John Nishio stands in the backyard of his Pasadena home that was destroyed Jan. 7 in the Eaton Fire. Despite the house being a total loss, the Japanese garden he has curated for decades survived with minimal damage.
John Nishio vows to restore Japanese garden, filled with memories and meaning.
By GWEN MURANAKA
“This was our little paradise,” John Nishio said, standing in his Japanese garden last Saturday.
He watched as stone-by-stone, family and friends pitched in to help carefully move his beloved Japanese stone lanterns from his home in Pasadena, weeks after it was destroyed in the Eaton Fire.
The smell of burnt plastic and smoke still lingers in the air. ServPro built a 10-foot wall on one side of the Nishio property to keep much of the toxic remnants from spreading to nearby homes that remain standing but are unoccupied due to the smoke and dust. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will eventually remove what’s left of the home John and his wife Susan have lived in for decades.
The structure of the house is burnt and destroyed, but in the backyard, the Japanese garden is still beautiful, although with the water turned off the plants will eventually die. In the summer the temperatures can go as high as 120 degrees.
Cousin Jenny Yutani Penner rented a U-Haul to transport the lanterns. Others providing youthful energy, muscle and elbow grease included her daughter Lily and son Milo, and Ed Ledezma, Nathaniel Navarro, Shade-River Roberts and Riley Smith. All wore heavy gloves and masks for the task.
Some of the lanterns date back to the 18th century. With care, the finials, pedestals, light boxes and platforms were taken apart, placed into a cart and wheelbarrow, and moved to the U-Haul, which had been covered with moving blankets to protect the stones.
Nishio started working on the garden in 2005, and when it was finished a curator at the Huntington Garden marveled at its beauty. The garden where he would spend quiet evenings and mornings was the fulfillment of a promise he made to his teacher, an abbot at Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto, where he studied as a poor UC Irvine student. He recalled a conversation with the abbot, when he shared that he would miss the temple’s garden when he returned to California.
“‘Nishio-san, it’s your karma that someday you will build a garden like mine and remember the days we spent together.’ Wow, that gave me goosebumps,” Nishio recalled.
Everywhere in the garden there are memories of friends and family, many of whom are now gone. He dedicated a tree to the late actor and community leader Rodney Kageyama, and a bridge honors the Grateful Crane Ensemble. Nishio, a chef, has opened his home “Far East Feasts” to benefit the musical troupe.
His kitchen and pots and pans were destroyed but Nishio is already planning for a “Kenjinkai Bento” fundraiser for Grateful Crane.
Two tabebuia trees represent his children. There are rocks that have special meaning from places such as Yamanashi Prefecture, where his family descends from the legendary samurai Takeda Shingen, and Manzanar and Angel Island.
A thick rice straw rope, now blackened by flames, connected two stone lanterns, placed in the center of the garden. They represent his late parents Esther Takei Nishio and Shigeto Nishio.
“They were always holding hands,” Nishio recalled.
Esther, a Nisei incarceree at Amache, was famous for her courage as the first Japanese American to return to the West Coast during World War II to attend classes at what was then Pasadena College. His father was a real estate agent who helped them find their home. The Nishios are currently living in a home his father purchased many years ago in another neighborhood of Pasadena.
The crew took the stones to his father’s home in Lower Hastings Ranch, where they will be stored until the time comes to rebuild. At the home, which has a sweeping view of a ravine, stand a pair of bronze Japanese cranes, saved from the garden and representing John and Susan.
Nishio has been keeping friends and family apprised of the progress via Facebook. Their story of recovery is just one of the thousands impacted in the fires.
In a Facebook post on Jan. 11, longtime friend Soji Kashiwagi let everyone know that despite their home being lost, John, Susan, son Michael and their dogs had all evacuated safely.
“As John and Susan were watching the TV news around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening, John looked out his window, and saw a red ball of flames coming down from the mountains, and heading straight for his house,” Kashiwagi reported.
Moments later, a police car drove past their house, blaring an announcement that everyone in the neighborhood needed to get out immediately. The Nishios grabbed as much as they could and were out in 15 minutes.
Nishio was able to rescue a few precious items – some photos, a set of professional chef’s knives from Japan, and notably, his grandfather’s prized bronze tiger.
He explained that the tiger was a symbol of a warrior who would return from battle and his grandfather bought the statue for his son, who went to war in China in 1935. When his son was lost, Nishio’s grandfather found him, grievously wounded, and brought him home.
“When I took the tiger and put him on the shelf at my dad’s home, I told him, ‘I need you to help me get back to our house … and we’ll return together,’” he said.
The Nishios lost so much in the Eaton Fire, including priceless antiques dating back centuries. Like many, they went to Pasadena Buddhist Temple to pick up donations of food and clothing. A Go Fund Me page was set up by Jenny Penner to help the Nishios, who have done so much for others. Go to: www.gofundme.com/f/help-the-nishio-family-after-eaton-fire
After the stone lanterns were safely removed to their temporary home last weekend, John and Susan treated the crew to lunch to thank them for all their help.
Currently, his days are spent dealing with insurance and other hassles that go with rebuilding, but Nishio is undeterred. He told the gathering that he still is planning for mochitsuki this year.
“It doesn’t faze me, I just set a goal and it’s this and this and this. My family and my clan are counting on me. I can’t sit down and feel sorry for myself,” Nishio said.
Rafu staff writer Mikey Hirano Culross contributed to this story.