The new Washington Park Arboretum was proposed as the site of the garden by 1937, but its construction was not undertaken at the time due to racial tensions and the onset of World War II.

The Arboretum Foundation began fundraising for the project in 1957 ahead of the 1962 World's Fair and consulted with Japanese diplomats based in Seattle to solicit donations and potential designs.

[1][3] A team of six landscape architects and designers, led by Kiyoshi Inoshita and Juki Iida, were selected by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and presented their plans for the Seattle garden in 1958.

[3][4] The teahouse was gifted to the city by the Tokyo government and shipped in pieces in March 1959; it was assembled for temporary display at a trade fair the following month before construction of its permanent home began on May 19.

[1] Construction began in late 1959 and used primarily local materials, including 600 short tons (540,000 kg) of granite boulders from Bandera Mountain that were selected by Iida during a trip to the Snoqualmie Pass area.

They were arranged to complement a variety of culturally appropriate azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, mosses, and ferns that were planted beginning in March 1960;[3][6] some 100 flowering trees were donated by members of the public, primarily from Japanese American associations.