Isaburo Kishida

Isaburo Kishida

Isaburo Kishida was a Japanese gardener who designed the Japanese Garden at the Butchart Gardens, circa 1910.

Prior to working for the Butcharts at Tod Inlet, Isaburo Kishida had designed Japanese gardens for Sir Frank Stillman Barnard‘s property at Clovelly, off Esquimalt Road in Victoria, and for James Dunsmuir at his Hatley Park estate.

Isaburo Kishida’s Japanese Garden for Sir Frank Barnard has not survived. It was removed when Clovelly, the former Barnard house on Esquimalt Road, designed by architect Samuel Maclure, was demolished in 1960.

The Isaburo Kishada designs at Hatley Park and his Japanese Garden at Butchart Gardens have survived and are both major tourist attractions.

Isabura Kishida had been brought to Victoria from Yokohama, Japan in 1906 by his son Yoshihiro Kishida (known locally as Joe Kishida) to design a Japanese Tea Garden at Gorge Park (now Kinsmen Park) off Tillicum Road in the Victoria suburb of Esquimalt. Joe Kishida and his business partner Hayato Takata (known locally as Harry Takata), had contracted with the B.C. Electric Railway Company to provide Gorge Park with an authentic Japanese Tea Garden and brought Isaburo Kishida from Japan to design it.

This is covered in more detail in our history of Butchart Gardens: From Devastation To Beauty – The Creation Of The Butchart Gardens.

Isaburo Kishida (seated third from right) with his son Joe Kishida and his business partner Harry Takata, at the Japanese Tea Garden, Gorge Park, circa 1907 Photo: Esquimalt Archives)
Isaburo Kishida (seated third from right) with his son Joe Kishida and his business partner Harry Takata, at the Japanese Tea Garden, Gorge Park, circa 1907. (Photo: Esquimalt Archives)
Postcard of the Japanese Tea Garden designed by Isaburo Kishidaat Gorge Park, Victoria, B.C. This postcard is postmarked in 1913.(Author's collection)
Postcard of the Japanese Tea Garden designed by Isaburo Kishida at Gorge Park, Victoria, B.C. This postcard is postmarked in 1913.(Author’s collection)

Here is a map showing the location of Gorge Park:


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