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Japanese Gardens: Symbolism and Design
 9781138428669, 1138428663

Table of contents :
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Themes
Chapter 3 Landform
Chapter 4 Garden elements
Chapter 5 Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism
Chapter 6 Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals
Chapter 7 Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America
Chapter 8 Symbolism of the Japanese garden: A conclusion
Appendix 1: Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors
Appendix 2: Key words
Appendix 3: Addresses of gardens in figures
Appendix 4: Bibliography
Appendix 5: Credits
Index

Citation preview

Japanese Gardens

The unique beauty of the Japanese garden stems from its spirituality and rich symbolism, yet most discussions on this kind of garden rarely provide more than a superficial overview. This book takes a thorough look at the process of designing a Japanese garden, placing it in a historical and philosophical context. Goto and Naka, both academic experts in Japanese garden history and design, explore: • • •

the themes and usage of the Japanese garden common garden types such as tea and Zen gardens key maintenance techniques and issues.

Featuring beautiful, full-colour images and a glossary of essential Japanese terms, this book will dramatically transform your understanding of the Japanese garden as a cultural treasure. Seiko Goto is a Professor at the School of Environmental Science, Nagasaki University, Japan, where her teaching covers Japanese gardens. She has also published extensively on the subject. Takahiro Naka is a Professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design, Japan, Department of Historical Heritage and has published books on Kyoto gardens, as well as articles on Japanese garden design and history.

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Japanese Gardens

Symbolism and design

Seiko Goto and Takahiro Naka

First published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 Seiko Goto and Takahiro Naka

The right of Seiko Goto and Takahiro Naka to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Goto, Seiko, 1965– Japanese gardens : symbolism and design / Seiko Goto and Naka Takahiro. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Gardens, Japanese. 2. Gardens, Japanese – North America. 3. Gardens – Symbolic aspects. I. Naka, Takahiro, 1963– II. Title. SB458.G684 2015 712´.60952-dc23 2015006451 All efforts have been made to contact copyright owners of images. The publisher would be glad to hear of anybody who has not been duly acknowledged so that we can make the proper attribution. ISBN: 978-0-415-82118-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-68526-7 (ebk)

Typeset in Sabon by HWA Text and Data Management, London

Contents

Acknowledgments

vi

Chapter 1

Introduction

1

Chapter 2

Themes

8

Chapter 3

Landform

35

Chapter 4

Garden elements

46

Chapter 5

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism

81

Chapter 6

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals

100

Chapter 7

Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America

119

Chapter 8

Symbolism of the Japanese garden: A conclusion

155

Appendix 1: Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors

157

Appendix 2: Key words

169

Appendix 3: Addresses of gardens in figures

172

Appendix 4: Bibliography

174

Appendix 5: Credits

184

Index

189

Acknowledgments

It would not have been possible to complete this book without the kind support and help of garden owners and administrators who gave us permission to take photographs and photographers who allowed us to use their images. We also would like to express our gratitude to Mr. Takayasu Nawachi who helped Dr. Naka complete the manuscript of Chapter 6. Last but not least, we are highly indebted to Dr. K.E. Duffin for her constant supervision and guidance. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of them.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

The Japanese garden is one of many garden styles in the world. But what is a Japanese garden? Is it a garden constructed in Japan, one designed by a Japanese person, or one composed of rocks, stone lanterns, and stepping stones? None of these criteria are adequate for defining a Japanese garden, which is best described as a garden with unique symbolism and objectives that developed within a distinctive climate and culture, and that possesses a unique spatial structure serving those objectives. In general, gardens throughout the world can be classified as geometric or naturalistic. Islamic, Italian, and French gardens are geometric, and English, Chinese, and Japanese gardens are naturalistic. However, the Japanese garden differs from other naturalistic gardens in its symbolism and objectives, which developed over its 2,000-year history. We call such a naturalistic garden whose symbolism and form developed in accordance with Japanese traditional aesthetics a “Japanese garden.” Therefore, understanding the Japanese garden means understanding the meanings it embodies and the objectives it fulfills. Japanese gardens may look similar, but they are classified into different categories based on their metaphoric themes, and layout and relationship to architecture. There are four main categories of metaphorical themes in the Japanese garden: awareness of the power of nature, Buddhist teaching, literature, and the tea ceremony. The power of nature is a major theme not only in Japanese gardens but in all genres of Japanese art because of Japan’s geographical location. Most Japanese islands are within the Asian monsoon region. During the summer, the temperature, humidity, and amount of sunlight can reach tropical levels. In addition, summer monsoons bring abundant rainfall, which allows for the production of life-sustaining rice. Rice cultivation is well suited to countries with high rainfall because it requires ample water; however, during the summer monsoons, rainfall is so irregular that it is not uncommon for a harvest to be poor due to drought or flooding. For this reason, from an early period in Japanese history, rituals developed to pray to gods for rain in the spring and for a good harvest in the autumn. Reflecting this role of prayer and ritual, the Japanese garden is a space in which elements such as rocks, plants, streams, and ponds represent gods. Between the relatively long and comfortable autumn and spring, the winter is cold, and many regions in Japan have heavy snowfall. These distinctive four seasons became a time frame for agriculture and life itself that formed Japanese culture and aesthetics. For example, Japanese residential architecture, unlike Western,

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Introduction is not completely enclosed but designed to introduce nature so seasonal changes can be observed from within the living space. The Japanese aesthetic is unique in appreciating plants not only for their form and color but also as indicators of the change of seasons. The Japanese consider nature a changing phenomenon and appreciate seasonal change as an integral aspect of its beauty. Japan is possibly the only country in the world whose poetry and literature could not survive without the theme of the four seasons. The ancient Japanese, whose lives depended upon countless natural phenomena, did not conceive of a single deity, as in monotheism. Instead they considered all natural elements, such as mountains, oceans, the sun, and the wind, as gods, the so-called “eight million gods in the world.” They revered and thanked these natural elements and energies, and prayed that the spirits of the gods would be peaceful and not cause catastrophes. In the tradition of Shinto, the Japanese native religion, purified places where the spirits of the gods were believed to gather were called niwa, which means “garden.” In Shinto shrines we can still often find a huge rock, god’s seat (iwakura), or a huge tree, god’s tree (goshinboku). This worship of rocks and trees in Shinto shrines reflects the basic attitude of nature worship and finding spirituality in natural elements that are the distinguishing features of the Japanese garden in contrast to Chinese and English gardens. The second theme of the Japanese garden is its adoption of features from other cultures, such as those of China and India, particularly Buddhism. The history of the Japanese garden can be said to have begun back in the Jōmon period, roughly from 14,000 bce to 300 bce, for there is evidence in ruins of stones being arranged for ritual purposes. A man-made landscape of streams with cobblestones was found in the Jonokoshi Ruins from the Kofun period (250–538 ce). Although the Japanese did not have written documents before the fifth century, since these streams and rocks were constructed at some distance from houses, it seems likely that the landscape was built for a special occasion, probably the worship of nature. If a space made from natural elements for observation and contemplation and not practical use can be called a garden, then these landscapes were early Japanese gardens, constructed before the introduction of Chinese culture. Such gardens for nature worship were developed into larger-scale residential gardens with the influx of Chinese culture during the Asuka period (538–710 ce). Since Japan is a natural fortress because it is completely surrounded by the ocean, it had never experienced an invasion until the Mongols attacked during the Kamakura period (1185–1333 ce). The ancient Japanese believed that only good things came from beyond the ocean. Innocent of invasion, they were extremely receptive to foreign cultures and introduced positive aspects of them with great respect. Many foreign cultures, not only Korean and Chinese but also Indian and other Southeast Asian cultures, were introduced to Japan via the Silk Road during this period. Buddhism, Confucianism, Chinese literature, and ink brush paintings were some of the cultural elements adopted in Japan. The capital city of Nara was designed according to the plan of a Chinese city, and Chinese-style gardens with a large pond built using stone blocks were constructed in the guesthouses where important delegates from China stayed.

Introduction In the Nara period (710–794 ce) many new elements from the Asian continent, including Mahayana Buddhism from India and Taoism from China, were introduced into Japanese gardens. Since Mahayana Buddhism was mixed with Taoist thought in China, Taoist elements were introduced into Japan as part of Buddhism. In the Heian period (794–1185 ce) the first garden style for a Buddhist temple, the paradise garden, made for Pure Land (Jōdo) school temples, was established to visually represent the Buddha’s world. In the following Kamakura period, Zen gardens emerged to express Zen philosophy. Although the philosophy of Zen (Chán Buddhism) was introduced from China, the Zen garden was originally designed in Japan. Generally, these Japanese Buddhist gardens were formed combining Buddhist cosmology, the Taoist idea of paradise, and Shinto nature worship. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Japanese garden is this reflection of multiple religious beliefs. The paradise garden and Zen garden styles were successful, and continue to be applied to new gardens in the temples of these sects to the present day. The third theme of the Japanese garden is its representation of the natural scenery that appears in classical Japanese literature. From the ancient period, Japanese poems often used famous scenic places as their theme. These scenic places are called meisho (famous place), and some meisho, such as Ama-no-hashidate, Matsushima, and Itsukushima, are well known from poems by famous poets. Following this tradition, the Japanese garden also often had meisho as its main theme. This attitude toward designing gardens to recreate the scenery of a particular landscape is similar to that reflected in English picturesque gardens. However, English picturesque gardens were designed based on landscape paintings, while Japanese gardens were designed based on actual sites. Moreover, although the picturesque garden is a realistic representation of a landscape painting, the Japanese garden becomes a metaphor for the scenery through names and suggestive forms. In other words, even if the actual site is an infinitely long allée of old pine trees, a Japanese garden might represent this landscape with just a few small pines. Such miniaturization is also one of the distinctive characteristics of the Japanese garden. In addition to miniaturization, the elements of a Japanese garden often have a double meaning (mitate) to suggest a story or philosophy with the given scenery. Using this mitate method, the Japanese garden can deal with any theme of unlimited scale in an extremely limited space, creating a place that can be visited throughout the year without boredom. The last theme of the Japanese garden is the tea ceremony, a unique culture developed during the Muromachi period (1392–1573 bce). The tea garden is an entryway to the tea house, which could be built within a larger garden but was independent from other parts of the garden and residence. What the tea garden symbolizes is not so much a religious concept or literature, but the awareness of nature. The design layout of the Japanese garden can generally be classified into three types: 1. the landscape garden, which has hills and a pond; 2. the dry garden, which represents natural scenery without water; and 3. the tea garden, which provides an approach to a tea house. Furthermore, the Japanese garden can be classified into six types according to its function and relationship to architecture: 1. the residential garden; 2. the paradise garden; 3. the Zen garden; 4. the tea garden; 5. the stroll garden; and 6. the Westernized garden.

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Introduction

Figure 1.1 Main view in a palacestyle garden The first type of Japanese garden is the residential garden for noble houses, the socalled shinden-zukuri palace-style garden, designed not only for viewing but also for entertainment, boating, or ceremonies such as poem parties (Figure 1.1). This garden was planned mainly to be viewed from one side of the building. The second is the paradise garden, which was developed as the idea of the Pure Land spread among aristocrats. The purpose of the paradise garden is to visualize the Pure Land. A major example is Byōdo-in’s paradise garden, which was designed with the temple housing the Buddha statue as its focal point (Figure 1.2). Figure 1.2 Main view in a Pure Land garden

Introduction

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Figure 1.3 Main views in a Zen garden The third type of garden is the Zen garden for meditation, which was developed in the Kamakura period, when political power shifted from the nobility to the military and Zen Buddhism became popular. Gardens for the highest status Zen monks’ residences, called hōjō, were generally on flat ground around the building (Figure 1.3). Zen monks set rocks on this flat ground and created dry gardens. With the introduction of square columns, not the round ones found in palace-style buildings, the hōjō building could have sliding doors which separated the view of the garden from the interior space. Furthermore, an attached veranda ran around the building, from which gardens on all four sides could be viewed, or they could be viewed from within the building. Unlike the palace-style garden, the Zen garden was intended for observation only, not for activities. The scenery of the Zen garden is not meant to present a visual image of Buddha’s world, but to reflect the abstract cosmology or goals of Zen, which could be interpreted in infinite ways. The fourth type of Japanese garden, by use, is the tea garden, built for the tea house, which emerged during the Muromachi period when the tea ceremony was established. The tea garden is a small passage to the tea house, designed to let visitors forget about the outside world and mentally prepare for the tea ceremony within a few short steps (Figure 1.4). Because the tea house is the minimum size necessary to perform the tea ceremony, the tea garden is an extremely small space with stepping stones, a water basin, stone lanterns, a bench, and a toilet. Visitors prepare for entry to the tea house using these garden elements as part of “the way of tea.” Unlike the Zen garden, which is designed only for viewing, the tea garden is a space for visitors to use and move through. The fifth type of Japanese garden is the large-scale garden for strolling, the socalled daimyō garden or stroll garden, built by feudal lords (daimyō) mainly in the

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Introduction

Figure 1.4 Relationship between the tea house and garden Tokyo area during the long, peaceful Edo period (1603–1868 ce). These gardens have a large pond at the center and many sceneries created for visitors to walk through (Figure 1.5). The main purpose of these gardens is leisure, and they reflect a variety of themes; for example, Confucian thoughts in Koishikawa Kōraku-en and classic literature in Katsura Imperial Villa. The sixth type of Japanese garden was designed with Western influence during the Meiji period (1868–1912 ce), a time of rapid modernization and Westernization. The new style of Japanese garden designed during this period dispensed with classic Japanese symbolism in rocks and plants, and represented a visual image of the Japanese landscape without miniaturization. The main purpose of this type of garden was the enjoyment of natural scenery without metaphoric themes. Japanese gardens express different themes in different layouts and different relationships to architecture. Various styles and usages of the Japanese garden developed through different periods in Japan’s history. However, unlike the eighteenth-century English picturesque garden, which did not incorporate elements of the geometric-style garden developed in the previous century, new styles of Japanese garden embraced earlier styles. Moreover, the old styles were never repudiated when a new style emerged, and so were passed on to the next generation. For example, themes such as the Turtle Island and Buddha’s Mountain, or meisho such as Ama-nohashidate, which were developed during the tenth century, were found in the stroll garden in the eighteenth century, and the views were constructed with traditional techniques. Although there are various styles and usages in the Japanese garden, there is a consistent attitude toward nature and a repertoire of meanings from ancient times to the present.

Introduction

7

Figure 1.5 Main views in a Daimyō garden The Japanese garden suggests the beauty of nature through a small space with iconic natural features that invite viewers into the world of religion, literature, or philosophy. For example, a small rock can represent a huge island or a mountain range, or a small tree can represent woods or a mountain, and refer to certain religious or philosophical messages. Appreciating a Japanese garden does not mean enjoying the beautiful color of flowers, but aesthetically interpreting small symbolic natural elements and expanding one’s imagination. Although in European gardens the symbols telling a story are generally realistic sculptures or statues, the symbols in a Japanese garden are rocks and plants. Often the original design concept is unknown because records are lacking or lost. We observe multiple interpretations and evaluations of a symbol as the ownership and value of a garden change throughout its long history. However, such multiple interpretations are themselves a representation of time and change, and so become part of the appreciation of a Japanese garden as a representation of the beauty of nature. Therefore, it is not possible to truly appreciate the Japanese garden without knowing its symbolic meanings. This book will introduce the various symbolisms of the Japanese garden through its themes, landform, elements, and maintenance to enable readers to fully enjoy these cultural treasures.

CHAPTER 2

Themes

Many wonderful gardens throughout the world have been created on property belonging to rulers and the wealthy. However, in Japan, great gardens are found not only on private land but also attached to Buddhist temples. Whether built for secular residences or religious sanctuaries, Japanese gardens share certain features – a naturalistic landscape with a pond and rocks – but each garden represents different metaphors and symbolic messages. Understanding and appreciating these metaphors is one of the joys of visiting a Japanese garden. The metaphorical themes expressed by the Japanese garden fall under four main categories: 1. nature worship; 2. Buddhist teaching; 3. literature; and 4. the tea ceremony. Of the five religions in Japan – Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Christianity – Shinto is the native belief system that forms the basis of Japanese nature worship. The idea of nature is the most important theme in the Japanese garden, and in this chapter we begin by exploring the main natural elements represented in Japanese gardens. The second major theme is Buddhist teaching, centered in Buddhist temples. Whereas Shinto gives the Japanese a profound appreciation of nature, Buddhism provides imagery and stories about the afterlife. Buddhism has been supported by the government and many Buddhist temples have been built since the Nara period. By contrast, Taoism and Confucianism were never government sponsored, so no major Taoist or Confucian temples were built in Japan. Because of the official fusion of Buddhism and Shinto, Buddhist gardens display a mixture of Shinto nature worship and the Taoist concepts of longevity and eternal life. Imagery of the utopian world of Taoism is sometimes fused with imagery of the Buddhist world, but the Confucian world view was rarely introduced into Buddhist garden design. Confucianism, brought to Japan from Korea by Korean scholars in 513, focuses on life in this world, not the afterlife, and is characterized by an emphasis on ethics and politics, and the concept of Li, the norms and proprieties that determine how a person should behave in daily life. Although Neo-Confucianism was introduced to Japan in the Kamakura period, and its teachings studied by monks in Zen temples, Confucian ideas are not as visible in Zen gardens as Taoist ideas, probably because the earthly realism of Confucianism is not suitable for a meditation garden whose purpose is the attainment of enlightenment. Whereas Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism were introduced from China by the Heian period and contributed to the formation of Japanese culture, Christianity

Themes is a relative newcomer to Japan. It was first introduced in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, banned during the Edo period, then reintroduced in the Meiji period. Consequently, there is little influence of Christian ideas on the development of the Japanese garden. Therefore, although there are five religions in Japan, this chapter will focus on Buddhism as the main religious theme of the Japanese garden. The third metaphorical theme of the Japanese garden is the idea of literature. Japanese rulers and wealthy aristocratic families supported the development of art and literature and created major gardens for their residences. During the Heian period, gardens became important spaces for socializing and leisure activities for the ruling classes. Gardens were spaces for political events, ceremonies, and contemplation. Because one of the main activities of Japanese aristocrats was the poem party, literature became an important theme for private gardens. In addition, although Confucian ideas were rarely introduced in the Buddhist garden, they were sometimes reflected in private gardens because of the value Confucianism places upon literature. Since the Japanese government never introduced the Chinese examination system for officials, which was based on the study of Confucianism, the latter has never been a dominant philosophy in Japan. However, it has been important because of its association with Chinese literature. Therefore, in this book we introduce gardens with Confucian concepts under the category of literature, not religion. Lastly, the tea ceremony is a theme unique to the Japanese garden. The Japanese tea ceremony is not merely an occasion for drinking a cup of tea but a refined artistic moment in which to experience aesthetic beauty. This unique cultural practice became popular not only among rulers and aristocrats but also among soldiers and common people after the Muromachi period. Having a tea garden became a symbol of social status, and the tea ceremony also became an important political occasion, especially from the Azuchi-Momoyama period to the Meiji period. In this chapter we will explain what the tea garden represents and how the tea garden is viewed and used.

Shinto and nature

Japanese gardens often symbolize the wishes people have for their gods. Japanese have worshiped both Shinto and Buddhist deities from ancient times. Shinto or Shintoism is the indigenous religion of Japan that worships certain spirits or deities (kami) associated with many forms and forces in the natural world, such as mountains, rivers, wind, waves, lightning, trees, and rocks. In Buddhism, founded by Siddhartha Gautama in India, the realm of Buddha and other deities exists beyond the natural world. To communicate with their gods, Japanese fused Buddhism with the Shinto idea of nature worship and created gardens representing the spiritual world. The major natural features that are objects of Shinto worship are the ocean, rivers, and mountains, and these are also the major features of the natural world represented in the Japanese garden.

Ocean

Shinto’s spirits are collectively called yaoyorozu no kami, which means “eight million kami,” or “myriad kami.” In Shinto, gods or holy spirits and people do not inhabit separate realms; they exist within the same world. Shinto claims that after good

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Themes spirits die, they go to the world called tokoyo no kuni, the “Eternal World” beyond the ocean. For Japanese, living on an island, the ocean was one of the most revered aspects of nature, believed to connect this world with the Eternal World, an idea reflected in the phrase “the country where the wave from the eternal world reaches,” from Man’yōshū, the oldest anthology of poems in Japan.1 The theme of the ocean first appeared in Japanese gardens during the Kofun period. In Suyama Kofun (Plate 1), a megalithic tomb of powerful clans in Kōryō City, Nara, a pier juts out from the main mound in a moat.2 At the edge of this pier is a representation of an ocean beach, constructed with cobblestones and rocks. Although there are no written documents from this period, people must have used this beach for ceremonial occasions when they prayed for lost spirits to go to the Eternal World beyond the ocean (Plate 2).3 The representation of an ocean beach became the main theme of many gardens after the Nara period, particularly gardens of palace-style buildings and Pure Land gardens. However, the symbolism of the ocean and how it was appreciated changed dramatically over time. After the Kamakura period, the dry garden in the Zen temple had ocean scenery without a beach to represent Zen cosmology.

River

The rivers of the mountainous islands of the Japanese archipelago are relatively short compared with rivers on the Asian continent. Because Japanese islands are the summits of mountain ridges uplifted near the outer edge of the continental shelf, a long chain of mountains runs down the middle of the archipelago with peaks higher than 3,000m. About 73 percent of Japan is mountainous and only 15 percent of the land is suitable for cultivation. Because of the dramatically steep gradients of this mountainous topography, the rivers of Japan are typically not only short but steep and swift. Since the annual rainfall of Japan is great, rapidly flowing rivers carry a significant amount of soil from the mountains and form alluvial plains in their lower reaches that produce the small amount of habitable land where Japanese can cultivate rice fields and build cities. The water of rapidly flowing rivers is generally clean and clear because there is less debris that can cause cloudiness; therefore, clear, flowing water has helped create the ideal landscape that has sustained Japanese agriculture since ancient times. Rice cultivation needs high rainfall, and Japan is suitable for such agriculture because of its annual precipitation, the highest in the subtropical latitudes. In Japan, most precipitation occurs in the summer months, which comprise the rainy season, starting in June (except in Hokkaidō, because it is so far north). Between July and September there are rainstorms and typhoons. The water level of rivers fluctuates considerably during the summer because the amount of rainfall from typhoons and rainstorms is unpredictable. Rivers are the foundation of people’s lives in Japan; however, they may also destroy those lives if they flood. Under these geological and climatic conditions, the Japanese, whose lives were totally dependent on rice cultivation, developed a unique form of river worship. One early example of such river worship can be observed in the Jonokoshi Ruins, a ritual place built on an alluvial plain of Iga City in Mie Prefecture (Plate

Themes 3). Excavated in 1991, the ruins were the site of a water ritual during the Kofun period. A winding stream of clean water fed by three springs was dammed with rocks or boards to create a watercourse resembling a river.4 This winding river flowed gently across a surface of cobblestones, its course determined by man-made dams. Its banks were also built from small stones. This place is considered a ritual space because many ceramics and woodware for rituals were discovered here.5 The river of the Jonokoshi Ruins represents the clean, gentle flow of water on the fertile alluvial plain, the site of a sacred ritual to communicate with the gods. Heijō City’s Sanjō Nibō Palace Ruins contain a garden constructed during the Nara period with a pond whose meandering shoreline represents a river landscape (Plate 4). Cobbles were laid from the bottom of this pond to its banks (Plate 5). It was shallow, with an average depth of 20cm. Bigger rocks were arranged on the cove and island.6 Obviously, the pond was created to represent flowing rather than still water. This garden was constructed for events such as the Water Song Festival rather than worship rituals. In the Nara period, river landscapes were designed in palace gardens. During that time, the custom of the poem party on the riverbank, the Water Song Festival, was introduced from China. At this event, in which attendees sat on the riverbank and composed a poem on a given theme, each person had to finish writing before a floating sake cup passed by on the river’s current. The Japanese court introduced this event as an official ceremony during the Nara period, and a winding river was created in the gardens of nobles to be used as the site of the Water Song Festival. This ceremony became popular among aristocrats, and a shallow, winding stream called yarimizu was often created in their gardens during the Heian period. After the Kamakura period, the Water Song Festival became rare. However, the river remained an important element of garden design, and was transformed over time from a ritual space to a ceremonial and a meditative space and then to a mere pictorial representation of a river landscape.

Mountain

Soaring mountains have been worshiped in many cultures, but they have special significance in Japan, where so much of the land is covered with steep mountains and therefore unsuitable for agriculture and housing. Because habitable land is limited to the small areas between mountains, the population density of the plains is high. Because people depended on resources from nearby mountains, such as trees and water, they came to believe that spiritual power resided in big mountains, and worshiped their grand appearance as well as the terrifying power of volcanic eruptions. In the Japanese garden, mountains are an important element in addition to the ocean and river. An example of mountains represented by standing rocks is found as far back as the Jōmon period. In the Kinsei Ruins in Yamanashi Prefecture, many rocks were set in the common area (Plate 6). The ruins are located at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains at an elevation of 760–780m. In these ruins, boulders are arranged in rectangular or circular patterns to symbolize the surrounding mountains for rituals in which people prayed for a good harvest.7 Just as people living on the Jonokoshi alluvial plain worshiped the river by making a miniature river in their

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Themes village, people who lived near the Yatsugatake Mountains worshiped mountains and prayed for fertility and peace by making miniature mountains with rocks. In the Japanese garden, mountains are often represented by small mounds built using the soil from digging out a pond, but sometimes they are represented by composed rocks. In Suizen-ji Jōju-en, Mount Fuji is miniaturized as a mound. By contrast, at Daisen-in the soaring mountains in the distance are represented by three standing rocks. Some mountains in Japanese gardens represent actual mountains in Japan or China, but some represent imaginary ones, such as a mountain in the Buddhist or Taoist world. In any case, mountains are one of the main landscape elements of Japan, along with the ocean and rivers, worshiped by Shinto for their mystic power and fertility.

