News Release - The Huntington to Add 320-Year-Old Magistrate's House to the Japanese Garden

Work gets underway in Japan later this year to dismantle the structure in Marugame

SAN MARINO, Calif.—The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens announced today that it is adding to its renowned Japanese Garden a 320-year-old house from Marugame, Japan. The well-preserved structure is an exquisite example of a working magistrate's residence that once served as the center of village life and home to generations of the same family. The project is expected to take at least two years to complete.

“We are deeply indebted to Yohko and Akira Yokoi, who are set on preserving this important aspect of Japanese cultural heritage through Huntington programming,” said Karen R. Lawrence, Huntington president. “In giving their historic family home to The Huntington, the Yokois are providing us with the opportunity to let Huntington visitors experience a garden and home as they were traditionally occupied throughout Japan.”

The Yokoi family offered their historic home to The Huntington in 2016. Through subsequent visits to the structure in Marugame and study sessions with architectural experts, a strategy for moving the house and related outbuildings to The Huntington evolved. “We have gotten the complete go-ahead from officials in Marugame and the Kagawa Prefecture, supporting the decision to relocate structural and landscape elements, as the house has been unoccupied for a number of years and the surrounding area has become urbanized,” said James Folsom, Telleen/Jorgensen Director of the Botanical Gardens.

Dismantling and restoration in Japan will take about a year. Also coming to The Huntington are two smaller structures, known as kura, or “treasure houses,” that once served as storage facilities for the village’s rice and family treasures; other features to come include stones, lanterns, and a bridge.

Once at The Huntington, the house and landscape will be reconstructed. The completed compound will include a new gatehouse, based on the original, as well as a landscape that closely resembles the original garden.

More than 300 years ago, the Yokoi family was installed as magistrates of a small farming district of Marugame, a town in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. Their residence functioned as the local town hall and village square, Folsom said. The magistrates were responsible for preserving each year’s seed crop and organizing and managing the community, as well as celebrating life events. The village and family history are recorded in thousands of documents that are now on deposit in the local museum in Kagawa.

The house remains complete and intact, said Folsom. “It represents real-life circumstances, an authentically constructed Japanese home with a compact inner garden. The project will bring living history to Southern California. There is nothing quite like this in any public garden in North America.”