Nippon Television Network Corporation (Nippon TV) is proud to announce that the renewal of the Japanese garden Tenshin-en at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has been completed. Tenshin-en reopened on April 25, 2015 after an extensive yearlong effort that was sponsored by Nippon TV.

Newly reopened Japanese garden Tenshin-en at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is renowned throughout the world for its Japanese art collection. Located on the north side of the West Wing, Tenshin-en is a 1,000-square-meter garden in the karesansui style. In 1988, Nippon TV provided the original funding for the establishment of the Tenshin-en through former chairman Mr. Yosoji Kobayashi. The late Professor Kinsaku Nakane, world famous Japanese landscape architect, designed the garden with the objective of creating it as if it were one of the artworks of the museum.
Granite was brought in from the mountains surrounding Boston, and earthen tiles and wood for the kabukimon gate were imported from Japan and constructed by Japanese shrine carpenters. The garden is also home to over 70 species of plants from Japan and America, including cherry blossoms, various fall foliage, and pine.

Tenshin-en is named after Tenshin Okakura, a Japanese art historian and thinker who worked at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston starting from 1904 as a curator and later head curator of Japanese and Chinese Art. Some of the stone lanterns and stone pagodas placed around the garden are from Okakura's collection and were brought over from Japan.

However, after 25 years, the garden began to show signs of aging and a full renewal project was launched in the spring of last year. Nippon TV sponsored this project that lasted approximately one year. With the exception of the new irrigation system and lighting, workers sought to retain as much of the original elements as possible by pruning the shrubbery and keeping the stones and lanterns. While the kabukimon gate's main section has been replaced by cypress wood from Oregon, some parts still use the original material from the time of endowment.

Tenshin-en renewal opening ceremony
From left to right: Mr. Kenji Chikata, President, NTV International Corporation; Mr. Malcolm Rogers, Director, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;
Mr. Tsutomu Himeno, Consul General of Japan in Boston

Although Tenshin-en is a traditional Japanese garden, it also evokes the beauty and serenity of the coastlines of Maine and the forest landscapes of New England. Nippon TV hopes that the Japanese garden than Bostonians have come to love will continue to be a peaceful sanctuary for visitors for years to come.

Nippon TV will continue to participate in projects that promote its corporate social responsibility mottos of "providing more opportunities to experience art and culture," "promoting public welfare," and "protecting our precious Earth.