The influence of continental culture and Buddhism

When Buddhism was introduced to Japan from the Asian continent during the Asuka period, the Shinto tradition adopted aspects of ocean worship found in Buddhism. Taoism, also introduced from China to Japan around this time, emphasizes living in harmony with nature like Shinto.8 However, Taoism envisions more concrete images of the eternal paradise than Shinto, placing it in the high mountains, or in the ocean as specific islands called Hōrai, Hōjō, and Eishū. Consequently, the Buddhist image of Buddha’s world and the idea of a Taoist wonderland were mixed with the idea of Shinto’s Eternal World, and from the Nara period on these complex images of paradise were represented in Japanese gardens.9 As diplomatic negotiations with the Asian continent became important during the Asuka period, the Japanese also built Korean-style gardens in VIP houses to entertain delegations from Korea.10 These gardens had a pond built with stone blocks. For example, the structure of the pond in the ruined Asuka Palace in Nara is similar to that of the pond in the ruined Half Crescent Castle in the Silla kingdom of Korea. Later, because Japan had direct diplomatic relations with China, we also see Chinese influence in the design of ponds intended to represent the image of the ocean in Buddhist and Taoist cosmology. In the Nara period, Heijō Palace East Garden was constructed when the capital of the Nara government was moved to Heijō City (Plate 7). Surviving for approximately 200 years until the mid-ninth century, the garden was restored several times but its transformation can be classified into three phases that show how a Korean garden design was adapted to Japanese style.11 In the first phase, around 710, Heijō Palace East Garden had a rectangular pond, common in Korea, representing Buddhist cosmology. In the second phase (720–767 ce), the rectangular pond was replaced by an organic-shaped pond with a small pier, cove, and beach. The bottom of the pond was covered with flat cobbles, the water’s edge constructed with round boulders, and the beach covered with gravel. This pond design is similar to that of the pond in the Half Crescent Castle in the Silla kingdom of Korea. In the third phase, the pond shoreline became more organic, the bottom of the entire pond was covered with cobblestones, and the entire shoreline became a beach (Figure 2.1). In addition, islands symbolizing the Taoist immortal islands were built in the pond, and rocks symbolizing the mountain of the Buddhist world were

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Figure 2.1 Transition of pond design in Heijō Palace Tōin placed on the pier. Thus, Heijō Palace East Garden reveals the process by which a formal pond designed to represent Buddhist cosmology introduced from the Kudara kingdom in Korea was transformed into a pond with a beach representing the Eternal World of Shinto, adding the ideas of the mountain in the Buddhist world and the immortal islands in the Taoist world.

The idea of the Pure Land

Although Buddhism was supported by the government and temples were built in which to pray for peace in the nation and to study Buddhist philosophy, as the aristocratic class gained political power in the Heian period, Buddhism began to find private patrons. Particularly at the end of the Heian period, when the idea of the age of “Dharma decline” or mappō became popular, many Pure Land gardens were built on private properties that combined the design of a palace garden with a beach and the image of the Pure Land. Pure Land gardens had ponds with beaches; however, the beach here represented not the Eternal World of Shinto but the world of Amida Buddha, who saved people from mappō. Mappō is the concept that Buddhist teachings degenerated after the death of Siddhartha Gautama, the historic Buddha. Buddhism is a religion based on teachings attributed to the historic Buddha; however, his teachings and practices were so difficult that the idea of mappō, the disappearance of the saving power in Buddhist teaching, was introduced from China to Japan. There were three ages of Buddhist teachings: the age of the “true law” (shōbō); the age of the “copied law” (zōbō); and the age of the “latter law” (mappō). Mappō is the last age of Buddhism, in which its teachings exist only as a doctrinal shell. Japanese Buddhists assumed that the date of the Buddha’s death was 949 bce. Based on this assumption, the age of mappō was believed to have begun about 1052 ce in Japan.12 At the end of the Heian period, around the 1,000th anniversary of the historic Buddha’s death, political and social disturbances followed, one after another. Political power was shifting from the noble class to the military class, society was insecure, and there were many famines, epidemics, and natural disasters. Under these circumstances, the idea of mappō, or “the end of the Law,” became popular. As a result, the Japanese started to think it was better to pray to other Buddhas, since the historic Buddha had become unreliable. There are many Buddhas in Buddhism, such as the Dainichi Nyorai, or Cosmic Buddha (Mahāvairocana); the Yakushi Nyorai, or Medicine Buddha (Bhaisajya); and the Amida Buddha or Pure Land Lord (Amitābha).

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Themes Of these, the Amida Buddha became the most popular in Japan since he was believed to be the most dedicated to saving people.13 Amida, the Buddha of comprehensive love – “Amida” is translatable as “Infinite Light” – lives in the “Pure Land” (Jōdo) situated in the uttermost west, beyond the bounds of our own world. The idea of the Pure Land originated in India, and Indian Buddhism explains each Buddha as possessing his own Pure Land; however, in China and Japan, the Pure Land indicates only the world of Amida. Amida guarantees rebirth in the Pure Land to all who call upon him by chanting “nam-amida-butsu,” requesting to have his teachings and ultimately become a Buddha. He promises to appear to those who call upon him at the moment of death. The Amida Buddha teaches that the most important technique for enlightenment is visualizing the surrounding world as a paradise. Anyone can reach the Pure Land if they can visualize it at death. This openness and acceptance of all kinds of people made belief in the Pure Land popular among aristocrats at the end of the Heian period.14 When the idea of the Pure Land was becoming widespread, paintings called “Taima Mandala,” diagrams that visualized the Amida’s Pure Land, were also introduced from Tang dynasty China. In order to be reborn in the Pure Land, aristocrats built many temples and gardens to help visualize its image. The design of these temples and gardens was based on an image of the Pure Land depicted in a Taima Mandala in the Dunhuang caves (Plate 8).15 The Dunhuang caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist caves dug out in the fourth century as places of Buddhist meditation and worship. The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist wall painting spanning a period of 1,000 years. Although the pond in the Pure Land painting in the Dunhuang caves was square, the pond in Japanese Pure Land gardens was always irregularly shaped, with a shoreline.16 This suggests that the design of the Pure Land garden underwent a unique development in Japan, although the idea was originally introduced from China. The following are the three most representative examples of gardens expressing a uniquely Japanese idea of the Pure Land.17 The Pure Land is the paradise of Amitābha, where one aspires to go after death, and the Pure Land garden, together with temple architecture, represents the image of the Pure Land. At the end of the Heian period, many powerful imperial families and aristocrats erected temples for Amitābha and created Pure Land gardens. Byōdōin, one of the most representative Pure Land gardens, was erected in dedication to Amitābha by Fujiwara Yorimichi (990–1074) in 1053, the first year of mappō, when the idea of the Pure Land became popular.18 The main “Phoenix Hall” was built on a big island in the pond, whose shape reflects the first Chinese character of the Amida Buddha’s name, “阿.” Water lilies were planted in the pond as symbols of the Pure Land (Plate 9). Water lilies are the flower of Buddha because they bloom from muddy water, which represents the current world, and emerge from the mud only when blooming. The Phoenix Hall is composed of the main building with the statue of the Amida Buddha and two small wings. The building and its surrounding landscape are exclusively a representation of the image of the world of the Amida Buddha. The two wings of the temple are ornamental buildings and not habitable structures because they are too small for visitors to enter. Because the Pure Land is believed to be in the west, the temple of Amitābha in Byōdō-in was built on an island, facing east. This orientation allows visitors to

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pray to the Amitābha statue placed in the center of the temple while facing west, from the east side of the pond. The main temple, with two wings, has been called the Phoenix Hall since the Edo period, because the silhouette of the building looks like a bird hovering over the ocean, and two golden phoenix statues were placed on top of the roof. The pond’s beach is in front of the building; however, instead of representing Shinto’s Eternal World, it represents the Buddhist Pure Land. That is why lotus flowers are planted in the pond: to represent Buddhahood. In Byōdō-in, the pond is the ocean dividing this world and the Pure Land. The landscape of the beautiful Pure Land with Amitābha and other deities was created across the symbolic ocean. Since the Pure Land is believed to be accessible to all through meditation, the Pure Land garden was designed to help visualize the world of Amitābha. Inside the Phoenix Hall, the image of paradise is painted in bright colors on the walls and door. Many angels are depicted playing instruments on clouds and welcoming people to the Pure Land. In the center of the building there is a 2m-high golden Amida Buddha (Figure 2.2). In the Heian period, a temporary hut was built on the far shore of the pond and people did not enter the Phoenix Hall, but prayed toward it from this hut while gazing across the pond at an entire landscape with architecture containing a Buddha. During Yorimichi’s era, boats were launched on the pond and music was played to represent paradise. Whereas Byōdō-in enshrines only one Amida Buddha in the temple, Jōruri Temple has a Pure Land garden expressing the unique quality of Japan’s eclectic

Figure 2.2 Byōdōin Amida Buddha

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Themes form of Buddhism, which absorbed not only multiple Buddhas but ideas from other religions as well, namely Hinduism and Shinto. Jōruri Temple was originally founded to enshrine the Buddha of Pure Lapis Lazuli, or the Yakushi Buddha, in 1047 (Plate 10). However, the Amida Buddha was introduced when the idea of mappō became widespread at the end of the Heian period. The main building and the pond were constructed in 1107 by the priest Eshin, son of Regent Fujiwara Tadamichi and one of the highest-ranking monks in Kōfuku Temple. Because the Yakushi and Amida Buddhas co-existed in the main building at the time of construction, it is not clear whether the garden was originally designed to reflect the Pure Land of the Amida Buddha. In 1178, the three-story pagoda was moved from Ichijō Ōmiya in Kyoto and the Yakushi Buddha was moved to this pagoda. In addition, the Shinto goddess Benzaiten was enshrined on the central island in 1296.19 Currently, the complex is laid out around a large pond, which represents the ocean separating birth and death. Amida Hall on the west side of the pond symbolizes the Pure Land, and the three-story pagoda on the east side of the pond represents the Eastern Paradise of the Yakushi Buddha (Figure 2.3). The small shrine of Benzaiten on the island in the center of the pond is connected to the shore by a stone slab bridge. Benzaiten, originally the Hindu goddess Saraswati, became the Goddess of Golden Light, who promised protection of the state in China, and one of the Seven Gods of Fortune in Shinto. Benzaiten is the goddess of all things that flow, not just water, but music, language, and knowledge itself. Recognized in both Buddhism and Shinto in Japan, she is commonly enshrined near water, such as on an island in a pond or the ocean.20 The current Paradise Hall at Jōruri-ji contains nine statues of the Amida Buddha, each symbolizing one of the nine stages of Nirvana. The level to which one can go in the Pure Land is determined by one’s attitude toward life. In Jōruri Temple, all Amida

Figure 2.3 Jōruri Temple Amida Buddhas

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Buddhas are sitting with both hands held upward from their laps, except for the middle Buddha. This posture represents the meditating Buddha who is thinking of the enlightenment of all beings. The middle Amida Buddha, bigger than the others, has his left hand up and the right down, a posture representing how he puts one’s worries down with his right hand and gives hope with his left. Because the main hall building contains the Amida Buddha and the three-story pagoda contains the Yakushi Buddha, who lives in the world of Pure Lapis Lazuli in the east, visitors are supposed to pray first to the Yakushi Buddha to alleviate their suffering, then look back to the pond, and pray to the Amida Buddhas in the building beyond the pond, asking to be taken to the Pure Land. In Japan, the first day of spring and the first day of autumn are called higan, which means “the other shore,” indicating the Pure Land. The first day of spring and the first day of autumn are the only days of the year when the sun rises in the true east and sets in the true west, and when, in Jōruri Temple, one can observe the sun setting in the middle of the nine Buddhas from the center of the three pagodas. Because of this, the garden of Jōruri Temple is interpreted as symbolizing the Sun Goddess bringing messages from the Yakushi Buddha to the Amida Buddha on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.21 The three-story pagoda and the Benzaiten shrine were not originally parts of the temple. In Jōruri Temple, the idea of Pure Lapis Lazuli and the Pure Land, and furthermore, the ideas of Buddhist deities and Shinto deities were fused over approximately 1,000 years (Figure 2.4). In Jōruri Temple, three deities, Amida

Figure 2.4 Jōruri Temple pagoda

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Themes Buddha, the Buddha of Paradise; Yakushi Buddha, the Buddha of Healing of the Eastern Paradise who gives people medicine to survive; and Benzaiten, the guardian who gives people the power to live in this world, are beautifully integrated by the garden and by the concept of Shinto, which worships the sun as the Sun Goddess.

Zen Buddhism

After the fad for the Pure Land garden among aristocrats in the Heian period, we see the development of Zen gardens supported by the new military rulers in the Kamakura period. Whereas Pure Land Buddhist temples built gardens to visualize the world of Amida Buddha for the meditation practice of Pure Land Buddhism, Zen temples built gardens for meditation to answer the kōan. A kōan is a question derived from the words of masters, higher monks trying to make clear to student monks the limitations of thought and lead them to enlightenment. A kōan is a paradox that does not have any logical answer. For example, A monk asked Master Eshu, “Why did the Bodhidharma come from India?” The master answered, “The juniper tree in the garden.” What does this mean? Student monks given such a question sit and meditate (zazen), and then revisit the master once they find the answer. If the answer is accepted by the master, the student is assumed to be enlightened. The answer to the kōan above is as follows. “Why did the Bodhidharma come from India?” means “What is the meaning of Zen?” “The juniper tree in the garden” means “The juniper tree grows naturally in the garden and nobody asks why it grows. Similarly, there is no reason why Buddhism exists. We should accept it as it is without asking the reason for its substance.” This kōan explains the fundamental attitude of Zen Buddhism. In Japan, there are many Rinzai Zen temples that have a juniper tree planted at the gateway to symbolize this kōan. Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the sixth century as Chán. Zen flourished during the Tang and Song dynasties, but began to decline in China at the beginning of the Ming dynasty. It was introduced to Japan from China during the Kamakura period, when a military government was established. Zen emphasizes man’s ability to develop the self through constant practice and to attain the state of enlightenment. This belief, called “self power,” became popular with the military class, who lived with constant danger during times of war. As a result, Zen was supported by the Kamakura and Muromachi governments as a religion to support spiritual life in the current world, not just the afterlife. Many Zen temples and gardens built during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods still remain and are actively used in Japan.22

Themes Originally, five sects of Zen Buddhism developed in China, and two of them were introduced to Japan: the Rinzai and Sōtō sects. The Rinzai sect was introduced by Eisai (1141–1215), who studied Rinzai Zen in China and returned to Japan in 1191 after receiving the certification of Zen master. The Rinzai sect is also called kōan Zen because it stresses the kōan as an essential part of practice. The Sōtō sect was introduced by Dōgen, who studied Zen in China and came back to Japan in 1226. In contrast to Rinzai practice, Dōgen stressed only sitting meditation (zazen), not kōan. However, both the Rinzai and Sōtō sects hold that all creatures in this world have Buddhahood. Zen preaches that everyone can achieve enlightenment by one’s own efforts. This idea, which trusts everyone’s efforts to become a Buddha, is called jiriki, “self power.” Through sitting meditation (zazen), Zen tries to instill a calm mind in order to reach beyond one’s limits. Therefore, Zen temples do not erect any substantial Buddha statues like temples in Nara Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism. Instead, particularly in the Rinzai Zen temple, a garden which represents a kōan was created to help the monks meditate. As the military classes in Kamakura and aristocrats in Kyoto supported Zen, they invited monks from China and built Zen temples and gardens. Zen gardens were originally designed based on the palace-style garden. However, they gradually developed their own form, evolving into the dry garden (karesansui), a landscape garden without water.23 The Figure who developed the garden for Zen meditation was Musō Soseki (1275–1351), a Zen monk of the Rinzai sect who, in 1330, received the title of “Kokushi” in Kamakura, a title given to the highest-ranking Buddhist monk by the court. He established the five great Zen temples in Kyoto. Soseki is known as a founder of Rinzai Zen and also of Zen gardens during the Muromachi period. When he was young, he practiced meditation not in a large temple but on Mount Kantoku from which one can observe Mount Fuji. When he was thirty-one years old, he practiced meditation facing the Pacific Ocean from a cave in Usuba, which was an ancient grave during the Kofun period. He attained enlightenment at the age of thirty-three, and received the title of Kokushi at the age of fifty-five. Soseki traveled from the northern part of Honshu Island to Shikoku Island seeking out the beauty of nature, and built temples and gardens all over Japan. Among them, the gardens of Eihō Temple, Zuisen Temple, Saihō Temple, and Tenryū Temple were the most influential for the later development of the Zen garden.24 Soseki built gardens not for the color of flowers and trees but to symbolize episodes in kōans through nature, by naming stones and rocks, in order to familiarize visitors with them. Zen gardens designed by Soseki set symbolic rocks in hills and around the pond. Dry gardens became popular in Kyoto during the Muromachi period. In particular, Rinzai Zen temples created abstract dry gardens containing infinite messages for contemplation. Among them, Ryōan Temple, a Rinzai Zen temple located in northwest Kyoto, is the best example of such an abstract dry garden. The hōjō garden of Ryōan Temple is one of the most famous Zen gardens in the world, and was praised by the German architect Bruno Taut (Plate 11). It was built by Hosokawa Katsumoto (1430–1473) in 1450. The hōjō building burned down during the Ōnin War in 1472, and Hosokawa then moved Ryōan Temple to Rakuchū, in central Kyoto. In 1488, Hosokawa’s son, Masamoto (1466–1507), rebuilt Ryōan Temple on the original site.

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Themes No document has been found which records the year of construction and the designer of Ryōan Temple’s current rock garden. Whoever made it used a superb design based on Zen philosophy. Unlike the rocks in the garden of Daisen-in, none of the fifteen rocks of Ryōan Temple bears a symbolic name. The composition of the fifteen stones has been explained by many allegories, but none is based on substantial historical documents. Indeed, the interpretation of the fifteen rocks is totally up to the observer.25 One of the popular kōans associated with Ryōan Temple is the story of “Passing Three Tiger Cubs.” A mother tiger has three cubs. One of the cubs will eat the others if the mother does not watch them. The mother tiger needs to cross the river with three cubs. How can she bring all three cubs to the other shore without losing any of them? The rocks can be seen differently from different angles, in different seasons, and at different times of day. Contemplating the answer to the question of the mother tiger with three cubs by looking at the stones in the sand as tigers swimming in the river is one way to appreciate Ryōan Temple. Comprehending the garden is a process of self-discovery, similar to the process of answering a kōan. Whereas Ryōan Temple is a garden symbolizing an abstract landscape with only rocks and sand, Tōfuku Temple is a Zen garden which combines a rock garden and a pond garden. Tōfuku Temple was founded in 1236 by Imperial Chancellor Kujō Michiie. He appointed as founding priest the monk Enni (1202–1280), who had studied Rinzai Zen Buddhism in China under the monk Wuzhun Shifan. Tōfuku Temple is one of the five great Zen temples of Kyoto.

Figure 2.5 Tōfuku Temple Tsūten Bridge

Themes In 1380, Shun’oku Myōha (1312–1388) built a covered bridge across the valley to ease the travels of the monks. He received the title of Zen master from Musō Soseki, his maternal uncle. He named the bridge Tsūten (Path to Heaven) Bridge because of its superb view of the valley called Sengyokukan (Figure 2.5). This view can be associated with the view from the bridge on Mount Keng in Zhejiang province, where Keng Temple, one of the five great Zen temples in China, was built. With Tōfuku Temple Myō invoked the image of the most famous Zen temple in southern China by using the natural scenery of the valley.26 On the other side of the Tsūten Bridge is a temple named Kaizan-dō, a generic name for the hall of a temple where the statue of its founder or first priest is enshrined. The current building was erected in 1823 in the Edo period after a fire had destroyed the older one four years earlier. After entering the gate of Kaizan-dō, a path leading to the main hall separates the front garden into two distinct zones. On the left is a chessboard-like, raked-sand area (Plate 12). This dry garden is in marked contrast to the hill-and-pond garden with rocks symbolizing a turtle and crane, and a couple of stone bridges crossing a little pond (Plate 13). The hill-andpond garden is in the typical garden style designed to be viewed from within the residence (shoin) of a member of the military class. The garden of Kaizan-dō is a Zen garden juxtaposing the typical dry garden with the residential garden style popular during the Edo period.

Literature and meisho

One of the basic concepts of the Japanese garden is recreating the beauty of natural scenery. The beginning of Sakuteiki, the oldest garden book, written in the Heian period, recommends that the garden designer “imagine the landscape of nature” as a key point of garden design.27 This recommendation indicates that the Japanese garden is not just a place for appreciating trees and flowers, but a space where the visitor associates them with a certain landscape. In garden design, the recreation of beautiful natural scenery has been a central concept. Such an appreciation of natural scenery is part of Japanese custom based on the Shinto attitude of nature worship. However, nature has been important not only for Japanese religion but also for Japanese literature. Representing natural beauty has been the central theme in Japanese poetry, and it has been a tool for describing mood and situation in classic literature. The Japanese call scenic places meisho, and they have been a popular theme in art and literature since ancient times. Among Japanese meisho Ama-nohashidate is particularly famous. It was already considered a sacred place in Fudoki (the oldest Japanese history book), and was one of the most popular themes in poems, paintings, and gardens. During the Heian period, the aristocratic class took the lead in developing gardens that featured meisho themes taken from not only Japanese but also Chinese scenic places. Indeed, the oldest example of a garden with a meisho theme is the Garden of Emperor Saga’s Villa, which reflected the scenery of Lake Dongting in Hunan province, China. Ōsawa Pond, the oldest remaining Japanese garden from the Heian period, was built by Emperor Saga (786–842 ce; reign 809–823 ce) (Plate 14). Modeled after Lake Dongting, the pond was constructed by damming the flow of a

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Themes river by building a long dike using the terrain, which slopes gently to the southeast. Lake Dongting is China’s second largest, and it once had an island called Yueyang, now connected to the mainland, where many Taoist practitioners lived. The lake is famous for its Taoist practice and scenic beauty. The landscape of the southern part of the lake, called “Xiaoxiang at the South Lake,” became especially popular among many Chinese poets, including Tang dynasty poet Du Fu, and painters. During the Song dynasty, painting eight landscapes of this lake became a genre of Chinese painting called the “Eight Views of Xiaoxiang.”28 During the reign of Emperor Saga, the Japanese government frequently sent delegations to China. New sects of Buddhism were introduced, and temples were built in the Chinese style. Chinese literature and culture became fashionable in Japan, and Emperor Saga modeled his government after the Chinese political system and culture. In keeping with this social trend, Emperor Saga copied famous Chinese scenery in his garden in order to be inspired by Chinese poems and culture.29 When the military class gained political power in the Kamakura period, far fewer nobility created gardens with poetic themes, so fewer gardens with meisho were built between the Kamakura and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. However, after a new law was implemented by the Tokugawa government (“Prohibition and Taboo for Nobility”) that ensured the financial support of imperial families and the nobility while prohibiting them from involvement in politics and encouraging them to focus instead on cultural activities, gardens with meisho, like Katsura Imperial Villa, again appeared. Under the new social conditions of the Tokugawa shogunate, Prince Toshihito created the garden in Katsura Villa, once the villa of Fujiwara Michinaga, regent during the Heian period, not only as a place to compose poems, but also as a place to remember the cultural landscape of the Heian period, when nobles had political power and poems were an important means of communication (Plate 15). Genkyū-en, the garden of the fourth lord of Hikone-han, Ii Naooki (1656–1717), built at the beginning of the Edo period in 1678, symbolizes not the famous meisho in Heian literature but the local meisho of Ohmi, matching famous Chinese scenery in classic Chinese literature. The landscape of Genkyū-en was modeled after the summer palace garden of Emperor Xuanzong in Lake Dongting. The garden borrows the scenery of the castle keep as the focal point, and has four islands and nine bridges in the pond and several lookout structures around it. The views of Genkyū-en were called the “Eight Views of Ohmi” instead of the “Eight Views of Xiaoxiang.” Furthermore, as the road system and lodging facilities were improved and traveling became easier under the system of sankinkōtai (alternate attendance), the rule that forced every daimyō to move periodically between Edo (Tokyo) and his han (province), meisho became a popular theme among the common people in literature and art. During the peaceful Edo period, the role of feudal lords was not conquering in battle but developing the culture and economy. Feudal lords became leaders in Japanese education, building schools for the common people throughout Japan. In the residences of these feudal lords who commuted frequently between Tokyo and their provinces, we can often find local meisho that reflect not only classic literature but scenery the lords passed during their journeys. For example, Toyama-sō, the garden built in Tokyo in 1668 by the second lord Tokugawa Mitsutomo of Owari Han, was a large-scale stroll garden with two ponds. Only part of it remains now, but

Themes the 44.6m-high mountain in the garden still exists and is one of the highest artificial mounds in Tokyo. In Toyama-sō, the mountain was called Mount Hakone, which had a major official checkpoint on the route known as the Hakone Checkpoint, forming the border of the Kantō region. During the Edo period, all travelers entering and leaving Edo (Tokyo) along the Tōkaidō highway were stopped here for inspection. Near Mount Hakone in Toyama-sō, the Odawara post station was recreated. The post stations were places where many shops and inns were built for travelers to rest on their journey. Odawara was the last post station before entering Edo and one of the biggest post stations on the Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto. In the Odawara post station in Toyama-sō there were thirty-six shops, including a flower shop, a bookstore, a nursery, and a liquor shop along the 200m-long street.30 Copying a town from a remote place and enjoying its culture might seem similar to the idea behind Disney World’s EPCOT Center; however, meisho in Japan have a strong association with poetry and literature.

