Temple Gate

Temple Gate, originally uploaded by musicmuse_ca.

During WWII, the Japanese family (descendants of Baron Hagiwara who created these gardens) who had lived in the gardens they created and cared for since 1894 in Golden Gate Park were evicted and interred in concentration camps. Many of the structures were destroyed and Baron Hagiwara's Shinto Shrine was removed.

This Shinto torii gate now faces the Buddhist pagoda which replaced the destroyed shinto shrine, instead of the shrine as it was designed to face. This ornate, orange-painted gate came from the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. The five-stored pagoda was also originally in the Japanese exhibit at the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915. After the close of the exposition the Hagiwaras had it brought to the Tea Garden. It was moved to its present location sometime after the shinto shrine was destroyed.