Our 'Guardian of Water' Has a Sister

This Guardian of Water stands in Yokohama, Japan, San Diego's sister city.

She may stand tall and proud in front of the County Administration Center here in San Diego, but the “Guardian of Water” has a twin sculpture that resides nearly 5,600 miles away. And County employee Ellen Heigert recently got an up close look at it while in vacation in Yokohama, Japan.

This Guardian of Water stands on the west side of the SD County

“It was an accidental stumble,” said Heigert, who works in the Health and Human Service Agency’s Behavioral Health Services. “We took the water taxi that loops around the bay and happened to disembark at the foot of the park where the statue is located.”

The “Guardian of Water” sculpture fountain sits on the harbor side of the County Administration Center and was designed by local artist Donal Hord, who sculpted it over two years from a 22-ton granite block from a Lakeside quarry. It features a figure of a pioneer woman holding a water jug — symbolic of San Diego’s guardianship over one of its most precious resources — and was dedicated on June 10, 1939, in a ceremony at the new Civic Center (now the CAC).

In 1960, a replica of the “Guardian of Water” was sent over to Yokohama, Japan, as a gift from the San Diego-Yokohama Friendship Commission and emphasizing the sculpture’s significance in San Diego history.

“I was very surprised to see that San Diego had followed me across the Pacific!” Heigert said. “The park in which the statue is located was beautifully landscaped with spring flowers; and that particular day was sunny and clear and many people and dogs were enjoying the outdoors.  The boardwalk there is similar to the one on Harbor Drive and takes you right into the heart of the city.”

Yokohama gave San Diego this Friendship Bell in 1958.

It was actually a gift exchange, and you may be familiar with the other half. In 1958, Yokohama sent San Diego a 6-foot-high bronze bell housed in a pavilion structure typically seen in Japan. The “Friendship Bell” has no clapper inside and weighs nearly 2.5 tons and was dedicated in 1960. You can check it out on Shelter Island at 1401 Shelter Island Drive.

Read more about the “Guardian of Water” and how it came to be and check out a documentary from the 1930s on it.