Japanese poems and waka

The development of Japanese literature began with the compilation of the poem anthology Man’yōshū in the seventh century. Chinese characters are difficult for the Japanese to learn, but once kana syllables, which are the phonetic characters, were developed, writing became easier and accessible to women. In Japan, poetry is classified into two genres: Japanese poetry composed of kana syllables, such as waka and tanka, and Chinese poetry composed of Chinese characters. Women played a major role in the development of waka poetry, and many masterpieces were written by female authors. Among the types of Japanese poetry, waka is the most common style found during the Heian period. Composed of 31 syllables: 5-7-5-7-7, the rule of waka is to include a word that represents a season or nature as a main theme and has a double meaning, such as love and philosophy, in the prescribed number of syllables. The difficulty and joy of appreciating waka is guessing the hidden meanings behind the representations of nature. Waka became one of the most important educational pursuits in Japan, and there were many social occasions to compose and present waka among nobles and the ruling class. Because meisho are scenic places with many historic episodes, they were one of the most common themes for waka parties, and many gardens with elements symbolizing meisho were built for such social occasions. Rikugi-en is representative of these gardens. Rikugi-en was built in 1702 by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, one of the favorites of the fifth shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, as his second residence in Tokyo. Yanagisawa was knowledgeable in literature and supported the fifth shogun’s political policy of strengthening the education system in Japan. He introduced many Confucian scholars into the bakufu (the shogun’s administration system) and encouraged the study of Confucianism in Japan. Yanagisawa aimed to rule the country not by military power but by stabilizing the social order with education and standards of etiquette. The name Rikugi-en (六義園) literally means “Garden of the Six Means.” Rikugi 六義 indicates six styles of expression in poetry: direct expression (fu 賦), metaphoric expression (hi 比), simile expression (kō 興), poems for common people (fū 風),

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Themes poems for the court (ga 雅), and poems of memory and worship (shō 頻). This classification is explained in The Book of Poetry, one of the Five Classics edited by Confucius. Yanagisawa designed his garden as a place to invoke classic poetry and to compose new poems. Since his birthplace, Kii province in Wakayama (Mountain of Poetry) Prefecture, is home to Waka-no-ura (Bay of Poetry), one of the famous meisho visited by poets, in Rikugi-en Yanagisawa designed eighty-eight spots to celebrate the scenery of the Bay of Poetry. All the elements of the garden are miniaturized, and the small trees and mountains are meant to suggest larger-scale nature by their names and shapes. They were designed to instill in viewers the beautiful scenery of the Bay of Poetry and prompt their imaginations to consider composing a new poem on the places where so many poems had been written since ancient times. Yanagisawa invited many guests to the garden, such as the fifth shogun Tsunayoshi and the shogun’s mother Keishō-in. In the garden, Yanagisawa sometimes set up small shops and tea houses to recreate the sense of travel through mountain villages. His visitors spent all day strolling in the garden, enjoying the miniaturized sceneries and composing poems about them31 (Plate 16).

Chinese poetry and Confucianism

While many famous Japanese poems with kana syllables were composed by women, Chinese poems were mainly composed by men. Generally, in Japan, a Japanese poem is considered elegant, personal, and feminine, and a Chinese poem is considered formal, official, and masculine. Many prominent Chinese poets were Confucian officers. In Confucianism, moral education is very important, and understanding poetry is the basis for studying its teachings. Therefore, Chinese landscape poems often have ethical, political, and social ideals as their main theme, whereas Japanese landscape poems often emphasize personal emotions, such as love and sorrow. In the Edo period, the government promoted ruling the country by enforcing education and encouraging the economy through reducing the burden of military service. Neo-Confucianism was studied by the military class. As a result, Confucian ideas were sometimes reflected in the gardens of daimyō during the Edo period. Among them, Koishikawa Kōraku-en is the Japanese garden most strongly influenced by the ideas of Confucianism. The construction of Koishikawa Kōraku-en was begun in 1629 by the founder of the Mito Tokugawa family, Tokugawa Yorifusa (1603– 1661), and was completed by the second lord, Mitsukuni (1628–1701). The name Kōraku-en (後楽園) is a reference to the words of Fan Zhongyan (989–1052), a Confucian scholar from the Song dynasty: “A scholar is the first to worry about the world, and the last to enjoy its pleasures.” (天下憂先憂、天下楽後楽) Mitsukuni named his garden “Kōraku-en” (en 園means “garden”) by taking the last two characters from Fan’s words, Kōraku (後楽), which mean “joy after…,” alluding to “The lord worries before the people and enjoys after the people.” Mitsukuni was a daimyō known for his influence in the politics of the early Edo period. When he succeeded his father and became second lord of the Mito clan, he supported agriculture and education. He loved to study, and invited to his residence Ming dynasty Confucian scholar Zhu Shunsui (1600–1682), whose knowledge ranged

Themes from agriculture to Confucian thought and who particularly valued the practical application of philosophical ideas. Zhu served as Mitsukuni’s advisor until his death. Mitsukuni studied classic literature, took a leadership role in the preservation of cultural assets, and founded an institution to edit “The Great History of Japan” in the Koishikawa residence and called it “Shōkōkan.” He invited about 130 scholars from all regions of Japan to study Confucianism and Japanese history there. Kōraku-en was a garden featuring a central pond and hills for strolling and boating. In the garden, Mitsukuni incorporated miniaturized Chinese scenic locations and Japanese meisho with important literary significance, such as Mount Lu, West Lake in Hangzhou, and Ōi River and Tsūten Bridge in Kyoto (Plate 17).32 Mitsukuni often opened his garden to his retainers and held performances and flower- and firefly-viewing parties there. At these parties, Mitsukuni had a poem competition in which all visitors composed a poem on the garden scenery, and the best ones were chosen at the end of the party.33 These poem parties reflected the values of the Heian period, when accomplished writers were considered the most important figures at court. Given the rigid feudal social structure of the time, retainers usually had little chance to present their thoughts and feelings to their lord. The poem party in the garden provided an occasion not only for retainers to share the enjoyment of the beautiful scenery but also for the lord to become better acquainted with his retainers. The scenery of Kōraku-en was designed not only to represent Japanese and Chinese meisho in order to inspire new literature, but also to promote education and communication between Mitsukuni’s family and his retainers.

Stories

The sceneries of Rikugi-en and Kōraku-en were designed to symbolize meisho in Japan or in China associated with many famous poets and poems. However, some gardens were designed to recreate a scene from a famous fictional story. In such a garden, the viewer is assumed to be familiar with the narrative, so he or she can imagine being the main character and compose a new poem about the landscape. Japanese fiction started with fables such as Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori Monogatari), then poem-stories such as Tales of Ise, and developed into the style of novels such as Tale of Genji. Tales of Ise was written at the beginning of the Heian period as a collection of waka. It is a rough chronology of the central character’s life, from his coming-of-age ceremony to his death, with 125 lines of narrative and waka. The numerous adventures, situations, and emotions of the central character are represented by waka which create double meanings for the imagery of natural scenery. This is the first romantic story in Japanese literature which influenced Tale of Genji and later literature. In particular, the section in which the central character was exiled to the east is famous, and the landscape of the iris field with a plank bridge, which is expressed in waka, became a popular theme not only in paintings and crafts but also in gardens. Because Japanese stories written during the Heian period made heavy use of waka as a means of dialogue, women authors played an important role in the development of Japanese novels. Tale of Genji is an example of such a work. It was written by

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Themes Lady Murasaki Shikibu in the early years of the eleventh century in the Heian period. Tale of Genji contains over fifty chapters with over 800 waka. The work recounts the life of Hikaru Genji, or “Shining Genji,” who was the son of an ancient Japanese emperor. In Tale of Genji, the emotions of the central characters and others are beautifully expressed by waka. The scenes of the novel were painted on picture scrolls and recreated in gardens. Katsura Imperial Villa is the representative garden which recreated the story of Tale of Genji. Designed by Prince Toshihito in the seventeenth century, it currently has four tea houses, Shōkin-tei (Pine-Lute Pavilion), Shōka-tei (Flower-Appreciation Pavilion), Shōiken (Laughing Thoughts Pavilion), and Geppa-rō (Moon-wave Tower), and a small ancestral shrine, Onrin-dō, built around the pond. The garden was designed for visiting these buildings either on foot or by boat. In the pond, a small, protruding pier called Ama-no-hashidate, covered with cobblestones, is the focal point of the garden. Ama-no-hashidate is a historic meisho upon which many poems were composed by poets in the Heian period. Prince Toshihito copied its scenery not only because of its historic significance but also because it was the birthplace of his wife, Kyogoku Tsuneko. Prince Toshihito, impressed with the scenery of Ama-no-hashidate when he visited the site, composed a poem with this sentiment: “I heard about the great reputation of Ama-no-hashidate through poems and paintings in Kyoto; however, this is much greater than I thought!” Prince Toshihito was well known for his familiarity with classic literature, and particularly for his study of, and book of quotations from, Tale of Genji. With his great knowledge of this famous text, Prince Toshihito designed Katsura Imperial Villa to invoke some of the scenes described in the novel. For example, Pine-Lute Pavilion in front of Ama-no-hashidate was designed to recreate a scene in the chapter “Akashi.” In this episode, Genji stops at the beach one evening during his journey into exile from Kyoto. He looks at Awaji Island in the moonlight, composes a poem of longing for Kyoto, and plays the lute. The sound of the lute travels through the nearby village with the sound of waves and the rustling of pine trees. Women in the village are impressed and absorbed in the beautiful sounds. Awaji Island and Ama-no-hashidate are different places. However, Prince Toshihito built a hut in which to play the lute while looking at Ama-no-hashidate in the moonlight, associating this with the scene in “Akashi.” The hut was named “PineLute Pavilion” (松琴亭) after a sentence in Shūi Wakashū, one of the oldest Japanese anthologies of poems: “At night, the sound of the lute travels with the rustling of pine trees…” (松風入夜琴). Prince Toshihito designed the garden not only to recreate a pictorial image from Tale of Genji, but to create a world with a view of the island and the sound of pine trees where he could play the role of Genji.34 Katsura Imperial Villa is a well-maintained, beautiful garden, but you can appreciate its beauty much more if you are familiar with the story of Tale of Genji (Plate 18).

Tea ceremony

The Japanese tea ceremony, also called chanoyu or sadō, involves the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha, powdered green tea. This ceremony, which developed from a tradition of Zen Buddhism, became a secular cultural practice that is still common in Japan. The utensils, architecture, gardens, and art of the tea

Themes ceremony were designed according to unique aesthetics, which influenced the later development of Japanese art and culture. The tea garden is an important genre of the Japanese garden, seen even in very recent architecture, such as restaurants in skyscrapers and hotels, which expresses the unique nature of Japanese culture. Tea was originally introduced to Japan from China. The first documented evidence of tea in Japan dates to the ninth century, during the Heian period, when it was brought by the Buddhist monk Eichū (永忠) on his return from China. During the reign of Emperor Saga, tea was enjoyed at poem parties in gardens. Tea became indispensable for Buddhist ceremonies during the Heian period, but the form of tea popular then was “cake tea” (dancha 団茶) – tea compressed into a nugget. Around the end of the twelfth century, the style of tea preparation called tencha (点茶), in which powdered matcha was placed into a bowl, hot water added, and the tea and hot water whipped together, was introduced to Japan by Eisai along with Rinzai Zen Buddhism on his return from China. Tencha was first used in religious rituals in Buddhist monasteries, but gradually, drinking powdered tea became a kind of status symbol among the warrior class. In the Muromachi period, tea-tasting (tōcha 闘茶) parties at which contestants won prizes for guessing the name of the tea became popular in Kyoto. At the same time, Murata Jukō, who studied Zen under the monk Ikkyū, developed a new form of tea ceremony as a spiritual practice. Jukō’s concept of the tea ceremony as spiritual practice was elaborated by his disciples Murata Sōju and Takeno Jōō, and completed by Sen Rikyū (1517–1591) as wabi-cha, which is a tea ceremony held in a simple tea house smaller than 3.6m × 3.6m, or the area of 4.5 tatami mats, the minimum size of one room in Rikyū’s era, a single tatami mat being approximately 0.9m × 1.8m. Rikyū was a merchant in Sakai and became a student of Jōō when he was eighteen years old. While Jōō made tea utensils objects to be appreciated during the tea ceremony, Rikyū extended Jōō’s idea to the appreciation of the tea garden, tea house, interior decoration, and the manner in which the ceremony was carried out. Rikyū described wabi-cha in his book Nampōroku as “an occasion for wiping all the dust from one’s thoughts and communicating between host and guest with a true mind.” In other words, wabi-cha is not a leisurely occasion but an inner, or spiritual, experience of human communication similar to Zen meditation, which involves finding oneself by experiencing nature.35 Wabi-cha became popular among the warrior class and merchant class in Kyoto, and they built tea houses in the downtown district, which was cluttered with the houses of merchants and craftsmen, rather than in their own residences. Such a tea house was called “a retreat in the city.” João Rodrigues (1561–1633), a Portuguese Jesuit priest who carried out missionary work in Japan, wrote a detailed description of the tea ceremony. Rodrigues was fluent in Japanese and wrote several books, including a Japanese grammar entitled Arte da Lingoa de Iapam in 1604. His fluency in Japanese earned him a special relationship with key Japanese leaders, and he became a merchant, diplomat, politician, and interpreter. Because he had an opportunity to negotiate with many Japanese in different classes at different levels, his interpretation of Japanese culture was objective and accurate. He described the tea ceremony as a custom derived from Zen Buddhism. However, it did not adopt any myth, doctrine, or ritual of the religion. It only took the notion of retreating from public affairs without laziness,

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Themes tardiness, and indecisiveness, and encouraging a strong will and prompt action. He also mentioned the new style of tea ceremony called suki that started among wealthy merchants in Sakai, Osaka, at that time. This new style of tea ceremony sought beauty in simplicity by eliminating unnecessary items, while the warrior class was indulging in a sumptuous tea ceremony. Tea masters in Sakai planted a few small trees and built a small tea house among them to represent a farmhouse in the countryside or a hermitage. The purpose of the tea house is to appreciate nature, and to invite people to share this feeling. The tea house became a refreshing retreat in the city, which had neglected to provide a space for rest. Rodrigues concluded that Japanese people considered the tea house better in some ways than a retreat in nature. In other words, they enjoyed creating “a retreat in the city.”36

Wabi and sabi

The aesthetic of the tea ceremony is unique, and represented by the terms wabi and sabi. Wabi and sabi, synonyms for the beauty found in purity and serenity, are central to the design aesthetics of the tea house and garden. Wabi refers to the appreciation of simplicity, poverty, and age, whereas sabi refers to the environment, or objects. The concept of wabi and sabi is influenced by Buddhism. Sabi indicates Nirvana in Buddhism, but with respect to the tea ceremony, it describes the simplicity, poverty, and isolation of living in nature. “Poverty” in this sense means being honest with oneself and not depending on wealth or power: it is the highest value, exceeding any social rank. Both wabi and sabi express the beauty that comes with age. This is quiet or sober refinement, a subdued taste characterized by humility, restraint, simplicity, naturalism, profundity, imperfection, and asymmetry. The tea house and garden are designed to represent “a retreat in the city” in keeping with the aesthetics of wabi and sabi. This goal is achieved by the combined effects of all the elements of the tea ceremony, i.e. architecture, plants, stones, utensils, and manners. What follows is an introduction to the elements of the tea house and garden which play a central role in the tea ceremony.

Sōan tea house (Plate 19)

There are many styles and sizes of tea houses. Some are big, for a tea ceremony with many people, and some are small, for just a few people. A sōan or “farm hut” style tea house, is one of the most popular. It is a small hut screened from sight by hedges to create a sense of remoteness. Rikyū designed a sōan with only three tatami mats (2.7m × 2.7m) or two (2.7m × 1.8m), with roughly cut wooden timbers. This is an extremely small space for two people to sit in, a host and a guest. Interestingly, although the room of the sōan is extremely small, it may not feel claustrophobic but spacious to someone sitting within it. Rikyū developed various details and procedures that make the small space feel larger and evoke nature. For example, all guests must crawl from the tea garden (roji) through a low 0.9m × 0.9m entranceway to enter the room, the nijiriguchi. Since guests emerge into a dimly lit space from outside through such a small entrance, they feel a sense of relief and spaciousness rather then a sense of smallness when they duck into the room.

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Figure 2.6 Interior space of Omote Senke Fushin-an The ornamental alcove, the tokonoma (床の間), is located near the entrance, so guests first encounter this small display as they enter the room. A scroll with calligraphy or a painting, or a small vase of flowers would be arranged in the alcove to suggest the main theme of the ceremony, an attraction which makes the visitor focus on a small object while his or her vision adjusts to the small scale. Guests are not supposed to stand up in the tea house so a visitor’s eye level is at sitting position. After appreciating the display in the alcove, visitors move to their seats in a sitting position that is almost like crawling. The beams, columns, and window frames are much smaller and thinner and the ceiling is lower than in standard architecture. Since every aspect of the space is proportionally balanced, and visitors look up at these elements from a low eye level, the space does not seem small when viewed from within (Figure 2.6). Once visitors settle into position, their eyes move through the interior space, following the asymmetric arrangements of the ceiling and windows; part of the ceiling is lifted up and small windows are laid out in a staggered manner, giving viewers a sense of motion. The walls are roughly finished with earthen clay mixed with straw, and the column of the alcove is a naturally curved piece of wood whose color and texture suggest the nature outside the tea house. Thus, by his unique attention to detail, Rikyū successfully designed the sōan, the ultimate minimal space, a humble but spacious and artificial but naturalistic place that invokes the sense of “a retreat in the city.”37

The tea garden (Figure 2.7)

The Japanese tea ceremony is a process which entails visiting the host, entering the tea garden, waiting there, and then entering the tea house, appreciating the scroll or flowers presented in the alcove, conversing with the host, having food and tea, and

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Figure 2.7 Stepping stones and stone basin in Omote Senke Fushin-an tea garden then leaving the tea house. The tea garden, or roji, is not a garden to be observed in its own right – it does not have a pond or hills – but simply a small outdoor approach to the tea house that provides a pure feeling of serenity to prepare for the tea ceremony. Two important episodes tell us about Rikyū’s design concept for a tea garden. When a disciple of Rikyū asked him how to design a tea garden, Rikyū told him to think about the landscape expressed in the old waka poem: Kashiwaba no momiji nukarani chiritsumoru okuyama michi no sabishisa

Oak leaves fell before turning yellow The lonely path of the deep mountain covered with the fallen leaves.38

In another episode, Rikyū was cleaning the tea garden on an autumn day. When he had cleaned up the garden, he shook the tree and let more leaves fall to the ground. A man asked what he was doing, and Rikyū responded, “It looks more natural with a few leaves.” 39 These episodes reveal how the tea garden is set up to symbolize the atmosphere of the deep mountains. Tea gardens are generally classified into two types: a simple path to the small sōan tea house (sōan roji), and a garden facing the larger tea room

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Figure 2.8 Plan of the tea garden and tea house of Omote Senke Fushin-an (shoin roji). Shoin roji are generally divided into two parts by a small gate. Shoin roji are larger than sōan roji and are designed to be viewed from the tea room or the waiting bench as well as when passing through. However, both kinds of tea garden are designed to invoke the feeling of a retreat in the mountains (Figure 2.8). Since a tea garden is a transitional space from the outer world to the tea house, the garden’s functionality as a place for waiting, cleansing, and approaching is as important as its scenery. In the tea ceremony, the guests are not introduced to the tea house directly. They are first introduced to the waiting room where they can change clothes, then to the tea garden. The tea garden is basically equipped with a gate, stepping stones, a bench where guests await the host’s signal that all is ready, a toilet, stone lanterns for providing light, and a basin for hand-washing and mouth-rinsing, required etiquette for tea ceremony guests. Once they enter the gate of the tea garden, the path is indicated with stepping stones. Rikyū used stepping stones mainly for functionality; however, later tea masters arranged stepping stones for aesthetic as well as functional purposes. The major purpose of these stepping stones is to protect the guests’ clothing from dipping into water on rainy days, but the pattern they create is a fundamental part of the garden’s design, evoking the image of a mountain path. Stepping stones, by their size

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Figure 2.9 Omote Senke Fushin-an bench

and the distance between them, control the speed at which guests can walk, their motions, and viewing points. When the stepping stones change direction, one must pay attention to one’s footing and avert one’s eyes from the scenery. The scenery changes constantly according to one’s steps. The next moment, when one looks up, the scenery has changed. Although the tea garden is a small space, guests forget their worldly concerns and prepare for the special ceremony by walking among these elements. The master wets the stones before the arrival of the guests in order to show their colors and patterns (Plate 20). After walking through the gate, there is a waiting bench in the tea garden where guests are supposed to sit. Guests are supposed to wait on the bench until the master gives the sign, approach the tea house, wash their hands in the basin set in front of the tea house, and enter the room (Figure 2.9). The stone basin in the tea garden is designed to represent a mountain spring. Therefore, some basins have a device called kakei, a bamboo pipe with running water, or are set in white sand, which represents river water. The tea ceremony was introduced as a perfect setting for important political meetings by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Azuchi-Momoyama period. The tea ceremony had become integral to Japanese life by the Edo period, not only among the ruling class but also among the common people. As a place for meeting and private retreat, the tea house and tea garden were included in the stroll garden in the residence of imperial families and daimyō as we see in Katsura Villa and Koishikawa Kōraku-en. Wealthy commoners also built tea houses and tea gardens in

Themes their residences, and elements of the tea garden – stepping stones, stone lanterns, and stone basins – became part of the general design vocabulary of residential gardens. The tea garden may look like an absurdly small enclosed landscape, but it is actually the threshold to a new world. The symbolic significance of the tea garden is not a particular theme or element of the garden, but the synthetic effect of the walking experience, which momentarily arrests time and evokes nature.

Notes

1 Donald Keene, ed., Anthology of Japanese Literature: From the earliest era to the midnineteenth century, New York: Grove Press, 1955. 2 広陵町教育委員会編『巣山古墳調査概報』学生社、2005 (Kōryōchō kyōiku iin kai, 2005); 須山古墳第7次現地調査説明会 (The presentation of the 7th site survey of Suyama Kofun), http://www.furutasigaku.jp/jfuruta/kaihou79/kai07907.html, retrieved in August 2013. 3 安津素彦、梅田義彦編集兼監修『神道辞典』堀書店、1937. (Anzu Motohiko et al., 1937) 4 三重県埋蔵文化財センター編「三重県埋蔵文化財調査報告99-3」『城之越遺跡-三重県 上野市比土-』三重県埋蔵文化財センター、1992 (Mie-ken Maizō Bunka Center ed., 1992); 上野市遺跡調査会編「城之越遺跡発掘調査報告」『上野市文化財調査報告51』上 野市教育委員会、1998. (Ueno-shi iseki chōsa iinkai ed., 1998) 5 穂積裕昌編『城之越遺跡』三重県埋蔵文化財センター、1992 (Hoseki Hiroaki, 1992); 『巣 山古墳第七次調査現地説明会』(Suyama kofun dai 7ji chōsa genchi setsumei-kai.) http:// www.furutasigaku.jp/jfuruta/kaihou79/kai07907.html, retrieved in August 2013. 6 『特別史跡平城京左京三条二坊宮跡庭園整備報告書』奈良市教育委員会、1986 (Narashi kyōiku iinkai, 1986);『平城京左京三条二坊六坪発掘調査報告』奈良国立文化財研究 所、1986. (Nara kokuritsu bunkazai kenkyūsho ed., 1986) 7 坂井秀哉・本中眞編『野外復元日本の歴史』(別冊歴史読本97)新人物往来社、1998 (Sakai Hideya, Motonaka Makoto, ed., 1998); 『金生遺跡県営圃場整備事業に伴う発 掘調査報告書』山梨県埋蔵文化財センター、1988, 1989 (Yamanashi-ken Maizō Bunka Center, 1988, 1989); 新津健「金生遺跡」『山梨県史 資料編1 原始・古代〔考古(遺跡)〕 』1998. (Niitsu Ken, 1998) 8 堀一郎『日本の宗教』大明堂、1990. (Hori Ichirō, Daimeidō, 1990) 9 福永光司『道教と日本文化』人文書院、1982. (Fukunaga Mitsuji, 1982) 10 森蘊『平安時代庭園の研究』桑名文星堂、1945. (Mori Osamu, 1945) 11 奈良国立文化財研究所編『発掘庭園資料』奈良国立文化財研究所、1998. (Nara kokuritsu bunkazai kenkyūsho, ed., 1998) 12 廣松渉『哲学思想事典』岩波書店、1998. (Hiromatsu Wataru, 1998) 13 井上光貞『日本浄土教成立史の研究』岩波書店、1985. (Inoue Mitsusada, 1985) 14 大野達之助『日本の佛教』至文堂、1961. (Ōno Tatsunosuke, 1961) 15 佐和隆研『日本の仏教美術』三麗社、1981. (Sawa Ryūken, 1981) 16 『東アジアにおける理想郷と庭園』奈良文化財研究所・文化庁、2009. (Nara bunkazai kenkyūsho/bunkachō, 2009) 17 本中真『日本古代の庭園と景観』吉川弘文館、1994. (Motonaka Makoto, 1994) 18 宇治市歴史資料館編『史跡及び名勝平等院庭園保存整備報告書』平等院、2003. (Uji-shi rekishi shiryō-kan, ed., 2003) 19 『国宝浄瑠璃寺庭本堂・三重塔修理工事報告書』京都府教育委員会、1967 (Kyoto-fu kyōiku iinkai, 1967); 庭園文化研究所編『名勝浄瑠璃寺庭園―環境整備事業報告 書』1977. (Teien bunka kenkyūsho, ed., 1977) 20 本中真、1994. (Motonaka, 1994) 21 佐伯快勝『古寺めぐりの仏教常識』朱鷺書房、1987 (Saeki Kaishō, 1987)

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26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

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久保田展弘『日本宗教とは何か』新潮社、1994. (Kubota Tenkō, 1994) 田村芳朗『鎌倉新仏教思想の研究』平楽寺書店、1965. (Tamura Yoshirō, 1965) 村岡正「夢窓国師」『日本美術史の先達たち上』筑摩書房、1982. (Muraoka Tadashi, 1982) 吉川需『枯山水の庭』、至文堂、1971 (Yoshikawa Matsu, 1971);『指定庭園調査報告(京都 府)第一輯』内務省、1928 (Naimu-shō, 1928.); 村岡正・飛田範夫「竜安寺の石庭」『太陽庭 と家シリーズ 枯山水』平凡社、1980. (Muraoka Tadashi et.al., 1980); 田中正大「龍安寺方 丈前庭之図 」『建築史研究』彰国社 1972. (Tanaka Seidai, 1972) 重森三玲『重森三玲作庭集 庭 神々へのアプローチ』誠文堂新光社、1976 (Shigemori Mirei, 1976);大岡信ほか『東福寺』(古寺巡礼京都18)淡交社、1977. (Ōoka Makoto, 1977) 田村剛『作庭記』相模書房、1964. (Tamura Tsuyoshi, 1964) 『史跡大覚寺御所跡発掘調査報告』大覚寺、1997. (Daikaku-ji, 1997) 木村卜堂『日本と中国の書史』 日本書作家協会、1971. (Kimura Bokudō, 1971) 小寺武久『尾張藩江戸下屋敷の謎-虚構の町をもつ大名庭園』中央公論社、1989 (Kodera Takehisa, 1989); 李偉「尾張藩戸山荘の眺望に関する研究」『日本研究第34集』国際日本文 化研究センター、2007. (Ri Ii, 2007.) 森守『六義園』(東京公園文庫19) 東京都公園協会監修、郷学舎、1981. (Mori Mamoru, 1981) 五島聖子『小石川後楽園の作庭と利用にみる哲学』千葉大学大学院自然科学研究科環境 計画学講座緑地設計学研究室特別研究No.104 号、千葉大学、1996. (Goto Seiko, 1996) Ibid. 森蘊『桂離宮』東都文化出版社、1955 (Mori Osamu, 1955); 内藤昌『新桂離宮論』鹿 島研究所出版会、1967. (Naitō Akira, 1967) 村井康彦『茶の湯の歴史』淡交社、1969 (Murai Yasuhiko, 1969); 裏千家今日庵文庫 編『茶道文化研究第1輯』裏千家今日庵文庫、1974. (Ura senke konnichi-an bunko, ed., 1974) ジョアン・ロドリゲス、江馬務他訳『日本教会史』上巻岩波書店, 1967 (Joao Rodrigues, Ema Tsutomu, trans., 1967); Michael Cooper, ed., João Rodrigues’s Account of Sixteenth-Century Japan. London: The Hakluyt Society, 2001. 中村利則編『茶道学大系6 茶室・露地』淡交社、2000. (Nakamura Toshinori, ed., 2000); 中村昌生編『茶道聚錦7 座敷と露地(1)』小学館、1984 (Nakamura Masao, ed., 1984); 中村昌生編『茶道聚錦8 座敷と露地(2)』小学館、1986 (Nakamura Masao, ed., 1986); 井口海仙ほか編『京の茶家』墨水書房、1969. (Iguchi Kaisen et al., 1969) 堀口捨己・稲垣栄三編『図説茶道大系第4巻 茶の建築と庭』角川書店、1962 (Horiguchi Sutemi, Inagaki Eizō, ed., 1962); 赤井達郎『茶の湯絵画資料集成』平凡 社、1992. (Akai Tatsurō, 1992) 中村昌生『茶室の研究』墨水書房、1971. (Nakamura Masao, 1971)

CHAPTER 3

Landform

Japanese gardens symbolize the mystical power and beauty of nature not only by the built landscape they contain but by the existing landscape that surrounds them. Maximum utilization of given environmental conditions is an aspect of superior design in a Japanese garden. If a site has beautiful scenery, the view should be introduced as the main theme of the garden. If a garden is built on a particular topography, the lay of the land and existing natural resources, such as a well, streams, or woods, should be utilized in the design. Lastly, even if the site is small, flat, and lacks interesting views, the garden should be designed to take advantage of the given conditions of its site. In short, there are two ways of using a given landform: visual and physical. This chapter will introduce gardens that represent their messages by visually and physically using a given landform.

