Garden of the Floating Isle, In the Japanese Gardens, Japan-British Exhibition, London, 1910.

“[Writing in 1910:] With the concurrence of the Government authorities the Central Tea Association of Japan has decided to erect in the garden a true Japanese Tea House. The building is to be constructed in a most artistic style so as to enhance the typical atmosphere of the garden.

“In another part of the grounds and on a more elaborate scale will be erected a Formosan Tea House where the famous Oolong tea will be delicately served to visitors, possibly by the natives – not by the savage tribesmen as aforementioned – but by fair maidens of that distant isle!

“It is therefore hoped that these will render more widely known in England this important product of Japan, at the same time adding greatly to the picturesque features of the Exhibition.”

– The British Press and the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910, edited by Hirokichi Mutsu, 2001

In The Japanese Gardens, Japan-British Exhibition (1910)

“Designed in Tokyo, the garden was brought into actual existence here by one of the most skillful and artistic of Nippon’s many artist-gardeners; and those who have been in the Far East and have felt, perhaps without understanding, the wonderful significance of such a scene, might well imagine themselves carried away over side oceans and resting once more in the heart of Romantic Japan.

“The whole scene was suggestive of peace. The tiny goldfish swimming lazily in the waters … the quaint little shrines suggestive of prayer and meditation; the placid surface of the lake repeating with strange mystery the beauty of all around, impressed the mind with a sense of blissful rest and quietude.”

– Official Report of the Japan British Exhibition 1910 at the Great White City, Shepherd’s Bush, London, 1911