Esquimalt Gorge Torii

This wooden torii stands in the restored Japanese garden at Esquimalt Gorge Park. The garden traces its history to the Japanese Tea Garden opened here in 1907 — designed by Isaburo Kishida, who was later hired to create the Japanese garden at Butchart Gardens — and run by Harry Takata and Joe Kishida until April 1942, when Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry were removed from the coast and sent to internment camps. The Township of Esquimalt's restoration of the garden, completed in 2009, added the torii along with a traditional bridge over the ornamental stream.