Visual usage: Lookout and borrowed scenery

If a site has a good view, there are two ways to introduce this view into the garden: by “observing” the scenery, or chōbō, from a lookout that visitors reach as the climax of a promenade around the garden; and by “borrowing” the scenery, or shakkei, in viewing it from the garden or a building within the garden. A lookout is an observation point located on a higher elevation for appreciating a panoramic view of nature. Here are some excellent examples of gardens that represent their main theme by existing views.

Lookout

Eihō Temple in Tajimi City, Gifu, founded by Musō Soseki, is a temple with a dramatic lookout.1 The temple, located on top of Mount Kokei, was built with the support of Ashikaga Takauji in 1313. Soseki named this mountain Kokei (Tiger Creek) because the scenery was similar to that of Tiger Creek on Mount Lu in China. Soseki built this garden when he built the temple for an aspect of Zen training which reveres nature and incorporates the existing landscape for the pursuit of a spiritual goal. Many Zen gardens designed by Soseki were for training purposes. Structurally they are composed of two levels: the lower landscape and the upper lookout. The garden in Eihō Temple also has two parts: a lower garden with a large pond on the south side of the Kannon Hall, and an upper garden with a lookout over the mountain on the west side. In the lower garden, a waterfall runs from the

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Figure 3.1 Eihō Temple Garden waterfall top of the rockery called Bonin-gan (Rock of Buddha’s voice) on the west side of the Kannon Hall (Figure 3.1). Below Bonin-gan is a pond that follows the local topography. The Crescent Bridge built over the pond is the main approach to the central training buildings, Kaizan-dō and Kannon Hall. Eihō Temple is designed to allow visitors to hear the waterfall, which represents the voice of Buddha, as they cross the bridge to enter the main buildings. After receiving teachings and participating in group meditation in the buildings, individuals train in solitude to attain enlightenment. The upper garden is designed for such selftraining. Soseki believed that the beauty of nature is an indispensable element in this process and the ultimate teacher of enlightenment. From the lookout of the upper garden, one has excellent views of the landscape adjoining the Nagase Mountains on the north and west sides and the Toki River on the east and south sides. Soseki set a rock for meditation, a zazen rock, from which one can observe the panoramic view of the garden and surrounding landscape. The view from the zazen rock is the most important scenery in this garden, enabling Zen practitioners to realize the Buddhist teaching that human beings are part of nature (Plate 21). Another great example of the design of a lookout is Zuisen Temple in Kamakura, another garden founded by Soseki, in 1327. In Zuisen Temple, Soseki carved out a huge cave in the rockery as a meditation hall behind the main temple building, called the Cave of the Goddess, and dug out a pond, leaving the center part as an island (Plate 22). He named the pond Chōsei Pond (Pond of retaining purity), made a reservoir of rainwater on top of the Cave of the Goddess, and created a waterfall by opening the reservoir sluice gate when he had guests. Since Soseki was especially fond of waterfalls, he made this waterfall the main feature of the garden in Zuisen Temple. Soseki also built this garden to teach the practice of meditation.

Landform Practitioners in Zuisen Temple first received teachings from higher-ranking monks in the temple, meditated in the cave in the lower garden, and then digested this learning and sought enlightenment by thinking about Buddha’s universe from the lookout. To go up to the upper garden, one must walk up the narrow path to the side of the Cave of the Goddess that curves ninety-nine times. After making so many turns, one finally comes upon a small hut called Henkai Ichiran-tei (Hut of the universe at a glance). From here, one can view the grand garden created by nature: the mountains of Kamakura; and beyond, the mountains of Hakone, Mount Fuji, and Sagami Bay (Plate 23). Here Soseki designed a sequence of experiences, from chanting in the cave, walking the absurdly difficult mountain path, to the visual confrontation with the sublimity of nature, to represent the hardship and reward of Zen training.2 Soseki believed that meditation in a natural setting is the best way to attain Buddhahood. For him, the view from a lookout represents not only vast nature but the cycle of Buddha’s world, contrasting with the small elements in the lower garden which are artificial yet beautiful. The two-level structure of the Zen garden designed by Soseki, a lower garden level and an upper lookout, was adopted in later Zen gardens such as Nanzen Temple, Saihō Temple, and Tenryū Temple.

Borrowed scenery

Whereas chōbō from the lookout is a thematic view separate from that of the main garden, shakkei or “borrowed scenery” is the thematic landscape viewed from the garden site, sometimes from its main building. One of the most representative examples of borrowed scenery is Entsū Temple in Kyoto, a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect. Originally it was a summer villa of Emperor Gomizuno-o who built Shūgaku-in Imperial Villa. Because Entsū Temple is located on a small mountain in Kyoto City, it has a great view of Mount Hiei unobscured by buildings. Mount Hiei is the highest mountain in Kyoto and has been worshiped since ancient times; it is where Enryaku Temple was built, which became the center of the Tendai sect of Mahayana Buddhism (Plate 24). In 1639, Emperor Gomizuno-o planned to design the garden of his villa with Mount Hiei, the mecca of Buddhism in Japan, as the main theme. After losing a political battle with the Edo shogunate, he retired as emperor in 1628 and took a long time to find a location for his villa from which he could have the best view of Mount Hiei. Although some buildings and housing developments interfere with the view nowadays, the site of Entsū Temple originally provided a perfect, unobstructed view of Mount Hiei. In Entsū Temple, both the building and the garden, and the hedge, white sand, and trees planted behind the hedge were designed as a frame to enrich the view of Mount Hiei. What visitors are supposed to appreciate here is not so much the garden in front of the building as the mountain scenery behind the garden. This is a garden designed as a retired emperor’s retreat to heal his mind, wounded by politics, with the view of this holy mountain.3 Whereas Entsū Temple was built at a high elevation to provide a view of Mount Hiei, Jikō-in was built on farmland on the plains. Jikō-in is a Zen temple belonging to the Rinzai sect and was founded in 1663 by Katagiri Sekishū to pray for the

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Figure 3.2 Old view of Jikō-in

happiness of his father’s departed soul. The theme of the garden is the rice paddy scenery of the Nara basin (Figure 3.2). Even the temple was designed in the style of a farmhouse, and the entire building was designed as a large tea house with two tea rooms. The whole temple is a place to entertain a guest with tea hospitality, rather than undertake strict training. Passing through the gate, one finds a tea garden like a path instead of the traditional front approach to the Zen temple. After walking along this path, one enters the farmhouse as if it were a temple. As one proceeds into the large tea room, one has a panoramic perspective of the rice field.4 Although the Zen garden commonly used many rocks and much sand, very few rocks are used in the garden of Jikō-in. The massive pruned rhododendrons screen the adjacent buildings and link the white sand in front with farmland in the distance. The design concept of Jikō-in, a beautiful farmland landscape, is probably close to the idea of Arcadia in the English picturesque garden. The latter, with sheep and cows, has its counterpart here in a rice field with real farmers working the land and an architectural style that matched the farming environment in Jikō-in. It is a representation of a utopia based on classic literature about the Shinto world. Here, in Jikō-in, tea was served along with the view. The gardens of Entsū Temple and Jikō-in are great examples of borrowed scenery. Note that the term borrowed scenery is only accurate when the view is incorporated as the main theme of the garden, although people sometimes call any distant view from the garden borrowed scenery. Entsū Temple was built on top of a hill and Jikō-in was built on the plain, but both gardens have a particular existing landscape as their theme and are designed to frame and enhance important views. What one is supposed to appreciate is not so much the garden itself but the view beyond the garden and the relationship between the two. Unfortunately, maintaining the borrowed scenery of a previous era is very difficult in modern times. The garden of Jikō-in is one of many victims of urbanization.

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Since the garden was located on the plain, the view was eventually blocked by many buildings built between the rice field and Jikō-in. Therefore, since 1997, three acres of land in front of the garden have been planted with several hundred trees to block the view of these buildings (Figure 3.3). The newly planted trees successfully restore the original sense of borrowed scenery. Because introducing outside views is very important for the theme of many Japanese gardens, Kyoto devised a special code to restrict new development for the maintenance of views from gardens, but this is still a very vulnerable element of the garden in the twenty-first century.

Figure 3.3 Current Vvew of Jikō-in

Physical usage: Hills and plains Hills

Because most of Japan is covered with mountains, the area of cultivatable plains is so small that many villas outside the city were built at the feet of mountains. In Italy, villas were also built in mountainous areas; however, the design principle behind the construction of Italian gardens is very different. Whereas Italians excavate and fill the land to build terraces for flowerbeds, Japanese “think about existing nature, and build its landscape following the existing landform,” as described in the first paragraph of the first chapter of Sakuteiki. This effort to find beauty in existing nature seems to resemble the theory of the spirit of place or “genius loci” of eighteenth-century English gardener Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1716–1783). However, an English garden is made by constructing a new landform, whereas a Japanese garden is made by constructing new scenery following an existing landform. Shūgaku-in Imperial Villa is one of the best examples of a garden which utilizes an existing landform. Shūgaku-in was originally constructed by retired emperor

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Figure 3.4 Shūgaku-in Villa map Gomizuno-o, starting in 1655, and initial construction was completed in 1659. Most of the site is farmland. The villa is located at the foot of Mount Hiei, on the alluvial plain of the Otowa River from which one can look over the Kyoto basin. The garden is 540,000m2, consisting of three gardens: upper, middle, and lower. There is an over-40m difference in elevation between the upper and lower gardens. These three gardens were constructed in the rice field and connected by two straight allées of pine trees in a field, each perhaps 100m in length.5 This is a large stroll garden that gives visitors a dramatic walking experience from the lower to the upper garden. The ultimate symbolic idea of Shūgaku-in is the rich rice field, the foundation of the economy of Japan at that period. The site of Shūgakuin was the land that the emperor ruled: rich farmland sustained by abundant water from Mount Hiei. After walking through the lower garden and the rice paddies, one can reach the lookouts in the upper garden that provide views of the surrounding mountains and the city beyond (Plate 25). A small and a large waterfall were built in the lower garden, utilizing the elevation difference which led to small brooks and then a pond. The upper garden is reached through a simple gate and short climb through clipped shrubbery (Figure 3.4). There one finds a large pond. A simple pavilion called Rinun-tei is built at a high elevation in the southeast corner of the garden (Figure 3.5). After walking around the pond, one reaches the buildings. It is indeed a great lookout: from there you can see the entire garden vista, panoramic views of the pond, its islands, and the surrounding Kyoto hills. The large pond, called Yokuryūchi (Bathing Dragon Pond), was created by damming the water from ravines on Mount Hiei. From the lookout building, a number of small islands in the pond resemble the back of a dragon sleeping in the water. These islands are meant to represent the tips of existing ridges of a mountain that appears above the water.

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Figure 3.5 Shūgaku-in Villa Rinun-tei

The water is warmed in the pond and overflows onto nearby farmland to irrigate the rice paddies. In Shūgaku-in, the beautiful pond, island, waterfalls, farmland and the view from the lookout are all designed and built using the existing landform and resources. The hilly topography not only creates a diverse landscape but also gives visitors a rich walking experience. At the end of the journey, one can observe from the lookout the world the emperor ruled: farmland, Kyoto City, and the surrounding mountains. Gomizuno-o invited people of all classes to his garden – aristocrats, soldiers, and commoners – to have not only tea ceremonies but also poem parties and to boat on the pond, which were classic leisure activities among aristocrats in the Heian period. Although Gomizuno-o had political struggles with the Edo shogunate and retired in 1625, he was active as an advisor for the following four emperors. Perhaps he created this garden not only for his personal leisure in retirement but also to represent the divine right granted by the Sun Goddess and the emperor’s benevolence to his people. In Europe, many baroque gardens, such as the gardens at Versailles, were designed as outdoor event spaces to demonstrate the ruler’s power. As rulers’ gardens, their ultimate symbolism might be similar: the power of the country. However, in the Versailles gardens the message was conveyed by sheer alterations of the existing topography and conditions; Shūgakuin expressed its message utilizing the existing landform and views.

Plains

An undulating topography makes the design of a Japanese garden interesting and exciting, but designing a garden on a flat site is difficult because the main theme is representing the ocean and mountains. However, in reality, most small residential

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Landform garden sites in a city are flat. When garden-making became popular among townspeople in the Edo period, Tsukiyama teizōden (Information book on hill-andpond garden construction) was written as a garden manual for the common people, describing how to build on a flat site. The first version of Tsukiyama teizōden was written by Kitamura Enkin in 1735 and the second was written by Akisato Ritō in 1829. Generally, this guidebook is about creating a hill-and-pond garden on a small flat site by digging a pond and fashioning hills using the dirt from the excavation. Tsukiyama teizōden describes three styles of garden: shin (formal), gyō (semi-formal), and sō (informal), and explains the elements and layout for each style. The styles vary by the realism of their representations. The shin style is the most realistic, representing a landscape with mounds and a pond, but the sō style is abstract, with minimal topographic change (Figure 3.6). For example, the shin-style garden has hills, a waterfall, stream, and pond. Such a garden is also called tsukiyama (hill-and-pond). The small hills represent the mountains from which rainwater is collected and runs into the stream. The stream then flows down to the flatland and joins the vast ocean. Plants in the hills are selected from mountain vegetation; those around the stream are from vegetation around a river, and plants around the pond are from vegetation near a beach. Rocks in the hills are granite brought from volcanic mountains, and rocks around the pond are sedimentary rocks from the ocean. A “hill-and-pond” garden also has symbolic elements, such as Triad Stones, which represent divinities, or a pine tree symbolizing longevity. Whereas a shin-style garden is cluttered with such symbolic elements, a gyō-style garden is abbreviated and the topography less altered, and a sō-style garden has far fewer garden elements on the flat site. A garden built on a flat site is also called hiraniwa (flat garden). Whereas in tsukiyama it is easy to make a focal point by building hills, designing focal points is challenging in hiraniwa. One of the most successful sō-style flat gardens, composed of fifteen stones on white sand, is Ryōan Temple. This is an extreme example of a sō-style flat garden that even eliminated plants, but there are flat gardens with trees and shrubs. Among them is the hōjō garden in Nanzen Temple, a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect (Plate 26).6 The hōjō garden has six aligned rocks and pruned trees along a wall. When one views this garden from the hōjō building, the biggest stone appears in the left far corner, and more than three-quarters of the garden, from the right far corner to the front of the building, is covered with white sand representing a river. The story of the mother tiger with three cubs is also represented here, as at Ryōan Temple.7 Tsukiyama teizōden was referred to in Landscape Gardening in Japan by Josiah Conder, the first English book on the Japanese garden, first published in 1893. During the Meiji period, many Western specialists and educators were invited to Japan by the Meiji-era government to encourage Westernization.8 Among them, Josiah Conder was the first English architect invited to Japan, in 1877. He taught Western architecture, but loved Japanese traditional art and architecture, and published on Japanese culture and gardens. He convinced Western readers that the shin-style garden was the prototype of the Japanese garden. Although the shin-style garden is not necessarily the dominant style for small gardens, it became popular in the West through the Japonism movement. One of the fine examples of a shin-style Japanese garden designed outside Japan is found at

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Figure 3.6 Sample drawings of shin style, gyō style and sō style in Tsukiyama teizōden

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Figure 3.7 Shinstyle garden in Schönbrunn Japanese Garden

Landform

Schönbrunn Palace in Austria. The Japanese garden in Schönbrunn was designed by Franz Ferdinand after his visit to Japan in 1913, and constructed by local gardeners. It was intended as a small-scale viewing garden. Perhaps influenced by Conder’s publication, it has two artificial mounds, and one has a three-stage waterfall cascading from an upper to a lower pool. The garden has Triad Stones, stones representing a crane and a turtle, as well as stepping stones and stone pavement.9 One reason why the Austrians were interested in the Japanese garden at the time was because it can represent an entire landscape – mountains, river, marsh, plain, and ocean – in a small space, whereas an English garden would require a vast amount of land to do the same. In the Schönbrunn Japanese garden, appropriate types of plants were planted, e.g. high mountain plants on top of the mound, and marsh plants around the pond. The garden was built as a botanical garden to exhibit plants from various regions, and the Japanese garden style was chosen because it could provide various landscape environments for plants in a small space (Figure 3.7). However, the fundamental notion of the Austrian garden was very different from the Japanese garden at this point. In Japan, although the appreciation of flowers was especially popular in the Edo period, flowering trees and flowers were usually admired in pots and rarely planted in gardens. Whatever its style, hill-and-pond or flat, the Japanese garden is always designed to symbolize the beauty of local nature, and its plants are not for individual display, but instead allude to a larger vegetated landscape. It is fascinating to see how the design of the Japanese garden merged with European tradition to generate a new style.

Landform

Notes

1 仲隆裕「夢窓疎石と庭園」熊倉功夫ほか編『夢窓疎石』春秋社、2012. (Naka Takahiro, 2012) 2 川瀬一馬『禅と庭園』講談社、1968 (Kawase Kazuma, 1968); 田中正大ほか『禅寺と 石庭』(原色日本の美術第10巻)小学館、1967 (Tanaka Seidai et al., 1967); 森蘊「 修学院離宮の復原的研究」『奈良国立文化財研究所学報第2冊』奈良国立文化財研究 所、1954. (Mori Osamu, 1954) 3 山口敬太、中島功、川崎雅史「京都の古庭園における地形的囲繞の構成と眺望景 観の特性」『土木学会論文集』D 65:3, 2009, pp. 317–328 (Yamaguchi Keita et al., 2009); 太田博太郎、松下隆章『禅寺と石庭』小学館、1971. (Ōta Hirotarō, Matsushita Takaki, 1971) 4 浅野二郎、仲隆裕、藤井英二郎「わび茶と露地(茶庭)の変遷に関する史的考察 : その 5:鎖の間について」『千葉大学園芸学部学術報告41』67–74, 1988. (Asano Jirō et al., 1988) 5 森蘊「修学院離宮の復原的研究」『奈良国立文化財研究所学報第2冊』奈良国立文 化財研究所、1954 (Mori Osamu, 1954); 森蘊・村岡正『修学院離宮』大原出版企 画、1976. (Mori Osamu, Muraoka Tadashi, 1976) 6 尼崎博正『庭石と水の由来―日本庭園の石質と水系』、昭和堂、2002.(Amasaki Hiromasa, 2002) 7 森蘊『小堀遠州』創元社、1974. (Mori Osamu, 1974) 8 Josiah Conder, Landscape Gardening in Japan. Tokyo: Kelly and Walsh, 1893. 9 仲隆裕「シェーンブルン宮殿石庭の修復」『ランドスケープデザイン』マルモ出 版、1999. (Naka Takahiro, 1999)

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CHAPTER 4

Garden elements

We have now seen the Japanese garden from the perspective of its themes and landform. Although Japanese gardens do not contain significant statues or monuments, they can represent various philosophies and narratives as well as the beauty of nature. A Japanese garden is built not only with natural elements – soil, water, rocks, and plants – but also built elements such as lanterns, basins, bridges, and huts. A pond, a stream, mountains, a waterfall, islands, rocks, built elements, and plants are the major components of Japanese gardens. The Japanese consider elements composed with rocks the permanent backbone of a garden, whereas plantings are vulnerable elements subject to transformation. This chapter introduces the many kinds of symbolism expressed by the basic elements of the Japanese garden, from the larger, more permanent elements to the smaller, more vulnerable ones.

Pond

Most Japanese gardens have a pond that is visually and symbolically the main element. During the Heian period, the pond was designed to be viewed from the residence as well as used for boating excursions during which people played music and composed poems. However, during the Kamakura period, garden ponds were no longer used for boating and were instead designed for walking around, so they became smaller, more stones were placed at the water’s edge, and the pond’s outline was also complicated to create different kinds of scenery. During the Edo period, when feudal lords built larger gardens, the tradition of boating on ponds was revived and garden ponds served a dual function. Generally, the pond in a Japanese garden symbolizes the ocean. However, some ponds have double meanings conveyed by their shape or name, and many symbolize secondary themes. Here are some major examples of these themes.

Ocean of the Buddhist world: Golden Pond (Saihō Temple)1

Saihō Temple was constructed on the site of Prince Shōtoku’s former retreat, where he had a shrine built to honor Amitābha. The temple, originally named Saihō-ji (西方 寺 “Temple of the West”), was constructed by the Buddhist monk Gyōki (668–749) in the Nara period as a Hossō sect Buddhist temple dedicated to Amitābha. “Temple of the West” refers to the world of Amitābha, who is the primary Buddha of the

Garden elements Western Paradise. Gyōki was one of the most influential Buddhist monks, who made a major contribution to building Tōdai Temple in Nara as the center of Buddhism in Japan. He traveled around Japan preaching to commoners and built forty-nine monasteries and nunneries in the Kinki region which also functioned as hospitals. Saihō Temple was one of these. The pond of Saihō Temple is called Golden Pond (ōgonchi黄金池) and is described in the Amitābha Sūtra as the pond in the Pure Land (Plate 27): Again, Shariputra, in that world there are lotus ponds whose shores are decorated with seven kinds of jewels. The ponds brim with waters of eight good qualities and the floor of the ponds are lined with sand of gold … there is always heavenly music playing … in the land of Ultimate Bliss there are various birds of brilliant coloring, such as white egrets, peacocks, parrots, sharikas, kalavinkas, and jivamjivakas. The birds sing six times a day in exquisite voices. Their very singing expresses Amitābha’s teachings, such as the Five Roots of Goodness, the Five Powers, the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, and the Noble Eightfold Path. When the people of the land of Ultimate Bliss hear the birds’ voices, all of their thoughts are dedicated to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.2 The temple was actively used during the Nara and Heian periods. Legend states that Kūkai, one of the founders of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, practiced the Buddhist ritual of freeing captured fish and other wildlife (Hōjō-e 放生会) at Golden Pond in the Heian period. However, Saihō Temple fell into ruin after the Heian period, and was later reconstructed as a Pure Land (jōdo) sect Buddhist temple by the sect’s founder Hōnen in the Kamakura period. The temple again fell into ruin at the beginning of the Muromachi period and was later reconstructed by Musō Soseki as a Zen garden with two levels. The temple has been rebuilt many times since then, but the pond and its name (in the lower garden) have remained to the present day. Although the garden was redesigned and reconstructed many times throughout its long history, each time it has been revived as a garden to represent the landscape of the Pure Land where the sounds of birds, water, and wind become the teaching of Buddha.

