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Mie Gakure: Discovering Nikkei Gardeners and their Communities

Takashige & Kimiko Kikuchi - Part 4; nursery owners; Culver City, CA (Landscaping America Opening: Steven Kikuchi - Part 4)


Published: Sept. 18, 2007 Modified: Feb. 11, 2025

Steven Kikuchi explains how his mother was just as hard of a worker in the family gardening business as his father was.

To read the transcripts, please view the original item.
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Interviewee: Steven Kikuchi

Relationship to Nikkei gardeners: His parents, Takashige and Kimiko Kikuchi, owned a retail nursery called TK Garden Supply. His father also was a full-time gardener.

Date: July 17, 2007

Location: Japanese American National Museum

Brief Description: Steven explains how his mother was just as hard of a worker in the family gardening business as his father was.

Transcription
She, when my father was out gardening, five to six days a week and doing landscaping sometimes, my mother would run the business, and would interact with all the customers and became very knowledgeable in the nursery business. And, although I would never say this to them, she probably knew more about plants and the nursery business than my father. But, when I was going to school of landscape architecture, I would come home on the weekends and help out a little bit at the nursery and talk to my mother about plants and plant types.

See part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this interview.
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This interview was conducted as part of the Opening Day activities for the exhibition Landscaping America: Beyond the Japanese Garden.


California Culver City families gardening horticulture interviews Japanese American National Museum Japanese American National Museum (organization) Landscaping America (exhibition) nurseries (horticulture) plants Steven Kikuchi TK Garden Supply

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Mie Gakure: Discovering Nikkei Gardeners and their Communities
The concept of "mie gakure"—or "hidden and seen"—is a central design principle in Japanese stroll gardens, where the path curves, and elements are arranged so that new, unexpected views are discovered at each turn. Inspired by the persona…
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