1Tsuru Island
A GIFT
In the early 1970's
a number ofNEWSLETE
Japanese American Nisei (childrenborn of Japanese parents) became
interested in doing a project at Main
City Park. Many of these families
were associated with the GreshamTroutdale Japanese American
League. Kazuma (Kaz) Tamura andothers, started the project we know
as Tsuru Island. “Tsuru” as theJapanese name for crane.
The Tamura family migrated to thisarea in the early 1900's, logging offand farming the current family

where they grew vegetables andbedding plants. They raised their
two children Paul and Pamela (Oja)while managing both farms until theTamura parents passed. Kaz andHelen were involved in theJapanese-American League, theEpworth Methodist Church and theOregon Farm Bureau.
As many of you know, Tomiko wasfortunate enough to obtain theoriginal scrap book from the early
1970's garden project. This album ison display at most GESCA functions

The crane referred to here is the Red-crowned crane only found in East
Asia. It is one of the rarest cranes on earth. It is also a symbol oflongevity, luck and fidelity. Check out the "Dance of the Crane" on theinternet.

owned farm-site. Kaz was born in
Gresham in 1921 and graduatedfrom Benson High School. He
hoped to get involved in radio repair
school after obtaining his ham radiocertification. That all changed for
Kaz and his family and other Nisei
during WWII. The families wereforced to leave homes and wereincarcerated at the Minidoka
Internment camp in Idaho. Threeyears later the family returned to theGresham farm and continued theirsuccessful farming operation.
In 1944, Kaz and Helen Taniguchi
were married and purchased a
separate farm in Carver, Oregon,
Issue #2

JANUARY 2016 editionKaz & Helen around 1980

BehindVolume
the Scenes1•••
In 2012 we were asked to host a groupof students from Barlow High school thatwanted to come to the "Garden" andwork for several hours. With 30 to 40
students, teachers, and teacher
assistants, the work day was a great
success. The "Ocean" rock in thegarden got installed. All stones werehand placed and pushed down into themud that was also prepared that day.
This was a major accomplishment andwas right down the alley of what I had
imagined for the garden. It should be aplatform for educational opportunities forthe community.
In 2013 we were contacted by Jenny
Halley at Gresham High School who wasinterested in her students coming to thegarden to help out and learn. She wasreferred to me by one of the people from
Barlow HS. With that it became aGresham Japanese Garden partnershipwith Gresham High School.
Jenny is a Gresham High School special
education teacher who uses theclassroom time to educate students for
employment and volunteering
opportunities in the community. For 10
months out of the year, her students
volunteer several hours per week/monthat the garden. Most of the time there are4-5 individuals who come two days aCont. page 2

Continued on page 2

2The Gift, cont.

and is available for private showings
on request. Included in that
information are pictures of theproject, the landscape, the park andthe surrounding areas. Kaz visitedthe garden in later years as shown by
the Gresham Outlook. He wasdisappointed with the up keep andmaintenance of the garden at thattime. He attempted to get assistancefrom the City and the community tohelp maintain the garden without
success. We are reminded of thefeelings that Kaz had in those days
when our volunteers visit or come towork in the garden and see trash orvandalism. Kaz and others had
hoped to undertake a refurbishmentof the garden in the 1980's and1990's, but little was accomplished.

This is the first "Behind the Scenes" article. It
will focus each month on a person ororganizations that works with "Friends of Tsuru
Island". Most of the projects in the garden
have individuals that work behind the scenes
providing a service, a product or volunteer time.
We want our readers to know who they are,how we became aware of them and how they
contribute to the garden. No ONE person can
do what we do, it takes a network. We hope
you enjoy seeing and becoming acquainted
with these individuals

Kaz passed away after a tragic
tractor accident on the farm in
October of 2009 and was precededby Helen in August 2000.
What a gift to the community. We
thank Kaz and all of the original
volunteers for giving us a place that
we can enjoy, grow with and pass on
to a future community...we arehonored to be a part of restoring
their vision

H ELPFUL H INTS◊◊

Volunteer t-shirts in honor of Kaz◊◊◊Issue #2

JANUARY 2016 edition

Keep smaller evergreens healthy
by shaking them gently from time totime, to get rid of debris and spentneedles held between branches.
Have your pruning shears handy
when working with your evergreens
to snip away any growth missed
previously. Always start at the top
and work down.
Most evergreens shed their older
needles in fall. When they begin tolook thin-haired, it is usually
because of insects or poor trimming.
Brown-headed cowbirds lay theireggs in other birds’ nests. They
have been found in nests of morethan 220 other species.
Trees do not heal like a cut finger
might.
They compartmentalize.
Trees have a unique defense. The
wood around the wound begins toproduce special compounds in thewood cells that set up a wall or
barrier to isolate the infected area
Oncecompartmentalized,discoloration and decay will spreadno further unless one of the barriers

Behind the Scenes Cont.