Shingon Esoteric Buddhism (Shōmyō Temple)3

Shōmyō Temple in Kanagawa Prefecture was built by Hōjō Sanetoki as a Shingon Esoteric Buddhist temple, and the garden was created by gardener monk Shōichi Hōshi. In Shōmyō Temple, the pond is located in front of Golden Hall, and there is an island connected to the hall by a flat bridge. An arched bridge connects the island and the Niō Gate to the south, so to reach the main building after entering the gate, visitors must cross the two bridges. This is a typical setting for a paradise garden, which seeks to contrast the shores of this world and the next (Figure 4.1). The outline of the pond at Shōmyō Temple is shaped like the character 阿 a and is called “Pond of 阿.” The character 阿 is the first letter of Sanskrit and has special significance for Esoteric Buddhism with regard to cosmic worlds and the teaching of Buddha. Esoteric Buddhists meditate on the character 阿 along with the symbol of

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Figure 4.1 Aji Pond at Shōmyō Temple Figure 4.2 The character “A” (left); plan of Aji Pond in Shōmyō (right)

the moon, a practice called Ajikan, whose purpose is to experience unity between the self and the universe.4 Therefore the pond at Shōmyō Temple has dual symbolism: as the image of the ocean of paradise, and as the character 阿, which symbolizes the mortalityimmortality theory of everything in Shingon Esoteric Buddhism (Figure 4.2).

Ocean of the World: Golden Pavilion5

Golden Pavilion, or Rokuon-ji, was built in Kyoto by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358– 1408 ce), the third shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, who ruled from 1368 to 1394 during the Muromachi period. This complex was originally built as Yoshimitsu’s villa but was converted into a Zen temple after his death. Yoshimitsu’s greatest political achievement was bringing an end to the Nanboku-chō era of war, which spanned from 1336 to 1392, and centralizing the military government’s power. He was recognized as the king of Japan by Chinese emperor Zhu Yunwen, and monopolized the so-called kangō, or tally trade with China, which brought him immense wealth. During the Kamakura period, trade with China was mainly conducted by pirates in Japan. Because Chinese products sold so well in Japan, assaults and pillaging escalated and the Chinese emperor asked Japan to control trade by limiting it to those traders who were issued a tally, or certificate, by the Chinese government. This new system enabled the Muromachi shogun to enjoy immense profit from trade with China. Because China had to be convinced that the shogun was indeed the ruler of the entire country and able to control trade, Golden Pavilion was used as a political

Garden elements center and a place to demonstrate the shogun’s power. The pavilion and the garden were constructed to show feudal lords and emissaries from China the political and financial power of Yoshimitsu as king of Japan. The pavilion, called “golden” because the top two stories are covered with pure gold leaf, incorporates three distinct styles of architecture. The first floor is in the palace style, reminiscent of the residential style of the eleventh-century Heian imperial aristocracy. The second floor is in the warrior-aristocrat style, which uses sliding wooden doors and latticed windows. The third floor is in the Zen style. The pyramidal roof is thatched and has shingles topped with a bronze phoenix ornament. It is said that the phoenix represents Yoshimitsu himself and the pavilion indicates his dominance over monks, soldiers, and aristocrats. The pond reflecting Golden Pavilion is called Kyōko-chi (Mirror Pond). Although the pond’s outline may resemble that of a palace garden pond, Mirror Pond does not represent the concept of a beach or the world of Shinto gods. Instead it represents the ocean of the world and contains ten islands, the largest of which is called Ashiwara Island (Island of Reeds), the name of Japan as described in Kojiki, the oldest Japanese history book. There is also a Turtle Island and a Crane Island, which represent longevity. The pond’s shoreline was constructed using rough rocks to represent the cliffs on the coastline, so the pond at Golden Pavilion does not represent a beach lapped by waves from the Eternal World or the ocean in Buddhist cosmology; instead the garden is a map of the actual world, designed to display the reach of Yoshimitsu’s earthly power (Plate 28). The impression of the shiny pavilion is doubled by Mirror Pond, and the pavilion was designed to be approached by boat through its reflection. From the pavilion, one can view Ashiwara Island (Japan) with its beautiful pine trees, the shared symbol of longevity in Japan and China, at the pond’s center. Mirror Pond was designed to show Japan’s dominance over this world just as the pavilion was designed to show the shogun’s dominance over all the social classes in Japan.

Sustaining life: Jumping Fish Pond (Hikone Castle)6

The pond at Hikone Castle was also designed by a ruler, the lord of the Hikone clan, to represent not the religious world but the real world, just like Golden Pavilion. However, although the garden is large, the idea is much more grounded in local reality than that of Golden Pavilion. The Hikone clan dominated the northern part of current Shiga Prefecture, called Ohmi before the Meiji period. During the Edo period, the Hikone clan was one of the wealthiest clans in Japan, and its lords held important positions in the Edo government. Hikone Castle was constructed in 1622 as the residence of the fourteenth lord of the Ii clan of Hikone. Currently, only a portion of the outer moat remains. However, the castle was originally built on a hilltop and surrounded by three layers of moats filled with water from Lake Biwa, which provided an important transportation route to Kyoto as well as a food source for the Hikone clan. Hikone Castle and its garden, Genkyū-en, were originally built as the lord’s residence between the first moat and second moat in 1678 by the fourth lord of the Hikone clan, Ii Naooki, who put a major effort into developing ports on the shore

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Garden elements of Lake Biwa. The garden was reconstructed in its current form by the eleventh lord Ii Naonaka in 1813. The pond, however, was constructed by Naooki. It was filled with water from Lake Biwa pumped up from the outer moat, and named “Jumping Fish Pond” to represent the rich ecosystem of the lake. The theme of Genkyū-en is therefore the riches of Lake Biwa and the surrounding beautiful scenery. Around the pond, “Eight Scenic Views of Lake Biwa” were created, echoing the “Eight Views of Xiaoxiang” in China, originally described in an essay by Shen Kuo of the Northern Song dynasty; later many paintings and poems were made on this topic. Pavilions were built around the pond so it could be appreciated from many perspectives. One of these pavilions, Rinchi-kaku (臨池閣 “Viewing Pond Pavilion”), is a lookout at a higher elevation that provides a panoramic view of the entire pond. For the Hikone clan, Lake Biwa represented wealth: it was an indispensable resource for sustaining the clan’s economy and people’s lives. Therefore, the pond in Genkyū-en is a miniature Lake Biwa whose beauty the lord could survey in its entirety from this pavilion. Originally there was a boathouse on the pond, and the lord would travel by boat to his second residence or temples outside the castle. Therefore the pond at Genkyū-en was designed not only as a miniature landscape but also as a hidden passageway to the outside world from the lord’s residence (Plate 29).

Beautiful nature: Turquoise Lake (Kenchō Temple)

Kenchō Temple, built in 1253, is a Rinzai Zen temple that ranks first among Kamakura’s five great Zen temples and is the oldest Zen training monastery. It was supported by the fifth regent of the Kamakura government Hōjō Tokiyori (1227– 1263) and founded by Chinese Zen monk Rankei Dōryū (1213–1278), who came to Japan from China in 1246 at age thirty-three. The main gate, second gate, Buddha Hall, Lecture Hall, and hōjō are all built on a straight line, and the garden is placed at the end behind the hōjō.7 Minki Soshun, the Zen monk who came from China and became the head monk of Kenchō Temple in 1333, wrote the following poem about the garden’s pond: Sanpeki-chi (Turquoise Pond) 誰鑿地為池 寒泉涵泳深 青林浮水面 翠巘浸波心 竪看山形側 横観樹影沈 晩遊成勝賞 聊作五言吟 Pond vividly blue. Clear and bright. Made for whom? Water cold and deep. Blue trees reflected. Mind soaked with a wave of blue. Nearby mountain. Tree shadows cast on the blue water. Such a beautiful scene. Here I wrote this poem.8 This poem admires how the scenery around the pond, especially the blue trees, is reflected on its surface. The pond was actually named after this poem. It is viewed from the hōjō building during the sitting meditation, but what this pond represents is not a puzzling kōan, but simply the beautiful scenery of this site (Plate 30).

Garden elements As Kenchō Temple is one of the oldest Zen temples from the Kamakura period, it has the oldest Zen garden in the world. Although Zen gardens are famous for having rocks as their main elements, following the design style of Musō Soseki, the main element of this first Zen garden was a pond reflecting the surrounding trees. During the immediately preceding Heian period, the pond was the main garden element in the residential gardens of aristocrats. Rocks only began to play the main role in Zen gardens later in the Kamakura period.

River

River landscapes were first incorporated into the Japanese garden in the palace gardens of the Nara period, and became an element rivaling the pond in importance. A stream was first used in the garden for the Water Song Festival, a court tradition adopted from China; however, this tradition faded away after the Heian period. The usage and presentation of garden rivers changed considerably over time. Here we describe some of the different designs and concepts of the river in the Japanese garden throughout history.

The river for the Water Song Festival

Heijō City’s Sanjō Nibō Palace Ruins9 contain a garden constructed during the Nara period with a pond that had a meandering shoreline representing a river landscape. The site is flat and the pond was shallow, with an average depth of 20cm, and cobbles covered its bottom to its banks. Bigger rocks were arranged on the cove and island.10 A water pump was set on higher ground so water would flow down along a course. Obviously, this watercourse was created to represent a stream, not still water, and the garden was created for events such as the Water Song Festival rather than worship rituals (Plate 31). A winding stream for the Water Song Festival became an indispensable element of the Japanese garden in the Heian period, and we can see this tradition even in the Buddhist temples of that period. Mōtsū Temple,11 a temple with a Pure Land garden, is one example (Figure 4.3). Mōtsū Temple was built by the second lord of the Fujiwara clan, Fujiwara Motohira, with the head monk Ennin in 850 during the Heian period. It was a large temple with forty temple buildings and 500 monk residences at its height. After the Fujiwara family perished, all the temple buildings were destroyed by a series of wars. However, the Pure Land garden remained, and it is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1980, a winding stream (yarimizu) for the Water Song Festival was excavated, which ran through the temple buildings and flowed into the pond. The manmade river was shallow and curving, flowing gently in an open space. The cobbles were laid out on the bottom of the stream, which alludes to the river on the alluvial plain. Obviously, monks in Mōtsū Temple as well as aristocrats enjoyed the Water Song Festival during the Heian period. Although the garden was designed to visualize the Pure Land, it was used in the same way as aristocratic residential gardens of that era. One of the few remaining yarimizu popular in the Heian period, this river was recently repaired and the Water Song Festival is still held there to commemorate Heian culture.

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Figure 4.3 Yarimizu at Mōtsū Temple

The stream of the imaginary world: Daisen-in12

In one of the most famous dry gardens built during the Muromachi period, Daisenin, a waterless river landscape was created using white sand. The two standing rocks representing mountains have a white stripe pattern on their surface to represent falling water. Rapid currents and the volume of water are represented by patterns raked into the sand. The rapid currents become streams which flow to the east and south. The stream to the east becomes a big river by the time it reaches the southeast corner of the hōjō building, on which a boat, represented by a boat-shaped rock, is floating. When one turns toward the southeast corner of the veranda, one finds that the river has finally merged with the vast ocean (Plate 32). The river in Daisen-in was not designed for the Water Song Festival like Mōtsū Temple’s but for meditation upon humanity, Buddhahood, nature, and the universe. It is a river of the imaginary world. The white sand river flowing along the east side of the hōjō was designed to remind viewers how a small trickle of water can become a large body of water when it gathers with many other streams, and how it could reach the ocean of Buddhahood. This is an allegory of how individuals can achieve greater results through collaboration, and reach enlightenment.

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The famous river

Famous scenic rivers in Japan were often miniaturized in gardens associated with meisho, especially in the daimyō gardens built during the Edo period. For example, Koishikawa Kōraku-en in Tokyo has a miniaturized Ōi River (Plate 17). Ōi River runs through the district of Arashiyama on the western outskirts of Kyoto, the villa district popular among aristocrats during the Heian period. Nobles enjoyed boating on the river and composed many poems associated with its scenery. In the Tale of Genji, Ōi River became one of the stage sets for his romance: Genji built a house on its bank as a secret place for one of his ladies. In Kōraku-en, a miniature Ōi River was built next to a miniature West Lake, contrasting some of the most famous water scenery associated with classic literature in China and Japan.13 By contrast, Rikugi-en miniaturized Ki River, one of the Eighty-Eight Scenic Points of Ki, now Wakayama Prefecture, birthplace of the owner of the garden, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu (Plate 16). Ki River flows into the sea south of Osaka, passing through mountains, villages, and rice fields about which many historic poets composed poems. For Rikugi-en, Ki River is one of the most important sceneries not only because of its association with a beautiful landscape but also because of the history of Yoshiyasu’s homeland and its people. These garden streams miniaturizing famous rivers in Japan were mainly designed to suggest to viewers the image of a particular famous location and encourage them to compose a new original poem on that topic.14

The stream in a residential garden: Murin-an15

Whereas the streams in Daisen-in and Kōraku-en propose specific themes to the viewer by their form or name, there are many streams in Japanese gardens that do not represent anything other than a beautiful flow of water, particularly in modern residential gardens. Murin-an is one of these representative residential gardens built in the early Meiji period, when Japan opened the country and almost blindly introduced Western culture. Murin-an was built by the political and military leader Yamagata Aritomo between 1894 and 1898. Yamagata traveled to Europe in 1869 as part of a delegation to study the Prussian army. He became minister of war in 1873, and was twice prime minister of Japan, from 1889 to 1891 and from 1898 to 1900. Murin-an was built as his private retreat. He designed it introducing his ideas of Western garden designs, which he had seen in Europe. His villa is sited on the slopes of Higashiyama Hills, and its garden has a curving watercourse created with water from the nearby canal. The garden was designed primarily to be viewed from the living room of the main house. Yamagata’s idea of the garden was rather similar to that of the English picturesque garden. He did not design the river for poem-making or for meditation, but to create the pictorial scenery of a river with Higashiyama Hills as a backdrop (Plate 33). Because Yamagata was raised in Yamaguchi Prefecture, a landscape where a beautiful river flows from the mountains to the ocean, he might have recreated the landscape of his birthplace in his garden. However, unlike at Rikugi-en, Yamagata did not name the river after

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Garden elements a specific river. It is a river with no name, a beautiful stream that is the central view of the garden.

Mountain

In addition to the ocean and rivers, a mountain is an indispensable element of the Japanese garden. Because the Japanese worshiped mountains, which provided them with fresh water, trees, and food, mountains in the Japanese garden often symbolize mystic power, deities, and religious thoughts. Sumeru Mountain of Buddhist cosmology; the legendary Taoist mountain of eternal life, Mount Hōrai; or holy mountains where gods are believed to reside, such as Mount Fuji, are very popular themes in the garden.

Sumeru Mountain (Shumisen)

Sumeru (Sanskrit) or Shumisen (Japanese) is the name of the central world mountain in Buddhist cosmology. The concept of Sumeru is closely related to the Hindu mythological concept of a central world mountain called Meru, and also shared with the cosmology of Brahmanism and Jainism. This cosmology was brought from India to Japan when Buddhism was introduced. The cosmology of Sumeru Mountain and its surroundings is complicated. Described as being 80,000 yojanas tall – the measure of a yojana is unclear – Sumeru Mountain is the polar center of a complex of seas and mountains. Its square base is surrounded by a square, moat-like ocean, which in turn is surrounded by a wall of mountains. There are eight concentric mountain walls and eight concentric seas, and one of the small islands in the outermost sea is the world where humans live. These mountains (including Sumeru) and seas are called kusen hakkai (Nine Mountains and Eight Seas) and represent Buddhist cosmology. The square top of Sumeru Mountain constitutes Heaven, which is the highest plane in direct physical contact with the Earth. There are several layers of planes floating around Sumeru. The first constitutes the Heaven of the Four Great Kings and is divided into four parts facing north, south, east, and west. Each section is governed by one of the Four Great Kings, each of whom faces outward toward the quarter of the world that he supervises. Enlightenment in Buddhism means leaving the layer of the current world and ascending to the upper layers.16 There is an image of Sumeru Mountain at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the largest religious monument in the world, built in the twelfth century as a Hindu temple and subsequently made into a Buddhist temple. Angkor Wat represents Sumeru Mountain by three rectangular galleries, one above the other, within a moat and an outer wall 3.6km long. The mountain once stood in a square pond that is now dry (Figure 4.4). The idea of Sumeru Mountain was introduced to Japan with Buddhism and first appeared in gardens in the Nara period. The oldest remaining Sumeru Mountain in a Japanese garden is found at the Ishigami Ruins in Nara, built by Soga Umako, northwest of Asuka Temple (Plate 34). The Ishigami Ruins were one of the facilities where the Imperial family entertained local rulers before the state system was established. During this period, the territory beyond Nara was ruled independently by local rulers. At

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Figure 4.4 Angkor Wat Sumeru Mountain Ishigami a square pond covered with cobblestones was excavated between 1902 and 1903, and a rock 2.41m high symbolizing Sumeru Mountain was discovered at its center. An image of the mountain was carved on its surface and water emerged from its base. The Sumeru Mountains in Angkor Wat and Ishigami Ruins differ in period and style, but both are upright stones in a square pond representing a soaring mountain in a square ocean ringed by eight more mountains and seven other oceans.17 The Sumeru Mountain at the Ishigami Ruins represented a direct image of the mountain as it had developed in India. However, the form of Sumeru Mountains changed to fit Japanese taste after the Nara period. For example, the East Garden of Heijō Palace Ruins has a naturalistic standing rock in an organic-shaped pond which represents the ocean beach (Plate 35). The rock is no longer standing in a square pond. It is not an upright monumental rock but a leaning rock on the shore. Here we can see how the Japanese merged the image of Sumeru Mountain with the ocean scenery of Japan. By contrast, in the Muromachi period, Manpuku Temple, in Shimane Prefecture, had a Sumeru Mountain in its garden that was created with a group of rocks, the

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Figure 4.5 Sumeru Mountain (Shumisen) at Manpuku Temple

biggest of which stood on top of a hill. Manpuku Temple was built by the lord of Nanao Castle, Masuda Kaneharu, in 1374 (Figure 4.5). The garden was designed by the monk Sesshū, who studied Chinese painting in China. Sesshū’s ink brush paintings are well known as the first Japanese landscape paintings in the Chinese style. With the composition of gray stones on the gentle hill, his Sumeru Mountain somehow gives the impression of an ink brush painting of a Japanese mountain landscape.18

Mount Hōrai

Mount Hōrai is another popular mountain often symbolized in the Japanese garden. It appeared in Chinese Taoism as an inaccessible fairyland mountain in the East Sea where immortal hermits live. A Chinese Taoist hermit is considered a kind of superhero who can become invisible, see in the dark, dive infinitely deep, walk through fire, run a thousand miles in a day, and fly to heaven. The story of Mount Hōrai appears in the 118th volume of Shiki19 by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian. It is the mountain on a giant turtle shell where immortal hermits live. In the Qing dynasty, a man called Xu Fu asked the first emperor to send a delegation to the Eastern Sea because there were rumored to be three holy mountains called Hōrai, Hōjō, and Eishū20 where hermits lived with medicine that gave immortal life. Xu Fu recommended that the emperor trade with the hermits to obtain this medicine. His request was accepted, and he was given a lot of money, engineers, and support staff to sail with him to the Eastern Sea. It is unclear where Xu Fu went, but his ship never returned to China. There is a legend that he arrived in Japan and his people settled there, teaching advanced knowledge to the Japanese.21 The idea of Mount Hōrai became popular in the Japanese garden, and many gardens had a Mount Hōrai to represent the desire for immortality. Although the

Garden elements idea originally came from Taoism, Hōrai Mountains are often created in Buddhist temples, as at Daisen-in, in Japan. The big standing rocks at the northeast corner of Daisen-in are supposed to be Mount Hōrai, from which the dry waterfall flows into the river. It is interesting that the story of the Zen garden starts from a Taoist legend at Daisen-in (Plate 36). Whereas Mount Hōrai was represented by standing rocks at Daisen-in, at Koishikawa Kōraku-en the central island is called Mount Hōrai (Plate 37). There was a small Shinto Inari shrine on the mountain, enshrining a white fox, messenger of the gods of the forest. Just as we see the fusion of Buddhism and Taosim in the Mount Hōrai of Daisen-in, we see the fusion of Shinto and Taoism in Kōraku-en. There, a standing rock on the shore of the mountain represents a giant, upright turtle head. Indeed, the Mount Hōrai in Kōraku-en represents the giant turtle described in Chinese legend. Although the mountain eventually collapsed, originally it had been a soaring rock from which a waterfall cascaded into the pond. It was a big Turtle Island that carried the mountain of immortal hermits on its back.

Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, and a well-known symbol of the country. The height and beauty of Fuji have been a theme of many genres of art. Mount Fuji is the most famous scenic mountain but has also been the mountain the Japanese have worshiped since ancient times. There is a Sengen shrine on top of the mountain that is recorded as one of the main shrines in Japan in Engishiki jinmei-cho (The official record of shrines), written in 927. The worship of Mount Fuji became popular in the Edo period. The practice of Fuji Faith, or Fuji-kō, was instituted, and a Mount Fuji climbing cult began. Many groups were formed for making pilgrimages, and many copies of the Sengen shrine, which contained a miniature Mount Fuji, or rock and soil from the actual Mount Fuji, were built for believers all over Japan who were unable to visit the mountain themselves. As Fuji-kō became popular, some Japanese gardens, for example Suizen-ji Jōju-en, included a miniature Mount Fuji.22 Suizen-ji Jōju-en was built by the first lord of the Higo clan, Hosokawa Tadatoshi (1586–1641), who began construction of the garden in 1636 as a tea ceremony site. The garden was completed in its current form by the third lord Hosokawa Tsunatoshi (1643–1714). The garden was named after a poem by Tao Yuanming, entitled 園日渉 以成趣 (The wish that came true after strolling in the garden all day). The thatched Kokin-denju-no-ma (Room for the inheritance of the secret teachings of Kokin wakashū [Collection of Japanese poems of ancient and modern times]) tea house was originally built in Kyoto’s Imperial Palace, where an ancestor of the Hosokawa family, Hosokawa Yūsai (1534–1610), taught the interpretation of Kokin wakashū to Prince Toshihito, but was moved to its present location in Kumamoto Prefecture in 1912. Yūsai was a soldier but also one of the most prominent scholars of literature and the tea ceremony at that time.23 Suizen-ji Jōju-en was used for strolling and composing poems on Mount Fuji and other scenic points in the garden (Plate 38).

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Mount Lu

Mount Lu (廬山) is situated in the northern part of Jiangxi province in southeastern China, and is one of the most renowned mountains in the country. Many Chinese poets, such as Li Bai, composed poems and painted on this mountain. Also, since Donglin Temple was built by Huiyuan, the founder of Pure Land Buddhism, the mountain became a Buddhist center. It is a Chinese mountain, but it is also famous in Japan as the most scenic mountain and a Buddhist mecca in China. In Koishikawa Kōraku-en, Mount Lu was built next to Mount Arashi to contrast the most scenic mountains in Japan and China. Mount Lu is a grander mountain with hundreds of steep peaks soaring above the clouds. However, the Mount Lu in Kōraku-en is just a small hill covered with sasa bamboo grass. Although it is a small mountain, Mount Lu is a representation of how the Japanese studied and respected Chinese culture and land (Plate 39).

Waterfall

There are many waterfalls, large and small, in mountainous Japan, and many became meisho for their beautiful scenery. Many large waterfalls such as Nachi Falls and Kegon Falls have also been worshiped as places where the divine spirit resides. People have visited waterfalls not only to appreciate the scenery but also for spiritual training. For example Daihi Falls in Tochigi is only a small waterfall 8m in height but famous for “waterfall training” (takigyō). Waterfall training is a practice of Esoteric Buddhism and Shugendō in which trainees go under a waterfall and pray in the cascading water. They believe that all their sins and troubles are washed away by the power of the sacred water. Although using a real waterfall is ideal, some temples without a natural waterfall build an artificial one for this training. Whether the waterfall is used for meditation training or not, it is always a highlight of Japanese garden design. Waterfall designs vary, but they are all created through observation of waterfalls in nature. Sakuteiki described the waterfall as Fudō Myō-ō (Mantra king), or the immovable wise king of the garden. Fudō Myō-ō is the god in Esoteric Buddhism who brings the teachings of Dainichi Nyorai to the world. Sakuteiki allegorized the waterfall as Fudo Myō-ō because it is the most important element for conveying an important message in the garden. Generally, a big rock called the “Fudō stone” or “Receiving Water Rock” is placed at the bottom of the falls to separate the water so it flows in different directions. This makes the landing of the water dramatic and interesting. Many waterfalls in Japanese gardens have names symbolizing famous episodes and legends. Here are some famous waterfalls whose names convey the main theme of the garden.

Dragon Gate Falls

One of the important elements of Tenryū Temple is the dry waterfall called Ryūmon-baku, or “Dragon Gate Falls.” This was an actual waterfall in the old days, but the water pipe that once fed it fell into ruin. The name “Ryūmon-baku”

Garden elements comes from the Chinese “Tale of Dragon Gate Falls” which is a Chinese myth about a fish climbing up waterfalls. This myth appears in multiple old Chinese documents such as『大明一統志20』『大清一統志99』『続史方興紀要41』. The story also appeared in a Japanese document 『正法眼蔵隋聞記 shobogenzuimonki』(1235 ~1237)written by a Japanese monk, Koun Kaiso (孤雲懐奘), one of the students of Dogen. According to Chinese mythology, Dragon Gate is located at the top of a waterfall that cascades down a legendary mountain. Many carp swim upstream against the river’s strong current, but few are capable or brave enough for the final leap over the waterfall. Indeed, the story was originally about sturgeon coming back to the Yellow River to spawn. Since, in Chinese, “sturgeon” is written as 黄鯉 (yellow carp), the Japanese considered the fish in the story to be carp; sturgeon are not found in Japan. According to the legend, a carp that successfully made the jump was transformed into a powerful dragon.24 Historically, the dragon was the exclusive symbol of the emperor of China, and a dragon gate was originally a metaphor for passing the very difficult imperial examinations required for entry into imperial administrative service. In Tenryū Temple, the image of a carp jumping over Dragon Gate is a symbol of courage, perseverance, and accomplishment. The story about a fish managing to climb up the falls is an allegory for the difficulty of becoming a Buddha. Musō Soseki designed Dragon Gate Falls to teach the constant effort necessary to achieve enlightenment. The three steps up the waterfall and the jumping fish are represented by rocks. The design and idea for Dragon Gate Falls in Tenryū Temple became a model for many other gardens (Plate 40).

