Japanese Garden Designer Wins Silver-Gilt at British Flower Show

London, May 19 (Jiji Press)–Japanese garden designer Kazuyuki Ishihara won a silver-gilt medal at the Chelsea Flower Show starting in London on Tuesday. “Tokonoma Garden,” by Ishihara, a native of Nagasaki Prefecture, southwestern Japan, was awarded the second-highest honor in the main Show Garden category and was highly praised for its harmony and traditional beauty, according to the event organizer. A tokonoma is a raised recessed alcove or niche in a traditional Japanese-style room. Ishihara’s work features white sand, stones and moss laid out around a structure modeled after a tokonoma. “The garden embodies both personal memory and universal values of family togetherness and community, offering visitors a space to pause, reflect and appreciate the beauty of nature,” the organizer said. Between 2006 and 2025, Ishihara won 13 gold medals at the show. He was dubbed the “Green Magician” by the late Queen Elizabeth II, while the organizer calls him “one of the most celebrated garden designers in the world.” This year’s work reinterprets “a traditional space for the modern age,” Ishihara said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]