Shinzen Friendship Garden is a beautiful and serene 5-acre Japanese Garden located within Woodward Park in the City of Fresno, California. It is dedicated to Fresno’s Sister City Kochi, Japan, as a symbol of friendship and international brotherhood, and for the promotion of cultural relations between the two cities.
The garden includes stream beds with waterfalls, seven bridges (including the stone double-moon bridge for double good luck), and a Koi Pond. Paved pathways lead you through the Spring Section where azaleas, camellias, crabapples, irises, flowering cherries and plums are a viewer’s delight. The cooling waters of the Koi Pond are the centerpiece of the Summer Section. Tulip trees, Chinese pistache and tallow trees display their bright fall colors in the Autumn Section. A large waterfall, pines and evergreens dominate the Winter Section.