Nakoso “Only Fame” Falls (Nakoso-no-taki)

Ōsawa Pond of Daikaku Temple was modeled after Dongting Lake in China by Emperor Saga in the Heian period. It was a beautiful garden with a pond and a waterfall; however, the garden fell into ruin after the death of the emperor. Prominent poet Fujiwara Kintō visited this garden approximately 150 years after the emperor’s death and composed a poem about discovering the dried-up waterfall (Figure 4.6). The sound of water disappeared for a long time, Only the fame of the garden keeps flowing to the present. This poem was included in the Anthology of One Hundred Poems, and the driedup waterfall became famous as a result, so the site was preserved.25

Waterfall of the Blue Woman (Seijo-no-taki)

The Waterfall of the Blue Woman in Hōkongō-in Temple in Kyoto was built by the gardener monk Rinken, famous for setting garden rocks, at the request of Taikenmon-in, the mother of Emperor Go-Shirakawa. Construction of the falls was completed in 1130. The Blue Woman is the goddess of frost and snow who appears in the Chinese legend Huainanzi. The garden was initially designed as a Pure Land garden, and the name of the waterfall represents the water as cold as

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Figure 4.6 Nakoso Falls frost and snow. The waterfall was unearthed in the Shōwa period (1926–1989). This waterfall is the only one remaining from the Heian period for which the names of both patron and builder are known (Figure 4.7).

Otowa Falls

Otowa Falls in Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, has long been known for its theme of hope and longevity. The waterfall is divided into three streams, and it is said that the water has the power to make wishes come true (Plate 41). From ancient times it has been believed that each stream has different powers, bringing longevity, success in exams, or luck in love. In Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp in California during World War II, internees recreated Otowa Falls using whatever materials they could find on the land, such as cactuses, bottles, lumber, and rocks. The value of such a Japanese garden built in such a desperate situation as an internment camp is its very existence, not the quality of its materials or design. A small roof in the Manzanar garden symbolizes Kiyomizu Temple, which we can see as the strong symbol of a wish to survive. The spiritual value of a Japanese garden is universal, transcending geographical and cultural boundaries.

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Figure 4.7 Waterfall of the Blue Woman

Island

Because Japan has many small islands, most Japanese gardens have small islands in

the pond that represents the ocean. Whereas most islands in Korean gardens are circular in shape, in Japanese gardens they have organic shapes and vary in size.

Some islands are big enough for people to walk on, but others are just for viewing. However, large or small, islands in a Japanese garden symbolize not only beautiful islands in the ocean but also philosophical and religious concepts.

Turtle Island

The turtle is one of the most popular themes for an island in a Japanese garden (Plate 42). The turtle is a symbol of longevity in Japan, as reflected in the saying, “A crane

lives 1,000 years and a turtle lives 10,000 years.” Indeed, given that a crane lives

about thirty years and a giant tortoise about 100, both cranes and turtles do have a relatively long life. The turtle was believed to be a sacred animal in China, and turtle shells were used for divination by the emperor during the ancient Chinese Shang

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Garden elements dynasty. There are many stories and legends in China about the turtle as an animal with divine power. For example, the Black Turtle is one of the four mythological creatures in the Chinese constellations: the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Turtle of the North. The Black Turtle has a snake tail and is guardian of the north, a fundamental idea of feng shui, or Chinese geomancy. The North Star is the symbol of the Chinese emperor because it is the only star that does not move. The Black Turtle also symbolizes the emperor’s power. Yin and Yang theory considers the turtle a symbol of the universe. In ancient China, the world is considered to be composed of a flat earth, which is Yin, and a dome-shaped heaven, which is Yang. Because of its shape, a domed shell over a flat belly, the turtle became the symbol of the universe. In Taoism, there is a story of a giant turtle who lives in the Bohai Sea, where he carries the three islands of the Eight Immortals upon his back. Because the turtle is sacred and symbolizes longevity, power, and tenacity in China, Turtle Islands were included in Chinese gardens from the time of Emperor Wu in the Han dynasty. Obviously, when Chinese culture was introduced to Japan, Turtle Islands became popular in Japanese gardens, too.26

Crane Island

The crane is a majestic bird. Although there are many species of crane, the redcrowned crane (Grus japonensis) represents longevity in the Japanese garden. In China, the crane has been a symbol of the hermit ever since the Han dynasty because of its purity and beauty. The image of the crane is further linked with the image of hermitage, and the crane was considered the hermit’s means of transport. In the Immortal Biography 『神仙伝』 hermits ascend to heaven riding on a crane or transform themselves into cranes to fly there. In the Japanese garden, the Crane Island is sometimes paired with the Turtle Island to symbolize longevity. The Crane Island is composed of a slender rock which represents a crane’s neck and a wide rock which represents a crane’s wing (Plate 43). The form of a Crane Island is sometimes so abstract that it is difficult to determine its significance without knowing the island’s name.27

Reed Island (Ashiwara-jima)28

The reed is the first plant to appear in Kojiki, the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, a book of mythology dating from the early eighth century (711–712), where it symbolizes the earth. In Kojiki, the earth, or Japan, was called “the country of the reed.” Because the land where reeds grow is also suitable for rice cultivation, in China the reed is considered a plant that expels evil spirits. People in a monsoon climate, whose lives depended on rice cultivation, saw divinity in the reed, which promised a good harvest of rice. In the pond of Golden Pavilion (Rokuon-ji), there is a Turtle Island and a Crane Island, representing longevity, and the largest island is a Reed Island, representing Japan, a rich country with abundant rice production. Although Reed Island is a

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Figure 4.8 Map of Golden Pavilion garden relatively large island, it is designed only to be viewed as miniaturized scenery either from the pavilion or the shore of the pond (Figure 4.8).

Rock

Rocks are essential components of a Japanese garden, creating a framework for the rest of the scenery. Because rocks are considered the most stable garden element, they are imbued with many ideas and stories. Rocks and stones of various sizes and colors are used in the construction of the garden, and they are generally placed in groups of three to five, but sometimes a single rock can be a focal point or have significant symbolic meaning, as on the island of Motsū Temple. Setting rocks in a Japanese garden is not simply a matter of placing them on the ground but partially burying them so only the tip of the rock is exposed. Before setting the rock, the gardener carefully examines its form, and determines its orientation and composition with other rocks to emphasize its natural beauty. For rock composition, Sakuteiki advises the following: When you compose rocks, you should first assemble all big and small rocks in one place and determine stones to stand and stones to lay down. Then, you should try different ways of composition on the site to find the best one.29 In other words, rock composition in a Japanese garden is not planned on paper, but on site, by understanding the characteristics of rocks and experimenting with possible compositions. In a Japanese garden, similarly sized rocks are never lined up. Instead, rocks of different sizes are arranged in a staggered manner. In order to make the scenery naturalistic but unified, the balance between different sizes of rocks is very important. According to Sakuteiki, “In the garden, there should be a rock of running away and a rock of chasing, a rock of looking up and a rock of looking down, or a rock of

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Figure 4.9 Discarded rock (suteishi) at Murinan

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standing and a rock of lying down.” Thus, rocks in a Japanese garden are viewed as living things, behaving like animals or people. Most rocks in a Japanese garden have either a symbolic or functional role. However, some are placed to accent other rocks. These rocks are called suteishi, or “discarded rocks,” which are carefully positioned to emphasize the qualities of other rocks. Until the eighteenth century, Japanese gardens had strong religious symbolism. However, after the Meiji revolution in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, naturalistic gardens with little religious symbolism started being designed, especially with the influence of the English garden. As a result, more “discarded rocks” were included rather than rocks with religious symbolism. Murin-an in Kyoto, Chinzan-sō in Tokyo, and Koki-an in Odawara have excellent examples of such discarded rocks (Figure 4.9). Ogawa Jihei, the gardener who built Murin-an, became popular because of his style of discarded rocks in Kyoto. Although the tradition of religious symbolism in rock composition faded after the Meiji era, rocks in a Japanese garden are unique not only for how they present nature but also for their religious symbolism. Below are some important garden rocks that have religious meanings.

Iwakura

From ancient times, Shinto held that kami (spirits) descend from a big rock in the mountains. Therefore, people would enshrine such a rock by placing a rope with a white paper around it. Paper was used to enshrine gods because “paper” (紙) and “god”

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(神) sound the same as kami in Japanese. Such an enshrined rock is called iwakura (the seat of a god), and some can still be seen in nature or at shrines even today. As the niwa (garden) was considered a gathering place for the gods, the iwakura is the original reason why rocks are a basic component of the Japanese garden (Figure 4.10). Matsuo Taisha,30 the oldest Shinto shrine in Kyoto, was designed for the worship of Mount Matsuo. There was an iwakura near the top of the mountain even before the Hata family built the shrine on this site, a natural rock 5m high and 15m wide exposed on the mountain that is considered the seat of Ō-yamagui-no-kami and Nakatsu-shimahime-no-mikoto, the god of mountain and the goddess of the ocean, respectively. A smaller rock set in front of the iwakura is an altar where people make offerings and pray. Matsuo Taisha is an example of the original form of Shinto rock worship. The iwakura in Matsuo Taisha is too sacred to open to the public. However, there is a Garden of Iwakura at Shofu-en, one of the shrine buildings in Matsuo Taisha. The Garden of Iwakura was designed by Shigemori Mirei (1896–1975), a prominent Japanese garden designer and historian (Plate 44). Shigemori built over 200 gardens, but this was his last project. Because the iwakura in Matsuo Taisha is not open to the public, he designed this garden to represent its idea. Shigemori considered iwakura one of the original forms of the Japanese garden, and tried to express its spirituality. The two big central rocks in the Garden of Iwakura symbolize Ō-yamagui-no-kami and Nakatsu-shima-hime-no-mikoto, the god and the goddess enshrined in Matsuo Taisha. The bamboo represents the high mountain where people are not allowed to go, and the small rocks around the two big rocks represent other gods listening to the stories of the god and goddess.31 Shigemori reflected upon his design for the Garden of Iwakura:

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Figure 4.10 Iwakura

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Garden elements Iwakura is a divine rock, and designing gods is no easy task. To compose such rocks, one needs to think from a god’s perspective, impossible for a human. The question was how a human could approach the gods. I tried to be as pure as possible when I designed the garden, but it was very difficult. This project was the most difficult and exhausting in my life….32 This statement shows how Shigemori tried to express spirituality with rocks. His objective was not to make a beautiful space to contemplate nature but to convey spirituality through the placement of rocks.

Triad Stones

Triad Stones (sanzonseki) are a group of three stones representing three Buddhas, which first appeared in a description in Sakuteiki in the Heian period. Triad Stones were also called guardian rocks (shūgōseki) in later periods. Triad Stones are a set of three natural stones symbolizing the Buddha Triad, which is a popular way of representing Buddhist beliefs in painting and sculpture. It is customary for Buddhists to have such images so they can visualize Buddha and achieve a tranquil mind. Many Triad statues were made for temples during the Nara and Heian periods. However, unlike images of the Christian Trinity, which represent the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit, combinations of the three Buddhas vary because Buddha is the title of many who have attained enlightenment and entered Nirvana. Furthermore, the Buddha Triad includes not only Buddhas but also Bodhisattvas, who have attained enlightenment but postpone entering Nirvana in order to help others attain enlightenment, as well as other Buddhist deities. For example, the Shaka Triad in Hōryū Temple represents Shaka, the historic Buddha, in the center, with two Bodhisattvas of medicine on each side. The Amitābha Triad in Chūson Temple represents Amitābha in the center, with a Bodhisattva of mercy on the right and a Bodhisattva of wisdom on the left. Triad Stones are a representation of Buddhist belief; however, there is no reference to Buddha in the name “Triad Stones,” so the viewer is free to imagine which Buddha to associate with each stone. Although Triad Stones are described in Sakuteiki as an element of the palace-style garden,33 they gained popularity among Zen temples because of their abstract symbolism. The most distinguishing feature of Zen Buddhism is its contention that wisdom is expressed in everyday life through relationships with the self, other people, and nature. Since Zen maintains a stance of “not one” and “not two,” negating dualism and considering the whole world as one, meditating on a natural stone in a beautiful garden setting better suits the Zen realization that man is an integral part of nature than meditating on a specific Buddha image in an elaborate sculpture. Thus, the concept of Triad Stones was developed in the Zen garden as an element suggesting the eternal qualities of nature and self by the simplest means. Triad Stones represent one main Buddha flanked by two supporting Buddhas, the larger central stone forming a triangular composition with the two smaller ones. One of the earliest existing examples of Triad Stones, in the garden of Saihō Temple (the moss garden), was built by Musō Soseki. There, three stones sit so naturally at the mossy edge of the water that one might not realize their significance without

Garden elements knowing their name. Trees grow and change color, water moves and reflects light, but the stones are an unchanging presence in the midst of all these transformations. According to Buddhism, change is a perennial principle of nature: everything changes except for Buddhahood, the only permanent state in a world of transience. The static rocks in the garden are a perfect representation of this permanent spirituality. As Triad Stones became popular, many were set not only by Zen monks but also by laypersons. For example, the Triad Stones in Daigo Temple’s Sampō-in were introduced by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598). The center stone, 1.8m high and 1.1m wide, called Fujito Stone, is associated with a significant episode in the popular Noh play Fujito, in which a rock in the ocean leads to the Minamoto clan’s victory over the Taira clan. During a battle in the Genpei War,34 Minamoto Noriyori’s troops attacked the Taira troops stationed on Kojima Island in Fujito (current Fujito, Kurashiki City, Okayama). However, the Minamoto troops were brought to a standstill because the ocean was too rough to cross and the waves too high. Then, Sasaki Moritsuna of the Minamoto army heard about the shallows from a local fisherman. Afterwards he killed the fisherman, afraid the information would leak out to the Taira army. Locating the shallows by sighting a stone, Sasaki crossed the ocean with his troops and defeated the Taira. In the play, the mother of the fisherman later accuses Sasaki of killing her son, and Sasaki prays for the fisherman to rest in peace.35 Because of this episode, the stone marking the shallows of Fujito became famous. During the Muromachi period, this stone was brought to the garden of a Hosokawa residence as the good luck stone that had led the Minamoto clan’s troops to victory; Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) later plundered this stone and moved it to the garden of Nijō Castle. During the Azuchi-Momoyama period, Toyotomi Hideyoshi moved the stone to his castle Jurakudai, and then to Daigo Temple’s Sampō-in in 1598 to be the center stone of the Triad Stones (Plate 45). The Triad Stones in Daigo Temple are now a tourist attraction not only because of the beautiful composition of the three rocks but also for the dramatic episode of the center stone. The stone is called “Master Stone” (shujin-ishi) because it is set at the center of the south side of the pond, where it is the focal point of the garden on the central axis from the viewing veranda. Recently, though, research has shown that this stone may not be from Fujito after all. However, it was certainly brought from the residence of Hosokawa to Nijō Castle and then to Daigo Temple. Whether the stone is from Fujito or not, the three conquerors of the Japanese war period treasured it as a symbol of victory. Monks in Daigo Temple revere the stone not only because it represents Buddha but because it was brought there by Hideyoshi, who rebuilt the temple after the war. It is ironic to see such contrasting images in this stone: the Buddha who attained enlightenment by overcoming worldly cravings, and the feudal lords who attained secular dreams by military power. However, this is the beauty of the Japanese garden, which allows viewers to stretch their imaginations to encompass different eras, places, people, and even religious concepts.36

Seven Lucky Gods37

The Seven Lucky Gods are the seven gods of good fortune in Japanese mythology and folklore. Belief in the Seven Lucky Gods began in Kyoto at the end of the Muromachi

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Garden elements period, when accumulating wealth became possible for commoners who began to wish to become rich. This is a uniquely Japanese faith because the seven gods are not derived from a single religion but from Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto. The seven gods included also changed throughout the period. The most common combination is the following: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Hotei: An actual Chinese Buddhist monk, the fat and happy god of abundance and good health. Jurōjin: Taoist god of longevity. Fukurokuju: Taoist god of happiness, wealth, and longevity, avatar of the South Star. Bishamonten: Hindu god of warriors. Benzaiten (Benten-sama): Hindu goddess of knowledge, art, and beauty, especially music. Daikokuten (Daikoku): Combination of the Hindu god Mahākāla, an avatar of Shiva, and the Shinto god Ōkuninushi-no-mikoto, god of wealth, commerce, and trade. Ebisu: Shinto god of fishermen, who then became the god of merchants and good harvests.

The seven gods are often depicted on their ship, the Takarabune (宝船 “Treasure Ship”) crossing the ocean to bring good fortune to people. According to tradition, the seven gods will arrive on New Year’s Day and distribute fantastic gifts to the worthy. People believe that dreaming of the seven gods on the eve of the New Year ensures good luck in the coming year, so they put a caricature of the seven gods under their pillow or on the wall on New Year’s Eve to dream of the gods visiting them. The garden of Wakayama Castle was built by the first lord Tokugawa Yorinori in 1621 to ensure the Tokugawa family’s prosperity. A composition of stones representing the treasure ship with the Seven Lucky Gods formed the garden’s center. Seven stones symbolizing the seven gods are surrounded by smaller stones set in the shape of a boat, with pointy stones representing its bow and stern. This composition of the Seven Lucky Gods was moved to its current location in 1923 because of the construction of a new water pump (Plate 46).38

Stones depicting ships anchored at evening (yodomari-ishi)

Ships were the only means by which the Japanese, living on an isolated island, could communicate with foreign countries. Because the Japanese adopted advanced technology and ideas that arrived by sea from abroad, they tended to view ships as treasure boxes filled with precious goods and knowledge. These ships and their contents are symbolized in garden ponds by stones called yodomari that depict the ships anchored in a harbor in the evening. At Saihō Temple, three yodomari stones are set in the pond parallel to the boat landing, and several others are set along a north-south axis in Golden Pond. These yodomari stones, set in single or double lines, represent ships bearing the medicine of immortality from Taoist hermits as they wait in the harbor before arriving the next day (Plate 47). Although yodomari stones are generally associated with the Taoist idea of immortality, those at Sōrin Temple in Yamaguchi represent a Buddhist idea. Sōrin

Garden elements Temple was originally called Fusei Temple and was built by a Chinese monk, Iko, who came to Japan during the Tang dynasty in 777. The temple later became a Zen temple, and in 1670 it was rebuilt as Sōrin Temple by Lord Fukuhara Hirotoshi for his deceased father Mototoshi. The pond with yodomari stones is from the original Sōrin Temple. In the pond, the four stones in two lines represent not ships carrying the medicine of immortality but the eight Buddhist virtues: 1. Right view, 2. Right thinking, 3. Right wording, 4. Right life (not killing or causing injuries to other beings), 5. Right behavior, 6. Right practice, 7. Right spirit, and 8. Right meditation.

Seven-Five-Three Stones

Chinese astronomy and numerology were introduced to Japan with Buddhism and Confucianism in the fifth and sixth centuries. In this system, odd numbers are considered lucky, and of these seven, five, and three are the luckiest, so Japanese favor that combination. For example, Shichi-Go-San (Seven-Five-Three) is a traditional festival day in Japan for three- and seven-year-old girls and three- and five-yearold boys, held annually on November 15 to celebrate the growth and well-being of young children. The custom originated in the Heian period among court nobles when the survival rate of infants was low and the numbers seven, five, and three were important years for assessing children’s growth. Furthermore, November 15 was the day of the harvest festival according to the lunar calendar. By the Meiji period, this practice had been adopted by commoners, and it is still popular in Japan today. Not surprisingly, the lucky number combination of seven-five-three is also seen in stone composition in the Japanese garden. The East Garden of the hōjō in Daitoku Temple is known as the Garden of Seven-Five-Three. A group of stones are set along the hedge. On the north side the stones are bigger and taller than on the south because the garden is larger on the north side and smaller on the south (Plate 48).

Built elements

Although the Japanese garden is a naturalistic garden, built elements are necessary for its function. For example, a tea garden cannot function without having stepping stones and water basins. Huts and buildings, benches, bridges, lanterns, and basins are the main built elements in the garden. Buildings, benches, and bridges are ephemeral elements that are sometimes rebuilt or removed. However, stone basins and lanterns are important permanent elements in the garden. As permanent components of the garden, they often carry important messages.

Basins

Most Japanese gardens, and all gardens with a tea garden, have basins called tsukubai, originally found at the entrance of temples and shrines for the ritual of washing hands and rinsing the mouth that symbolizes purification before entering a sacred area. This custom of purification was introduced to the tea ceremony during the Muromachi period. In the tea ceremony, visitors must wash their hands and rinse their mouth before entering the tea house after passing through the tea garden. Therefore basins are one of the most important elements in the tea garden.

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Figure 4.11 “Masu” (square wooden measuring cup) basin at Katsura Villa

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Garden basins are normally carved from natural stone, but some are made from recycled sculptures. Because the tea ceremony reflects Buddhist philosophy, designers of tea gardens often prefer to reuse part of a stupa, lantern, or the stone base of an old temple column. There are no rules for basin design, but its shape can enrich the theme of a garden. For example, the stone basin in front of Geppa-rō in Katsura Villa is called the Scythe-shaped Basin. The theme of Geppa-rō is moon viewing, a custom introduced from China to appreciate the brightest full moon of the year at the end of September or in the beginning of October, and to wish for a good harvest the following month. In Japan, people offer potato and rice balls made from the rice harvested in September to the moon on moon-viewing day. The basin in Katsura Villa is square, symbolizing a wooden square measuring cup “masu” which Japanese used to measure the amount of rice. The stone set next to the basin is shaped like a scythe to represent the idea of the harvest of rice associated with the moon-viewing ceremony (Figure 4.11).39 By contrast, the basin in front of the shoin building of Kiyomizu Temple’s Jōju-in is called “Whose-Sleeve-Style,” a basin in the shape of a kimono sleeve. The name is associated with this waka poem in Kokin Wakashū (Collection of Japanese poems of ancient and modern times): 色よりも 香こそあはれと 思ほゆれ 誰が袖ふれし 宿の梅ぞも The sweet fragrance of plum is more attractive than its appearance. The fragrance is so wonderful because her fragrant sleeve touched this tree. Whose sleeve touched the tree? The poem suggests the unforgettable scent of perfume on a lover’s kimono sleeve. The basin reminds visitors of a romantic scene associated with classic literature.40 There are also basins that establish certain forms, such as the Fuji-style Basin in front of the Yūka-tei tea house in Golden Pavilion, and the Boat-style Basin in Kubota

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Figure 4.12 Shishiodoshi Castle. The Fuji-style Basin in Golden Pavilion is made of a mountain-shaped rock with a circular hole at its pointed top. The basin symbolizes Mount Fuji with snow on its peak (Plate 49). The Boat-style Basin is made out of an oblong stone that resembles a boat. These styles are copied in many tea gardens. Water basins are sometimes built to create wonderful sound effects of nature in the garden. Suikin-kutsu, literally “water harp cave,” is a mechanism built under the basin that amplifies the sound of water drops when one washes one’s hands. It consists of an upside-down buried pot with a hole at the top. Water drips through the hole onto a small pool of water inside the pot, creating a pleasant splashing sound that echoes from within the pot. Shishi-odoshi, translated as “deer scarer,” is a fountain consisting of bamboo and one or more standing pieces with a hollowed-out, pivoting arm piece. When it gets full or too heavy, it tips over and makes a sharp and loud sound, which scares away birds and deer grazing in the garden area. The experience of washing one’s hands in the garden can be enriched by these sounds created by the interaction of water and basin (Figure 4.12).

Lanterns41

Many people think the stone lantern is one of the original elements of the Japanese garden. However, the stone lantern was introduced to Japan with Buddhism, and was an outdoor lighting fixture of Buddhist temples from the Nara period. When the lantern was introduced for evening lighting in tea gardens in the Muromachi period, it soon became a popular element of Japanese gardens in general. The stone lantern is one of the few sculpted elements in a Japanese garden. Granite is the most common stone for a lantern. Most lanterns are composed of six parts:

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Garden elements Hōju: the top onion-shaped ornament. Kasa (umbrella): the roof-shaped part to cover the fire place. Hibukuro (fire place): the part that holds the light. Currently, electric or gas lamps are used, but a candle or an oil lamp was used in the past. Chūdai (middle table): the base of the fire place. Sao (post): Small lanterns may not have this part. Kiso (base): Oribe Lanterns, used in tea gardens, do not have this part. Some other lanterns, such as the Snow-viewing Lantern, have three or four legs. There are many designs for stone lanterns, but the Kasuga Lantern is the most popular and standard in the Japanese garden. Originating from the lanterns used at Kasuga Shrine in Nara, it has a hexagonal fire place with a deer carved on the front and Mount Mikasa carved on the back. Mount Mikasa is the common name of Mount Kasuga, which has been worshiped since ancient times and was a training place for Buddhist monks. The court especially worshiped this mountain since the Heijō capital was built in Nara in 710. Kasuga Shrine was built at the foot of Mount Mikasa and dedicated to Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto, the god of Mount Mikasa, in 768. A branch of Kasuga Shrine was built on top of the mountain, where legend has it that Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto appeared riding a white deer and advised the Fujiwara family to build a shrine on this site. Deer have been considered messengers of the god of Mount Mikasa because of this legend, and deer hunting was banned in the area. Consequently, the natural area surrounding Kasuga Shrine has been well preserved, and currently the shrine and the surrounding Kasugayama primeval forest are registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the “Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara.” In Kasuga Shrine, around 2,000 lanterns are placed along the approximately 1km-long approach from the entrance to the main shrine building; they were donated by people with various wishes. The size of the lanterns varies, but they are uniform in design, all having a hexagonal fire place with deer and Mount Mikasa carvings (Plate 50). Whereas a Kasuga Lantern can be large and a focal point in the garden, an Oribe Lantern is a small lantern used in a tea garden. It was named after Furuta Oribe (1544–1615), the prominent tea master who loved lanterns of this style. Oribe studied under Rikyū, whose teachings of “The Way of Tea” profoundly changed appreciation of the tea ceremony, and with it the entire culture of the Edo period. The lantern has no foundation stone, but sits on a post planted in the ground for stability. A form of the Oribe Lantern is also known as the Christian Lantern (Kirishitandōrō). Christianity was introduced to Japan during the Azuchi-Momoyama period; however, it was banned in the Edo period because the government became aware of the expanding power and holdings of the Catholic Church. However, “hidden Christians” continued to practice their religion, meeting secretly and disguising their religious icons and graves as objects of Buddhist worship. Because the Oribe Lantern has a Figure sculpted in the center of the post, it is thought that it may double as an image of the Virgin Mary along with the Greek monogram “IHS” (iota-eta-sigma). Just as the Kasuga Lantern became the most popular type of lantern in the stroll garden, the Oribe Lantern became popular in tea gardens to light the stone basin after the late Azuchi-Momoyama period (Figure 4.13).

