About the Garden of Remembrance

Ruth Asawa had designed this Garden of Remembrance to memorialize the Japanese American students who had been forced to leave San Francisco State University during World War Two and enter incarceration camps — which she also experienced. To create the Garden, Asawa was assisted by her friend, San Francisco State's retired art professor Mark Johnson, and two expert landscape gardeners, Isao Ogura and Shigeru Namba.

The Garden is located between Burk Hall and the Fine Arts buildings on San Francisco State University’s campus. The Garden is a grassy area with boulders where students would sit and study, with a pretty waterfall and foliage surrounding it. Nowadays, the waterfall is a popular place for graduation photos at SF State. 

However, the boulders, the waterfall, and the foliage all have a significance to Asawa. The boulders represent the incarceration camps that were dispersed in the United States during World War II. The foliage represents the thriving community after incarceration. And the waterfall represents the renewal of the community. There is also a bronze scroll that tells the story of the students’ incarceration.

Learn more about Asawa’s intent for the Garden of Remembrance on her website.

One thing Ruth enjoyed was that it became a place where students study: they lean against the boulders, so that it is not a place of sadness, it's a place that the students love.

— Professor Emeritus Mark Johnson