Have you ever seen a koi fly? Join us for a fun Family Saturday kite-making workshop!  

For our Family Saturday in August, the Seattle Japanese Garden will welcome Gregory Kono from the Drachen Foundation for a fun-hands on kite-making workshop. Kono will be showing our visitors how to make mini koi and yakko kites on Saturday, August 5, 11am – 1pm. Join us while the supplies last!

Make a wish upon a star (or on bamboo) at Tanabata, Japanese star festival!

The Tanabata Festival is based on the legend of star-crossed lovers who are allowed to reunite for one night on July 7th each year. In Japan, Tanabata is celebrated by decorating bamboo branches with origami ornaments and tanzaku, on which poems or wishes are written. 

On July 1st, for our First Saturday, you are invited to tie your wishes and poems to bamboo sticks in the garden. The event will feature a demonstration by Seibu-Ryu Iai Battojutsu, a local Japanese sword group, and origami-folding lessons from P.A.P.E.R. Origami. The event is from 10 am to 3 pm.

Bunraku is a style of theater that originates in Japan over 300 years ago. 

Bring your family and join us as we experience the ancient art of puppetry through performance of “The Novice and the Cricket 鈴虫” (a scene from “Funny Woman Who Lost Her Dumpling”) by Thistle Theatre. The performance will begin at 11 am, Saturday June 3. Stay after the show to meet the puppeteers and the puppets!

Our fishy friends have awoken from their winter hibernation, and they are hungry!

The koi in the Seattle Japanese Garden are awake from their winter hibernation, and ready to eat! On Saturday, May 6th, join us for the first day of koi-feeding in 2017

Experience family-fun surrounded by the beautiful scenery at Seattle Japanese Garden on Saturday, April 1st, when the garden kick-starts it’s new First Saturday Family Program.