporters came from Japanese institutions and Flemish Companies within Belgium.
The inauguration of the project was on November 20th 1992. It took 250 working days to complete the building project from planting and construction to finishing the finer details required for the Tea Houses. It is indeed designed and created meticulously and is the largest Japanese Garden in Europe. It is also home to a large number of Koi fish. Whether you enjoy Japanese Marple trees, Magnolias or the Cherry Blossom the Garden incorporates the beauty of the plants amongst the stone work, the traditional Tea Houses and the water features.
Visiting on a festival day is indeed interesting, yet – I will give advance warning, be prepared for waiting times. Whether it is the food, toilet or simply navigating around the Waterfall, be ready to wait. I would also recommend if you are heading to the toilet, be prepared with some extra tissues!
Subtracting the hustle and bustle of a festival day, I would highly recommend a visit to the Gardens. Whether a bit of escapism, to reconnect with nature or you are a budding gardener seeking inspiration – it is indeed worthy of a visit!
For further information, I would highly recommend that you check their Facebook page or contact Uit Hasselt direct. The website seems to be slightly out of date at the time of writing this article.
The address is:
Japanse Tuin
Gouverneur Verwilghensingel 23
3500 Hasselt
Belgium