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Figure 4.13 Oribe Lantern Other popular lanterns in the Japanese garden are the Yukimi (snow-viewing) Lantern and the Misaki (cape) Lantern. The Yukimi Lantern is set at the water’s edge; a low lantern with no post, it rests on three or four legs that arch outward from the base in order to illuminate the water’s surface. It also has a broader roof to direct light downward. There are two types of roof for the Yukimi Lantern: round and hexagonal. It is called “snow-viewing lantern” because it is beautiful to see its large roof covered with snow. However, the original Japanese character meant “floating light” or light reflected on water. Unlike the Kasuga Lantern and Oribe Lantern, the Yukimi Lantern does not have strong religious connotations but is a device to enhance the beauty of the waterscape (Figure 4.14). The Misaki Lantern is a small lantern placed on the tip of a peninsula in a pond. The form is basically that of a Yukimi Lantern without legs. This lantern symbolizes a lighthouse on a cape. The Misaki Lantern on the tip of the beach in Katsura Imperial Villa is a particularly famous one. A Misaski Lantern is used to emphasize the idea of the ocean in the garden (Figure 4.15).

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Figure 4.14 Snowviewing Lantern

Figure 4.15 Cape Lantern

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Plants42

A Japanese garden has many meanings on many levels. Plants are considered ephemeral in a Japanese garden, yet they are undoubtedly one of the most important elements for expressing its symbolism. Plants sometimes convey meanings not only by their origin but also by their form. Because a Japanese garden miniaturizes the scenery, slow-growing woody plants are preferred. Particularly, pine, bamboo, plum, cherry, tachibana, and lotus are the plants that play the main role in the planting design of a Japanese garden. The following are some of the main botanical characters of the Japanese garden.

Pine

Because of its evergreen foliage, a pine tree is considered an emblem of longevity and immortality; and in Japan, pine is considered one of the three good-luck plants, together with bamboo and plum. Pines survive in harsh conditions such as the seashore or shallow soil on a rock. The “distorted” profile of a pine tree, with widely spread branches, became the symbol of endurance, steadfastness, self-discipline, and eternal health, and such a tree is often painted on the fusuma screen or backdrop wall of a Noh drama theater. In the garden, pines that are focal points have been trained and pruned into the distorted form. For example, the Sumiyoshi Pine is a single pine that stands on a miniature cape emerging from Katsura Villa’s Imperial Pathway. This single pine tree symbolizes the thousands of pine trees in Sumiyoshi Taisha, the Shinto shrine in Osaka. Although Sumiyoshi Taisha is currently completely landlocked, the shrine faced the sea until the Edo period, and was a famous meisho of the landscape with a pine forest on the white sand beach where many poets visited and composed poems. This beautifully pruned pine tree represents the entire landscape of the pine forest in Katsura Villa (Plate 51). The “Boat Pine” in Golden Pavilion is one of the oldest pine trees in Kyoto, over 600 years old. This tree was originally a bonsai tree of the third shogun Yoshimitsu. The tree was later planted in the ground and maintained as a garden tree. The shape of the tree symbolizes a sailing boat moving toward the west, the direction of the Pure Land, and the direction of the Mirror Pond in Golden Pavilion (Figure 4.16).

Bamboo

Bamboo represents straightforwardness, continuous growth, honesty, and modesty because of its beautiful straight lines. It also represents flexibility and benevolence because it bends but does not break. In China, bamboo is considered the plant of hermits, who love nature and art. Although bamboo is native to China, in Japan it is very important as a food and as a material for utensils, furniture, and construction. Because bamboo was so useful, the bamboo forest became an iconic landscape of the settlement of Japan. At Kyoto Imperial Palace, marble bamboo (Chimonobambusa marmorea) (kanchiku or Han bamboo, its common name in Japan) and Henon bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra var.

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Figure 4.16 Boat Pine Tree at Golden Pavilion

Henonis) (kuretake) are planted in containers, the former on the east side and the latter on the west side of the palace’s front courtyard. Marble bamboo has broad leaves and is used for fences, baskets, and flutes, whereas Henon bamboo has thin leaves and is used for tea whisks, painting brushes, and brooms. These bamboos are planted in front of the palace as significant plants for Japanese culture. Because bamboo is an invasive plant, it is not commonly planted in a small garden. However, a neighboring bamboo forest is often introduced as borrowed scenery in the Japanese garden (Plate 52).

Plum

Plum blossoms are so beloved in China, Korea, and Japan because they are seen blooming vibrantly against the winter snow, symbolizing not only perseverance and hope but also beauty, purity, and longevity. The Japanese appreciate the small plum flowers that appear on the new, straight, long shoots of an aged plum tree trunk as a symbol of hope. Sculptural old plum trees with shooting new branches are often seen in paintings and in gardens (Plate 53).

Cherry

The cherry, particularly the Japanese cherry (Prunus serrulata), is a special tree even in twenty-first-century Japan because it as an indicator of spring. The Japanese Meteorological Agency and the public track the sakura zensen (cherry blossom front) every year as it moves northward up the archipelago. The blossoming begins in Okinawa in January and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March or the beginning of April. It proceeds into areas at higher altitudes and northward,

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arriving in Hokkaidō a few weeks later. The Japanese pay close attention to these forecasts in order to hold flower-viewing parties to cerebrate spring’s arrival. These flower-viewing parties, hanami, are held specifically under Prunus serrulata. Originally, the custom of flower-viewing parties had been introduced from China by the eighth century to appreciate plum blossoms. However, from the Heian period, Japanese began appreciating cherry blossoms rather than plum blossoms. From then on, “flowers” meant “cherry blossoms” in Japanese literature. The custom of appreciating cherry blossoms was originally limited to the elite of the imperial court, but soon spread to samurai society and, by the Edo period, to the common people as well. Tokugawa Yoshimune planted cherry trees along Sumida River and encouraged people to hold flower-viewing parties. Cherry blossoms symbolize the ephemeral nature of life, extreme beauty, and quick death, because they bloom en masse and are so transient. After the Edo period, the cherry blossom symbolized the spirit of the warrior in the Code of the Warrior (bushidō). Cherry trees are often used in the Japanese garden, but their beauty does not reside in the sculptural form of their trunks, as it does for plum trees, but in their elegant spreading canopies with white, cloud-like blossoms (Plate 54).

Tachibana

Tachibana (Citrus tachibana) is a species of wild, inedible citrus fruit native to Japan. Because it comes from an evergreen tree with fragrant flowers and fruit, it became a symbol of life, longevity, and luck. Kojiki describes tachibana as a medicine for longevity brought from Tokoyo, the land of kami. Based on this legend, a tachibana tree is planted on the east side of the ceremonial hall of Kyoto Imperial Palace, whereas a cherry is planted on the west (where a plum had once been planted) (Figure 4.17).

Figure 4.17 Tachibana tree at Kyoto Imperial Palace

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Figure 4.18 Lotus at Tenryū Temple

Lotus

The lotus is a symbol of the mercy of Buddha, purity, and divine birth. Because a lotus flower emerges from muddy water and blooms above it, Buddhism associates the lotus flower with the process of human life in the current world and rebirth in the Pure Land. The muddy water represents the human world and above is the Pure Land. Based on this idea, the lotus is planted in the Pure Land garden to represent the world of Buddha. However, in Zen Buddhism the lotus is associated with the process of enlightenment rather than a visual image of the Pure Land. The lotus flower shows the different stages of enlightenment: closed, it represents the time a Buddhist spends in training, and in blossom it represents full enlightenment and self-awareness. This is why lotus flowers were also planted in Zen garden ponds (Figure 4.18).

Notes

1 鳳林承章『隔冥記』 (Hōrin Shōshō,1668); 田中正大ほか『禅寺と石庭』(原色日本の 美術第10巻)小学館、1967. (Tanaka Seidai,1967) 2 http://www.jsri.jp/English/Pureland/SUTRAS/amidatrans2.html. “Amida Sutra” Based on the contemporary Japanese translation of the Jodo Shu Research Institute, published in Kyoka Kenkyu (Journal of Jodo Shu Edification Studies), No. 14, 2003. 3 福島金治『金沢北条氏と称名寺』吉川弘文館、1997 (Fukushima Kinji, 1997); 『称名 寺庭園苑池保存整備報告書』、横浜市教育委員会、1988. (Yokohama-shi kyōiku iinkai, 1988.)

Garden elements 4 北尾隆心『密教瞑想の研究 覚鍐大師の阿字観』東方出版、1996.(Kitao Ryūshin, 1996) 5 吉永義信「金閣寺(鹿苑寺)庭園」『名勝調査報告』第二輯文部省、1935 (Yoshinaga Yoshinobu, 1935); 『特別史跡特別名勝鹿苑寺(金閣寺)庭園 防災防犯施設工事に伴 う発掘調査報告書』鹿苑寺、1997. (Rokuon-ji, 1997) 6 仲隆裕「彦根藩の下屋敷-玄宮園・楽々園・御浜御殿-」、『庭園学講座VIII 大名庭 園の世界』、京都造形芸術大学日本庭園研究センター、2001. (Naka Takahiro, 2001) 7 高木宗監『建長寺史 開山大覚禅師伝』大本山建長寺、1989. (Takagi Sōkan, 1989) 8 三浦彩子『建長寺に見る初期禅宗伽藍と庭園の関係についての研究』2003, http:// jairo.nii.ac.jp/0069/00006662/en., retrieved in October 2013 (Miura Saiko, 2003) 9 『平城京左京三条二坊六坪発掘調査報告』奈良国立文化財研究所、1986. (Nara kokuritsu bunkazai kenkyūsho, 1986) 10 『特別史跡平城京左京三条二坊宮跡庭園整備報告書』奈良市教育委員会、1986. (Nara-shi kyōiku iinkai, 1986) 11 『特別史跡特別名勝毛越寺庭園発掘調査報告書』平泉町教育委員会、1985. (Hiraizumi-cho kyōiku iinkai, 1985) 12 田中正大ほか『禅寺と石庭』(原色日本の美術第10巻)小学館、1967. (Tanaka Seidai et al., 1967) 13 吉川需『小石川後楽園』(東京公園文庫28)、郷学舎、1981. (Yoshikawa Matsu, 1981) 14 森守『六義園』(東京公園文庫19)郷学舎、1981. (Mori Mamoru, 1981) 15 尼崎博正編『植治の庭-小川治兵衛の世界-』淡交社、1990. ( Amasaki Hiromasa, ed., 1990) 16 定方晟『須弥山と極楽―仏教の宇宙観』講談社現代新書、1973. (Sadakata Akira, 1973) 17 The survey report of Asuka Ishigami Ruins excavation: http://www.gensetsu. com/021123isigami/doc1.htm. retrieved in October, 2013. 18 益田市立雪舟郷記念館編集・発行 『雪舟・益田没後 雪舟五百年記念特別展 雪舟』 (Masuda shiritsu sesshū kyō kinenkan, ed. 2005); 矢冨巌夫「雪舟庭園論」『益田市立 雪舟の里記念館研究誌No.4』益田市立雪舟の里記念館、1995. (Yatomi Itsuo, 1995) 19 Japanese reading of the Chinese book title『史記』 20 Japanese reading of「蓬萊」「方丈」「瀛州」 21 宮崎正勝『海からの世界史』角川選書、2005 (Miyazaki Masakatsu, 2005); 京都国 立博物館編『山水』京都国立博物館、1985 (Kyoto Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, ed., 1985); 金子裕之編『古代庭園の思想-神仙世界への憧憬』角川書店、2002 (Kaneko Hiroyuki, ed., 2002); 河原武敏「秦漢時代庭園の神仙施設」『日本庭園学会誌 12 』2004、pp.7–14. (Kawahara Taketoshi, 2004) 22 岩科小一郎 『富士講の歴史』名著出版、1983. (Iwashina Koichirō, 1983) 23 北野隆、黒田正巳、塩田睦、川畑博「水前寺成趣園の歴史的研究」『造園雑 誌』41(3), 2–13, 1978. (Kitano Takashi et al., 1978) 24 鎌田正著『故事成語名言大辞典』大修館書店、1988. (Kamata Tadashi, 1988) 25 奈良国立文化財研究所編『発掘庭園資料』奈良国立文化財研究所史料第四八 冊、1998. (Nara kokuritsu bunkazai kenkyūsho, 1998) 26 窪徳忠『道教の神々』平河出版社、1986. (Kubo Tokuchū, 1986) 27 本田済、沢田瑞穂、高馬三良訳『抱朴子/列仙伝/神仙伝/山海経』 (中国の古典シリー ズ 4)平凡社、1973.(Honda Wataru et al., 1973) 28 倉野憲司『古事記』岩波文庫、1963 (Kurano Kenji,1963); 河原武敏『日本庭園の伝統 施設鑑賞と技法の基礎知識』東京農業大学出版会、2001 (Kawahara Taketoshi, 2001); 京都林泉協会編著『日本庭園鑑賞便覧』学芸出版社、2002. (Kyoto Rinsen Kyōkai, ed., 2002) 29 田村剛『作庭記』相模書房、1964. (Tamura Tsuyoshi, 1964) 30 松尾大社編『松尾大社』学生社、2007. (Matsuo Taisha, ed., 2007)

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Garden elements 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

中田勝康『重森三玲 庭園の全貌』学芸出版社、2009. (Nakata Katsuyasu, 2009) 『日本庭園史大系月報12』社会思想社刊、1974. (Shakai Shisō-sha, 1974) 田村剛『作庭記』相模書房、1964. (Tamura Tsuyoshi, 1964) The Genpei War (1180–1185) was a war between the Taira and Minamoto. It resulted in the fall of the Taira clan and the establishment of the Kamakura government in 1192. Synopsis of Fujito: http://www.syuneikai.net/fujito.htm 吉永義信「醍醐寺三宝院庭園」『名勝調査報告 第三輯』文部省、1997. (Yoshinaga Yoshinobu, 1997) 久慈力『七福神信仰の大いなる秘密―日本神仏信仰の謎を読み解く』批評社、2003. (Kuji Tsutomu, 2003) 重森三玲『宗隣禅寺庭園復元改修之記』宇部郷土文化会、1969. (Shigemori Mirei, 1969) 『京の離宮と御所』JTB日本交通公社出版事業局、1995. (JTB, 1995) 京都市産業観光局観光MICE推進室『京都観光NAVI』(Kyoto City Official Travel Guide) http://kanko.city.kyoto.lg.jp/ wakaru/culture/garden/basis/file06.html. retrieved in November 2013. 上原敬二『石灯籠・層塔』ガーデンシリーズ4、1958 (Uehara Keiji, 1958); 川勝政太 郎『灯篭・手水鉢』誠文堂新光社、1984. (Kawakatsu Masatarō, 1984) 中村一・尼崎博正編著『風景をつくる 現代の造園と伝統的日本庭園』昭和堂、2001 (Nakamura Hajime, Amasaki Hiromasa, ed., 2001); 京都芸術短期大学・京都造形芸術 大学日本庭園研究センター編『庭園学講座VII日本庭園と植物』2000. (Kyoto Geijutsu Tanki Daigaku, Kyoto Zōkei Daigaku Nihon Teien Kenkyū Center, ed., 2000)

CHAPTER 5

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism

Importance of garden maintenance

A Japanese garden is a space composed of a landform, rocks, water, and plants. The design and symbolism of the garden are expressed through the selection and composition of these elements, which are all transient. Plants are constantly changing, and even sturdy-looking rock compositions loosen with time. Since Japan has four distinct seasons, with abundant rainfall and high temperatures in summer, the garden presents beautiful seasonal colors and textures, but also undergoes dramatic physical changes throughout the year. There are three main causes of change in the garden over time. •





Natural disasters, large and small: Sudden natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes can destroy trees, rock compositions, and slopes, and fill rivers and ponds with dirt. Slow destructive processes include the proliferation of selfseeded trees, damage by pests, shifting of rocks through soil pressure, and the aging of structures. Leaking water and degrading water quality are also problems for most gardens with a pond. Human agency: Gardens are sometimes changed by people who do not understand the original concept of the design. Many Japanese gardens were destroyed and changed during periods of war because of changes in ownership. Environmental change: Gardens can suffer from lack of water because of global warming or urbanization, or lose surrounding scenery because of the construction of new buildings. Some garden trees die from pollution, and pond water becomes contaminated in urban areas.

Reconstruction is necessary to address large-scale damage and changes, but here we will look at the daily and annual activities needed to maintain the design and symbolism of the Japanese garden.1

Daily maintenance and care

The view of the garden changes seasonally, daily, and even hourly, with sunrise, sunset, mist, or rain. Appreciation of such changing scenery is the beauty of a Japanese garden, but growing plants and the climate itself alter its structure. Overgrowth of

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Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism ground cover can conceal rock compositions and the landform. Because the Japanese garden expresses the larger world of nature in a limited space, maintaining a balance between plants, and between plants and built structures, and maintaining subtle undulations of the landform are very important. Pruning is necessary not only to keep plants in a certain form and of a certain size but also to maintain their health. For example, removing dead branches not only makes the plants look neater but also allows for the circulation of sunlight and air through the foliage. In addition to seasonal pruning, daily cleaning is very important. Raking fallen leaves every day is necessary not only to keep the garden clean but also to prevent the growth of weeds and moss. Daily maintenance of the Japanese garden is important not only for maintaining its form but also for establishing a relationship between humans and nature. In the Zen temple, the construction and maintenance of the garden are considered part of the monks’ daily training. The head monk in Golden Pavilion during the Edo period, Hōrin Shōshō, cut flowers from the garden to decorate the alcove with a knife given by the retired emperor Gomizuno-o when he visited Golden Pavilion. The descendants of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, the first owner of Rikugi-en, maintained the garden and had lunch there after work. When Gien, the head monk of Daigo Temple’s Sampō-in, pruned the hedge back, he regretted not having done so earlier because the resulting view of the backdrop enhanced the garden so beautifully. The term “garden maintenance” sounds like an obligation of monotonous labor, but the Japanese call it teire, which means “care,” not only for plants but also for the human mind’s ability to find joy and refreshment for daily life through contact with nature.2

Maintenance of white sand

A rock garden or dry garden may seem to be a carefree garden because it does not use water and has a minimum of plants to maintain. However, a rock garden requires intensive daily maintenance to keep its design concept. For example, the rock garden of Ryōan Temple has no plants except for moss (Plate 55). There are only fifteen rocks on the white sand, which is raked into patterns symbolizing the rippling ocean. These patterns are erased by the wind and rain, so the garden must be raked daily, which also prevents weeds from growing. It is difficult for plants to grow in sand, but if they do, they are hard to uproot. Seeds of weeds, dead branches, and leaves are constantly flying into the garden. Daily cleaning and raking keep the miniaturized garden free of any elements that would disturb its symbolism. By contrast, the south garden in Kohō-an (Figure 5.1) is not covered by sand. Instead the ground is compacted red soil in which it is difficult for weeds to grow. The smooth surface of the soil is also maintained by daily cleaning. Whereas the sand of Ryōan Temple is raked daily, the sand ocean at Silver Pavilion, much thicker due to surface compaction, is only repaired monthly, along with the mountain. Silver Pavilion’s sand ocean is more durable, but its edges disintegrate easily. Experienced gardeners repair the form each month by wetting the sand and pressing it down with thick boards, the way one would make a snow sculpture. Interestingly, although the sand ocean is the highlight of the Silver Pavilion garden, it was not part of the original design. When the garden was reconstructed in the

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Figure 5.1 Compacted soil at Kohō-an seventeenth century, sand at the bottom of the pond was extracted and reused to create the sand garden (Plate 56). Because sand sinks into the ground, it needs to be replenished occasionally or else moss will invade and cover the surface. For example, the sand garden of the main hōjō of Daitoku Temple, with an elaborate gate, was only used for the appointment ceremony for a new messenger to the emperor or new head of the temple (Figure 5.2). The two mountains in the garden were not there for symbolic purposes but mainly to replenish the sand (Figure 5.3). In the photo (Plate 57) we see a deteriorating Figure 5.2 Dry garden at the front gate at Daitoku Temple

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Figure 5.3 Sand mountains at Daitoku Temple

sand garden that has not been regularly maintained. Recently this garden has begun to be restored: the moss is being removed, and the sandy surface recreated. Another example of a garden covered with moss because of a lack of maintenance is the famous dry garden in Daisen-in, which was originally covered with white sand. However, its surface has not been restored, because the mossy landscape has long been loved by visitors. The symbolism of white sand originally came from Shinto tradition. The white sand area of a Japanese garden originally symbolized a sacred space where the gods gather. The south garden of Kyoto Imperial Palace and the hōjō garden of a Zen temple both have a white sand garden for this reason. For example, the sand garden in Myōshin Temple is the space in front of the building where the spirit of Emperor Hanazono is enshrined. However, because the white sand reflects sunlight, the garden also provides more light for the interior space. When the sand is raked, the pattern diffuses the light so it softly illuminates the entire room. A white sand garden in front of a living space where people can read and write has a practical as well as symbolic function. As another example, the south garden at Shūon-an (Figure 5.4) is a sacred space, but it also lights the room where the monks read the sutra and write. The second symbolic function of white sand in a Japanese garden is to represent water, a feature which was developed during the Muromachi period. The garden of Daigo Temple (Figure 5.5) is a pond garden; however, the space in front of the building is covered with raked, brownish-white sand. The pattern raked into the sand represents the flow of water, which has been disturbed by the rocks set in the middle of the garden. Thus the garden represents a grand scene of flowing water, joining the actual water in the pond and the patterned sand.

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Figure 5.4 Dry garden at Shūon-an Figure 5.5 Sand pattern with pond at Daigo Temple, Sanbo-in

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Figure 5.6 Dry garden at Manju-in Figure 5.7 Dry stream at Manju-in

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism

Manju-in, by contrast, is a dry garden (Figure 5.6). The white sand represents water descending from the mountains, coursing under the bridge, and flowing to the ocean. The sand in the open space, which represents the ocean, is raked into a wave pattern. The island is placed in the middle of this dry ocean, and the wave pattern suggests the flow of water to the right side. Because the backdrop of the garden is mountainous, and the site slopes gently from right to left, rainwater from the mountains runs through the garden, following the path of the sand. In this way, the white sand helps prevent the garden from deteriorating (Figure 5.7). As we have seen, white sand in a Japanese garden commonly symbolizes both sacred space and the flow of water, but patterns raked into the sand are also used to enhance the overall design of the garden. For example, the straight horizontal lines of the garden in the main hōjō of Daitoku Temple emphasize the relationship among rocks that is known as a seven-five-three composition (Figure 5.8). The front garden of Tōfuku Temple’s Fumon-in has a checkerboard pattern. Because this garden is in front of the residence of the monk who established this temple, the space is considered the most sacred (Plate 58). However, the checkerboard pattern serves to soften the rigid impression that might otherwise be given by this space, and perhaps it also symbolizes the monk’s personality.

Maintenance of plants

A Zen garden mainly expresses its concept by rocks and sand. However, other Japanese gardens express their theme by plants. Since the growth rate and expected form of each plant varies, plants need to be pruned differently in different seasons to maintain their size and overall form.

