1926
BD Mukai, a Japanese immigrant from Osaka, Japan, and his family, purchased 60 acres to farm and process strawberries.
1928 to 1942
The entrepreneurial Mukai family enjoyed impressive success, with berries shipped all over the country.
1940s
The Fruit Barreling Plant and craftsman bungalow were completed in the late 1920s. But racism and xenophobia caused the family to flee Vashon in 1942 in response to the Japanese Exclusion Act.
TODAY
Now on the National Register of Historic Places, the restored Mukai house and Japanese Garden is beautiful and storied. Mrs. Mukai installed a Japanese Garden around the home, hosting many community events.
VISIT
Come stroll, walk, picnic, tour, attend an event or party. Learn about Vashon’s Japanese American and agricultural heritage at this important island treasure.
Become a Friend of Mukai
Youth for Mukai – $10/year
Individual – $30/year
Family/Friend – $100/year
Supporter – $350/year
Patron – $750/year
As one of the only surviving Japanese farmsteads in the US, the Mukai property has significance extending beyond Vashon Island and the Pacific Northwest. Over the last three years, volunteers and generous funders have restored much of the Mukai home, Japanese garden and pathways to their original pre-war beauty. We’ve come a long way in a few short years. The Mukai Farm & Garden is today a place for peaceful garden contemplations as well as a center for learning and building a multi-cultural community. It is a place for children to practice the Japanese language, for Islanders and visitors to experience the boisterous and joyful sounds of Japanese taiko drumming and for gardeners to marvel at the designs of the stroll garden. It is a place for all visitors and supporters to discuss the timeless importance of this house and family, and for art, for music, for students of history and students of life.
Feature: Kuni’s Garden
Peonies blooming in the North Garden
The Japanese Garden: Designed and installed during the 1930’s by Kuni Mukai, a Japanese immigrant, her “hill garden” features extensive rockwork, plantings and a surrounding pond.
Great progress has been made on the garden over the last two years. We hired a well known Pacific Northwest Landscape Architect Karen Kiest who completed a technical guidance plan for plant selection, rockery, site circulation and hardscape.
In the fall of 2018, the 90-year-old Japanese Garden pond was restored. How? Watch this video!
Landscaping in the North Garden, hill plantings and lawn restoration completed in June, 2019.
Come and see the revived garden!
Related article:
– “Kuni’s garden” – November 13th, 2018
– “A historical garden restoration: Kuni’s Garden” – June 21st, 2019
VCA Garden Tour & Garden Party – June, 2019:
Over 750 visitors toured Mukai Farm & Garden as part of the annual Vashon Center for the Arts Garden Tour, June 22-23, 2019. At the kick-off “GALA” dinner on June 21, Friends of Mukai welcomed 150 guests including the Consul General of Japan, Yoichi Yamada to the property, just as Kuni Mukai shared her garden with the community 90 years ago. Read more: https://mailchi.mp/mukaifarmandgarden/lively-weekend-at-kunis-garden
2019 Vashon Japan Festival Report:
The 2nd annual Japan Festival, a celebration of Japanese culture, was held on Saturday, September 14th at the Mukai Farm & Garden on Vashon. In the spirit of Kuni, who opened her garden to visitors, the Friends of Mukai invited the Vashon community, Japanese Americans and visitors from around the region to celebrate Japanese culture this Festival. Click here to read more.
A Short Movie About Mukai Made by King County:
As part of a series on historic properties in the region, Vaun Raymond, Pam Davis and Brian Starr produced the 4 minute clip. Thanks to King County TV and 4Culture.
Click here to watch.
Events
Our 2020 Supporters
News
Uprooting anti-Blackness in the Japanese American community
seattlejacl.blogspot.com
Nikkei activist Yuri Kochiyama, courtesy of UCLA Asian American Studies Center, sign by Katherine Nagasawa, WBEZ artist Mari Shibuya paintin...The Friends of Mukai is grateful for the support that 4Culture and Humanities Washington has provided us over the last several months. Their financial support through sustaining grants, and advice about public programming resources, has allowed us to continue our goal of being a significant part of the Vashon community.
Our new Mukai "Master" Classes are filling up! Sign up soon and enjoy our dive just a bit deeper into Japanese and Asian American food and arts!
mukaifarmandgarden.org/classes/
Our Mukai "Master" Classes - online classes that dig a bit deeper into food, art and culture of the Japanese and Asian American experience.
Japanese Pickling - a class that will be relatively short, simple and easy to follow - hosted by our board member Fred Harriman and his partner. 11/14/20 at 2pm
Register here: (all links work best in Google or Safari)
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdA4KH6n-LJ-bE1Vya6VknSfHqro5lFovcNvTABuf-a8cgVvA/viewform?vc=0&...