week with a teacher's assistant. You
can find them walking from theschool down Main Street to and fromthe park, rain or shine.
They learn vital employment skills
which include specific hands-on
training and work duties. Theseduties include planting, learning plantnames, weeding, sweeping /vacuuming and cleaning windows in
the shoebox. For team work
instruction they set up tables andchairs for events in the shoebox.
Jenny includes all the students towork on the park grounds as a larger
group once per month.
As the students work at thegarden/shoebox they also gain
employment skills that they will carrywith them for the rest of their life.
They work on effective
communication skills, listening skills,
on the job accuracy, adaptability,analyzing problems, attention todetail, how to prioritize, team workand so much more.
Jenny continues to develop thisprogram. This program parallels
other standard study requirements.
We thank Jenny and her staff anddirectors for not only the work thatthey do for our community each day
but for something else as well. Thisis the first group to accomplish one of
the major goals of Tsuru Island: aplatform for educational opportunities
for the community!

is broken.Keep your pruning tools
clean to prevent transfer of disease.

Questions or comments go toGresham.japanese.garden@gmail.com
Info taken from Birds & Blooms, Jerry Baker –master gardener, and James CardBonsai or Niwaki
One of the garden volunteers told me about a day they had beenworking in the garden and some visitors came through and made acomment about the aesthetically pruned pines being bonsai.
The question that the volunteer had for me was if the term bonsai reallypertained to the trees that we have in the garden or are bonsai only insmall containers.
That can be determined by the meaning of bonsai in Japanese. It isroughly "planted in a container". These plants can be just about
anything. The owner has the opportunity to keep the plant small,contained and trained using selective pruning and shaping methods.
A bonsai can be either indoor or outdoor plants. The outdoor plants
need to go through the same changes in seasons that other outdoor
trees and shrubs would. They may need to have the root system
protected during a freeze and/or kept in a sheltered area from thewind.
If our trees are not bonsai, then they are called Niwaki. The Japaneseword refers to the shaping and training of trees as part of Japanesecustoms and procedures. Sculpting trees is a very common part ofgardens and the general landscape in Japan. One writer refers to it ascreating the atmosphere or ambiance of the garden area. For thepurposes of our discussion I will use the pine as the tree of choice. One
critical likeness between bonsai and Niwaki is the effort to keep theplants miniaturized and/or controlled.
This is a learned technique through practice and understanding of
how the plant presents itself. Each and every plant is different once theprocess has taken place. Both processes bonsai and niwaki are goingto take dedication, time and above all ... patience.
Most Japanese influenced gardens will have trees hand selected, withthe specific tree and shape in mind. Some will be selected for that“framed” view from a precise place in the garden. For me thecharacter of the tree means everything, maybe not what is seen today
but rather what will be seen in several years.
Have you ever noticed that trees cared for in gardens of all types do
not have the same growth patterns as those in many neighborhoods?
That is because they are being pruned each year. Branches never geta chance to cross over other branches and the shape of the tree is an
ongoing process. Most pines are not capable of offering new growthfrom the old wood, so when removing growth it will not be replacedwith new growth. A clear understanding of what you want the futureof the tree and/or branch to look like is a priority. Pines are trained in
the Niwaki process through “needling”, “candling” and patience forIssue #2

JANUARY 2016 editionsure.
Candling is a process
where the new growth pushingout is removed from the newbuds that form early in the year.
Waiting for the candle to fully
extend and slightly harden isimportant.
The energy thatwould have been put to thecandle(s) growth will now be
directed to the remaining
candles and branches changing
the shape of the tree as time
passes. A variety of pines will
perform differently in our PacificNorthwest area and individual
micro-climates. This means that
two trees in the same garden
may not respond the same evenwith the same soils and watering
habits. Most of the time one
can remove the candles bysnapping them off with yourthumb and fingers. However, I
prefer to use a fine pointed setof pruners such as the ARS 7"
needle nose pruner- HP300L (sellsfor about $15.00). Rememberthat some candles will be leftdifferent lengths to create new
growth that will be in the form offorks. This allows the future visionof the tree/branch. So when
thinking about the overall goalof our pruning efforts, sometechniques may be to containthe growth while creating
densityor
openingandspreading appearance to fill aspace.

1975 Kaz on Main St.
GreshamIssue #2

JANUARY 2016 edition

DUBBED THE "FATHER OF MODERN ARBORICULTURE"
One of the main characters within the world of tree research in North America was Dr.
Alex Shigo, , He invented several tools that allowed him to determine the health, density
and the age of the tree without removing it. He also learned and provided theknowledge to understand how trees can survive in the forest without any influence byhumans. Shigo explains “People should know that trees are generating organisms,
instead of re-generating organisms like human beings. Trees generate their own foodfrom carbon dioxide, sunlight and water, while human beings must intake food fromelsewhere. Therefore, tree food is a misnomer. While such supplements, like fertilizer,provide important elements, they do not provide an energy source," he says. Dr.
Shigo’s colleague Richard W Harris has written several books including a series called
Arboriculture. Both of these men provide fascinating reading.