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Figure 5.8 Sevenfive-three Stones at Daitoku Temple

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Figure 5.9 Wellmaintained pine tree In Japanese gardens some plants are pruned into geometric forms and others into naturalistic ones. Representative examples of trees pruned into naturalistic form are the pine trees on the central island in Golden Pavilion. Because these pines represent an island in the ocean, keeping a balance between the island and its trees is very important. Therefore, the height and density of all the pine trees must be kept even by pruning. Because red rosin will run from the cut surface of a pine tree, pines are pruned without scissors. When new shoots grow in the spring, gardeners remove many candles by hand, leaving three central candles, and pluck the tips to control the length of the new branch. The new needles are soft, but in Kyoto, by the middle of May, they become too tough to prune by hand; to avoid using scissors, spring maintenance of pines in Kyoto should be completed by early May. Figure 5.9 shows a well-maintained black pine. There are fewer needles on the upper branches and more on the lower to allow sunlight to filter down to the bottom foliage. The silhouette of the top canopy has a gentle arc, and the outline of the tree is as clean and beautiful as that of a pine in a Japanese painting. The branches shooting to the left and right are staggered evenly to create balance. How a pine tree is maintained depends upon its location and the concept of the garden. Because pines on the island of Golden Pavilion symbolize trees on an island

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism in the middle of the ocean, they have big, leaning trunks and strong roots that grip the rock to represent strength and survival through many years of wind and snow (Plate 59). However, the pine tree in Figure 5.9, once on the beach side of the cove, was long maintained to represent a pine flourishing in a warm climate. Therefore its form is straight and balanced, and its branches kept slender to represent elegant beauty. In addition, its branches were made to droop down slightly, representing longevity. In the autumn, gardeners clean out by hand the three- to four-year-old needles that would turn red in the spring. In addition, a young sub-branch is prepared at the side of the main branch that will eventually replace it when it gets too big. In this way, although a tree is constantly growing and changing, the general form and volume of its foliage are kept constant to represent “eternal green.” In Figure 5.10 we see a pine tree at Silver Pavilion, where the garden is designed to be viewed while walking around the pond as well as observed from the residence. There are many well-maintained pine trees around the pond: because excess needles and twigs are removed daily, the shape of each branch is well defined, and the distant view visible through the branches gives a sense of depth to the garden. When one walks around the pond, the rocks and

Figure 5.10 Pine trees at Silver Pavilion

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Figure 5.11 Trimming overcrowded branches building are sometimes seen through branches and sometimes in the open. Regaining an unobstructed view of the building after it has been partially obscured enables a visitor to appreciate it from a different perspective. Thus, well-pruned pine trees allow for different views of the garden so visitors can enjoy a rich walking experience and appreciate different aspects of the building. Furthermore, seasonal changes in the trees also create different impressions of the landscape. Because Kyoto is cold and has wet snow in the winter, thinning the foliage can prevent important branches from breaking under the weight of heavy snow (Plate 60). In the northern part of Japan, where there is a lot of snow during the winter, the main pine trees are covered with ropes called yukizuri. Gardeners set an umbrella of ropes over the branches to protect them from breaking under the weight of heavy snow. This is a local annual garden maintenance practice that begins in the autumn. A garden with slightly snowy pine trees presents a strikingly beautiful winter landscape (Plate 61). By contrast, Figure 5.11 shows a pine tree that has not been adequately maintained. Its branches are overgrown because it has not been pruned properly for several years. Because all the new spring needles were allowed to grow, they were too crowded and interior branches died from lack of adequate sunlight. Now, a gardener is climbing up to trim the excess branches. However, it is difficult to reshape such a neglected tree. Even if extra branches are removed, the tree will only have needles on its periphery because each branch has lost its inner needles. In such a case it is impossible for a tree to regain its symbolic image. Japan is a slender island whose climate changes dramatically from north to south, ranging from the subarctic to the subtropics. The pruning method described above is the one used in Kyoto, but pine trees in warmer regions are pruned twice a year. All new shoots are cleaned out in early spring and more new shoots are plucked again in early summer. Although the cut surface of a pine tree will always produce red rosin in Kyoto, in other regions there are specific periods when pine trees do not yield rosin so that gardeners can safely use scissors for pruning.

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Figure 5.12 Entrance hedge at Silver Pavilion Japanese gardens also have geometrically pruned plants. Many hedges are pruned into rectilinear shapes with a special saw called nagae, which is attached to the end of a long pole, though people now often use big scissors and trimmers. After cleaning away spider webs and dead leaves and untangling small twigs, the plants are trimmed both vertically and horizontally. However, since people tend to perceive the edge of a long hedge as lower than its center, the center is pruned to be a little bit lower to adjust for this visual illusion. Figure 5.12 shows the 3m-high vertical hedge at the entrance to Silver Pavilion. On the right is a hedge on top of a bamboo hedge built on a stone wall, and to the left, a double hedge, also on a stone wall (Plate 62). These hedges are pruned several times between spring and autumn to maintain their vertical surface. The hedges are composed of many different plants and each has a different growth pattern. What branch is cut and at which point is determined individually based on a plant’s characteristics. If a plant grows fast, the branch is cut more often and shorter than the expected surface

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Figure 5.13 Overgrown hedge before pruning (left); overgrown hedge after pruning (right)

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism

line. Although the function of the hedge is to screen the view, it is thinned to allow sunlight and wind to reach the plants. We can see the sky through the hedge on the right side in the photo. This is the key to keeping plants healthy and beautiful. Figure 5.13 shows a hedge that was not maintained for an entire year. We then pruned this hedge in a workshop with American students; however, it was not possible to recreate its even surface because some of its inner branches were dead from lack of sunlight. Thus we can see that yearly maintenance is essential to maintain the geometric form of a plant. The most common use of a hedge is to define the boundaries of a space. Unlike an architectural wall, a hedge can naturally connect views of inside and outside. The famous borrowed scenery of Entsū Temple was designed to frame the view beyond using the vertical lines of trees and the horizontal line of the hedge (Figure 5.14). Geometric pruning is used not only for hedges but also for symbolic representation in the garden. For example, a hemispherical tree, which may look artificial, sometimes represents a mountain or tree in the distance. At high elevations trees are stunted by cold weather, strong winds, and snow. Therefore, high mountain landscapes are symbolized by coarse rocks and low, pruned shrubs. In Chishaku-in, the mound on the left side symbolizes a high mountain landscape, and the mound on the right a woodland landscape (Plate 63). At Daitoku Temple’s Daisen-in, distant mountains are represented by a few camellia trees. The tree representing the most distant mountain is pruned the most severely so that its leaves are smaller than those of other trees, which represent mountains in the middle distance. In Figure 5.15 we see the entrance to Daisen-in. The symbolic landscape of this space is created by the combination of naturalistic pine trees and straight hedges which emphasize the line of the white sand. Note that because the hedge is well thinned using scissors, sunlight can penetrate its foliage, and moss grows on the ground under the hedge, adding a beautiful green color to the white sand. In Kyoto, because it is humid and easy for moss to grow, pruning is done with scissors to thin the density of branches and admit sunlight and air, a method not appropriate for colder regions. Thus, Japanese gardeners have developed their own methods based upon local climatic conditions, which has led to the diversity of Japanese garden maintenance techniques.

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism

Figure 5.14 Hedge at Entsū Temple Figure 5.15 White sand and hedge at Jishō Temple

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Representation

In the tea ceremony, garden maintenance represents the host’s hospitality, so cleaning the tea garden is mandatory prior to the ceremony. As illustrated by the famous episode of Sen Rikyū shaking the tree to have some fresh fallen leaves after cleaning the garden, it is important to represent not only “cleanness” but “naturalness” in the tea garden. The host also wets the stepping stones right before the ceremony, which is still ritually done in the tea garden. One can get rid of dust on the path and cool the air by wetting the pathway (Plate 64). Moreover, plants become more vibrant and stones reveal their original colors and textures. In the tea ceremony, after wetting the path, the host removes puddles and wipes away water droplets on the leaves so guests do not get their clothing wet. This represents the important theme of caring for guests. In the winter, because frost covers the ground in the morning and melts in the afternoon, the tea path can get muddy. In order to prevent guests from walking on muddy ground, the tea master may cover the path with fallen pine needles as a carpet, shiki-matsuba. Rikyū only used pine needles under the pine tree. However, Furuta Oribe started to use pine needles in other places as well (Plate 65). Sometimes a checkerboard pattern is made from pine needles facing in different directions.3

Water maintenance

The maintenance of water quality and quantity is crucial for pond gardens. Some gardens have their own water source but many gardens introduce water from a nearby river. For example, Suizen-ji Jōju-en in Kumamoto was built there because the site had abundant water from a spring nurtured by the woods of Mount Aso. However, as the woods were cut down because of urban development, the volume of water decreased. Recently, a reforestation project was begun so the spring could recover. This is an example of how garden maintenance is related to the maintenance of the larger natural environment. The garden of the Matsudaira family in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, and Koishikawa Kōraku-en in Tokyo are good examples of gardens that introduce water from nearby rivers, making the garden part of the infrastructure of the city. The Matsudaira family garden was built in the lord’s villa at the foot of the mountain located on the east side of Aizuwakamatsu Castle. In the beginning, there was a reliable well that people worshiped for providing sacred water with healing effects. The city developed its sake industry using this abundant underground water. The lord of Wakamatsu chose this site for his villa to protect this precious water source. At first he cultivated ginseng there but later constructed a pond and waterfall to transform the site into a garden. He also built a new canal to bring water to the garden from Lake Inawashiro, located several kilometers away. This canal was also intended for agricultural use, to provide water for farmlands in the region. After supplying water to the rice paddies, the canal entered the garden, and then went through the castle town. Later, the lord constructed another canal introducing water from the nearby river not only to his garden but also to his people. Thus, the garden of the Matsudaira family was built to ensure conservation of a precious water source and to supply water for local agriculture (Plate 66).

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism

The garden at Koishikawa Kōraku-en was planned in an even larger context. In the seventeenth century Edo was a marshy village facing Tokyo Bay. When the Edo government dug a well there, they found only salty water. Acquiring fresh water was the first and biggest problem for the government in building a new city. This city came to be enclosed by layers of moats. The Edo government built an open canal system for drinking water to the outer moat, then constructed an underground water system inside the moats. Edo had frequent fires during the winter because of its dry and windy climate, so large daimyō residences, such as the residence of the Tokugawa families, were located windward of Edo Castle and had large gardens with large ponds and open spaces as a fire protection system for the city. Kōraku-en was such a garden, built as part of the infrastructure of the city. It was located at the end of the open canal before water entered the underground pipes to supply drinking water for the occupants of Edo. Maintenance of water quality was a big concern for the Edo government, so it established stations along the canal to assess water quality and deter vandalism. Throwing garbage into the canal was considered a serious offense. Kōraku-en’s pond was the last checkpoint, a reservoir for controlling water volume and checking its quality before it entered the water bridge (Figure 5.16). Water entered from the canal and was pumped up to the pond by a watermill. Excess water was drained off to the neighboring river and water traveled from the pond to the water bridge. A siphon system controlled the volume of water flowing from the top of the mountain on the central island of the pond. Rice paddies were constructed in many daimyō gardens, and this was also true at Kōraku-en. Generally, these rice paddies are interpreted to have been educational features to teach the daimyō’s family about the hardships endured by farmers; however, rice paddies in the garden were also used to monitor the rice crop in order to be prepared if a bad harvest was expected. The water supply system and rice paddies at Kōraku-en were not just for the sake of maintaining the beautiful scenery. The symbolism of the garden, expressed through the beauty of nature, has many meanings. But the garden also functioned as a way of monitoring people’s

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Figure 5.16 Koishikawa Kōrakuen map (left); the water bridge (right)

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Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism drinking water and food supplies, and so contributed to maintaining their quality of life (Plate 67). Whereas the garden of the Matsudaira family and Kōraku-en were built by rulers, the gardens built around Nanzen Temple in Kyoto in the early twentieth century were private and used water from the Lake Biwa canal for fire protection and the cloisonné enamel industry. The water from the Lake Biwa canal runs through many gardens, supplying their waterfalls, streams, and ponds, and eventually returning to the canal. The Nanzen area of Kyoto became a popular site for villas of the wealthy in the early twentieth century. The owners of these villas built tea-style buildings with gardens and developed a new tea culture. Most villa gardens utilized the existing mountain terrain at the foot of Mount Higashi, with a waterfall and meandering stream, invoking the yarimizu of the Heian period. Because of the mountainous landform, some villas have a large cascade more than several meters high. According to reports, water quality is better at the lower level of a garden than at the higher. This is because debris and waste tend to sink into the pond, where water is filtered by gravel, then filtered by plants in the stream, and aerated by the waterfall. Several water routes branch from the canal. Administrators of gardens supplied by the same route share the same cleaning days, and also have study sessions on garden maintenance. Because many gardens in the area had the same garden designer, Ueji, the network of maintenance people, in addition to the network of landowners, contributes to the successful holistic maintenance of the water system. Soil or stucco was used as a construction material for ponds and streams in Japanese gardens before the twentieth century, when waterproof cement became common. Soil and stucco are imperfect waterproofing materials, which means they can provide moisture in the garden. Because of the slight leakage of water from the pond, garden plants do not have to be watered. In addition, the combination of small and big rocks at the water’s edge creates a variety of spaces where fish can lay their eggs. The group of gardens in the Nanzen area have not only purified the canal water but have also preserved fish which are already extinct in Lake Biwa. Given its evident success, Japanese garden design as a method for maintenance of water quality and conservation of ecological diversity should be applied to twenty-first-century landscape design.4

Reconstruction of historic gardens

Even in a garden that has been faithfully maintained, the scenery changes from generation to generation. The value of historic gardens is their very existence, for they have been preserved for many generations after the original owner has died. It is impossible for all plants and other elements of such a garden to be preserved over time in the same condition. Successors sometimes changed the garden for many reasons with respect to their ancestor’s concept. When a historic garden needs to be restored, how can its multilayered scenery created over the past hundreds of years be recovered? To illustrate the decisions involved in the process of restoration, here are two examples of historic Japanese garden reconstruction projects. The first is Byōdō-in in Kyoto. The garden was built by Fujiwara Yorimichi in 1052, but excavation research revealed that the garden had been changed multiple

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism times after his death. After his sixtieth birthday, Yorimichi had turned his villa, inherited from his father Fujiwara Michinaga, into a temple he called Byōdō-in. After Yorimichi’s death, Byōdō-in was in turn inherited by his descendants. Yorimichi had an artistic flair for architecture and garden-making. When he supervised the construction of his residence Kanoya-in in the Heian capital, his son observed the process and later wrote the famous book Sakuteiki, the oldest garden manual. Excavation research discovered that Kanoya-in had a pond with a beautiful beach on each side of the residence, one to the east and one to the west. The design of Byōdō-in resembles that of Yorimichi’s residence, but whereas Kanoya-in was built on a flat site in the city, Byōdō-in was built on a small hilltop overlooking the Uji River in the east. Because the Uji River symbolizes the river dividing this world from the next, Yorimichi introduced the river water into the pond and constructed the Amida Hall on the pond’s island. The edge of the pond was a beach with river stones from the Uji River whose size and color were carefully selected to be more unified than those in the actual river. The river stones on the beach were replaced with bigger cobblestones in the Muromachi period, and the entire beach was replaced with rocks in the Edo period. When Byōdō-in became a national historic site, historians proposed to reconstruct the pond as it was in the original design. When the pond had a leakage problem at the beginning of the Shōwa period, reconstruction became a necessity and excavation research was conducted. The excavation revealed that the original beach remained in good condition below ground. Whether it was appropriate to destroy later additions to reveal the garden as it had been built in the Heian period became the issue. After a thorough examination and discussion with experts from different fields, the decision was made to bury the existing water edge and construct a new beach on top, which would be a replica of the original design. As a painter observes an historic painting to make a copy, we observed the excavated Heian garden in order to reproduce the same landform; use stones with the same texture, shape, and color; and to reconstruct the garden using the same methods. From our observations, we found that the water level of the pond had not been consistent during the Heian period. It fluctuated about 10cm, and the peninsula of the island northwest of the Amida Hall was designed to be submerged when the water level was high and to appear when it was low. When we used the soil that had been used for the pond in the Heian period, we found that it was excellent waterproofing material. Reconstruction of this historic garden gave us the chance to learn the original design and construction methods that had been forgotten in the modern period. It is crucial for historic garden conservation and maintenance that we preserve knowledge of original construction materials as well as design concepts5 (Plate 68). The second example of the restoration of a historic Japanese garden is the garden at Hikone Castle. Whereas the beach of Byōdō-in was reconstructed by studying an excavated remnant, the garden of Hikone Castle was recovered by studying an old painting of the site. The Hikone Castle garden is composed of two parts: a two-hectare stroll garden, Genkyū-en, and a small viewing garden in front of the residence, Rakuraku-en, originally part of Genkyū-en redesigned between 1804 and 1818. Although Hikone City has maintained these gardens, both have been run down

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Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism with the deterioration of garden huts and bridges, water pollution, corruption of rocks around the water’s edge, overgrowth or death of plants, and urbanization of the surrounding area. Fortunately for Genkyū-en there exists a painting created before the construction of Rakuraku-en. For the reconstruction of Genkyū-en, a vegetation recovery plan was carried out prior to reconstruction of the water’s edge. We surveyed existing plants and made a maintenance plan that involved thinning the dense foliage and cutting back overgrown trees by comparing the present garden with the old painting of Genkyū-en, a project that has so far taken the last ten years. As a result, the garden has started to reveal its original beauty. For example, when we removed the overgrown ground cover at the foot of the hill where Hoshōdai, the observatory building, was built at the highest point in the garden, beautiful rock compositions appeared. When we thinned the thick branches of trees on the island, the landform was revealed, and the powerful waterfall behind the trees became visible through the thinned branches. Furthermore, when we thinned the background forest, the mountain scenery behind the forest appeared and the old borrowed scenery visible in the painting was recovered. In addition, the black pines in the garden turned greener because the garden could receive more sunshine. Thus, reconstruction of a garden’s scenery is not necessarily dependent upon the architecture or structural construction of the garden, but on the careful planning of the daily maintenance of plants6 (Plate 69). Cutting back overgrown trees and thinning forests to their original size and form takes a long time. Reconstruction of the planting of Genkyū-en will take more than another ten years to complete. However, as the garden starts to shine once again, maintenance itself becomes a pleasure. As more people visit the garden, its purpose – teaching people about the beauty of nature – is revived.

Influence of surroundings on the maintenance of symbolism

Byōdō-in is one of Kyoto’s UNESCO World Heritage assets. Among the many gardens of Kyoto, Byōdō-in is the oldest. The registered World Heritage Site of Byōdō-in Temple was limited to its temple grounds. However, the symbolism of Byōdō-in as a Pure Land garden was expressed not only by the garden within the temple grounds but by the surrounding landscape. Unfortunately, many tall buildings were constructed in the surrounding area of Byōdō-in which disturbed the mountain scenery of its background. As more people visited this UNESCO World Heritage garden, Uji City reconsidered placing restrictions upon the height and design of new buildings. There are many souvenir tea shops along the approach to Byōdō-in Temple. The modern shop buildings were redesigned in the more traditional Japanese tea-house style to fit the historic site. Furthermore, streetlamps were redesigned and power lines were buried underground. The garden restoration of Byōdō-in became a stimulus for the larger rehabilitation project of the city as a tourist attraction. This project gave the community an opportunity to rediscover the historical significance of the land, strengthen communal ties, and reconsider the preservation and conservation of local culture and nature. The true meaning of the restoration and maintenance of historic gardens is highlighting their lost message. Actions taken to visualize local culture developed in

Maintenance of the Japanese garden’s symbolism keeping with the surrounding environment. Successful restoration of historic gardens can inspire people through a philosophy of nature that can unite and encourage them to recover the cultural landscape, not just of gardens but of the region as a whole.7

Notes

1 仲隆裕「文化財庭園の修復技術」京都造形芸術大学日本庭園研究センター編『庭園学 講座10文化財庭園の保存管理技術』所収、2003、16–23.(Naka Takahiro, 2003) 2 尼﨑博正・中村一編『風景をつくる』、昭和堂、京都、2001. (Amasaki Hiromasa, Nakamura Makoto, ed., 2001) 3 田中正大『日本の庭園』、鹿島出版会、1967.(Tanaka Seidai, 1967) 4 尼﨑博正編『植治の庭―小川治兵衛の世界』、淡交社、1990.(Amasaki Hiromasa, ed., 1990) 5 平等院編(2003)『史跡及び名勝平等院庭園保存整備報告書』、平等院、宇 治、2003.(Byōdō-in, ed., 2003) 6 京都造形芸術大学日本庭園研究センター編『大名庭園の世界』(庭園学講座8)、京 都、2001. (Kyoto Zōkei Geijutsu Daigaku Nihon Teien Kenkyū Center, ed., 2001) 7 仲隆裕(2003)平等院にみる古代の風景、国文学48(14)2003. (Naka Takahiro, 2003)

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CHAPTER 6

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals

In previous chapters, the Japanese garden has been revealed as a space in which natural scenery is reproduced in miniature. But what type of natural scenery is most suitable for a particular site, how can it be miniaturized, and how are the materials for the garden to be selected? Furthermore, a Japanese garden sometimes needs built structures, such as fences, bridges, lanterns, and basins. How should these elements be designed and arranged? Many garden manuals have been written over the centuries to answer these questions. In this chapter, we will learn about the principles and techniques of Japanese garden design and construction that have been recorded in historic garden manuals. The oldest garden manual in Japan is Sakuteiki, written by Tachibana Toshitsuna (968–1094) in the Heian period. The original has been lost and the earliest extant copy was made in 1289. Because the style of garden in the Heian period was the hill-and-pond garden for palace-style buildings or Pure Land temples, Sakuteiki was written for designing these particular gardens. When the dry garden was developed in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, garden books started to describe how to rake sand into patterns representing water, and how to prune plants to maintain their size and form in a limited garden space. Garden manuals written in the subsequent period describe elements of the tea garden, such as stepping stones, stone lanterns and basins, hedges, and benches, which were not considered garden elements in earlier periods. When garden culture spread among commoners in the Edo period, garden manuals were written for small private residential gardens, and summarized the designs and techniques developed in previous eras. So the garden elements described in manuals differ depending upon when the manuals were written. Furthermore, the recommended materials, such as stones and plants, also differ depending upon the region in which the book was written. This difference in the selection of garden elements originated from the concept of creating a garden to symbolize the beauty of local nature using local materials. In this chapter we will see how historic garden manuals from different periods describe how to design a good garden.

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals

Sakuteiki

(12th–13th century) Author: Tachibana Toshitsuna Tachibana Toshitsuna was the son of Fujiwara Yorimichi, who built Byōdō-in. Like his father, Toshitsuna had extensive knowledge and experience in civil engineering and architecture, and the excellence of his garden was famous during his time. Toshitsuna wrote Sakuteiki by adding his experiences to the knowledge contained in the garden books he had inherited. His book was not published but copied in later periods. Therefore, there are several versions of Sakuteiki, which remained a secret manual until it was finally published in the seventeenth century. Although this manual is about palace-style gardens, the residential gardens of aristocrats, it is still read now because it explains how to symbolize natural scenery, the common goal of Japanese gardens of all types. Since many books, including some in English, have already described Sakuteiki, here we will introduce only those points relating to the symbolism of the garden.1 According to Tanaka, the contents of Sakuteiki can be classified into ten categories: • • • • • • • • • •

Idea of spatial composition for a landscape garden Elements of the palace-style garden Pond and stream designs Island designs Waterfall construction Streams Rock composition and prohibitions Plants Wells Other

At the start, Sakuteiki points out three basic principles of garden design. First, it defines the garden as a space symbolizing the superb scenery of larger nature. It recreates that nature in miniature by utilizing local conditions and materials. The very first garden manual states that a garden should be designed and constructed by recollecting beautiful natural scenery, and should always convey a sense of nature. This became the overall principle of Japanese garden design. Second, Sakuteiki says that gardening is a traditional technique, and therefore one should learn design and construction methods from historic examples. It also states that tradition is succession as well as evolution. New designs must fit the requirements of a new era and yet respect the past. According to Sakuteiki, a designer should develop a garden by taking into account the client’s wishes and his own artistic sense. This point is still an essential part of landscape design in the twenty-first century. The third point is how to determine the image of nature to be expressed by the garden. Sakuteiki recommends studying scenic places, known as meisho, which have been admired by many people and have appeared in many poems and other

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals literature. Thus, the philosophy of gardening was already established by the time Sakuteiki was written. After the introduction, Sakuteiki explains the construction methods for each garden element. It first classifies the landscapes to be represented into categories, such as scenery of the ocean, river, lake, valley, and stream, and examines the components of each, explaining how to construct such scenery. It examines the representative landforms and elements of each landscape. For example, ocean scenery can be represented by a landscape with eroded, sturdy rocks standing amid rock debris that represents the force of battering waves, and a white sand beach with a pine forest. Sakuteiki also classifies the forms of islands and waterfalls, and describes how to reconstruct them in the garden. The designer is supposed to combine different sceneries with an understanding of all the components. However, Sakuteiki encourages the designer not to make the garden just a patterned landscape but to design it according to a unique creative vision. Here is a summary of the book’s remaining content.

The water’s edge of a pond and river

This part of Sakuteiki discusses the shape of a pond and river, describing design details based on the thorough observation of nature to evoke a particular landscape: “The shape of the white beach around the pond or the river should be pointy like a hoe and mixed with water like a plow. For such a landscape, rocks should be standing. Because stones in the water symbolize rocks in the ocean, you need to set some of them as if representing the waves.”

The shape of islands

Because the main garden theme during this period was an ocean landscape, the design of islands was important. Sakuteiki classifies islands based on their location and shape: mountain, field, woody, ocean, cloud type, haze type, beach type, river type, tidal flat, pine forest, etc. The mountain island is an island miniaturizing a mountain in the ocean. According to Sakuteiki, “The mountain island is a densely planted high mound. There is a white beach at the foot of the mountain and standing rocks at the edge of the water.” By contrast, a cloud type island is the image of a delta floating like a cloud in a big river. “A cloud type [island] is a white sandy area with no rock or tree, which resembles a cloud blown by the wind.”

Waterfall construction

Because there are many waterfalls in Japan, the waterfall is also an important element in the Japanese garden. There are many forms of waterfall and Sakuteiki classifies them as follows: front falls, one-side falls, transmission falls, distant falls, cloth falls, string falls, double falls, right and left falls, etc. With a waterfall carefully designed to fit a given topography, a Japanese garden expresses the rich relationships among mountains, rivers, and ponds.

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals

Stream (yarimizu)

Yarimizu is the meandering naturalistic stream with rock compositions that became popular in the gardens of palace-style buildings. During this time, the stream was thought to bring good luck to the land. It was important to have a stream running under the bridge between the main building and detached building to provide residents with refreshing coolness. The stream is supposed to flow from east to south, and then turn west; movement from west to east is considered a reverse flow. The stream’s current can be varied, rapid, or slow. The plantings around the stream should be minimal, perhaps some perennial flowers, to allow the flow of water to remain visible.

Rock composition and prohibition

The importance of rock composition was explained previously, but the methods of rock composition and prohibition are discussed in detail in this section of the manual. It is important to examine each rock and understand its characteristics before beginning to compose. The garden’s designer should consider how to group and compose each rock to represent his image of a landscape after understanding the characteristics of each. Sakuteiki explains how to compose rocks based on different images of the landscape. For example, “A rock near a cliff should stand like a folding screen. Rocks at the foot of a mountain or field should be set like a group of dogs lying on the ground. If a few rocks look like they are trying to escape, several rocks should look like they are chasing,” etc. Sakuteiki also mentions prohibited rock compositions. Although most are based on superstitions, these rules were adhered to in garden design even after the Heian period.

Plants

As we saw with yarimizu, introducing luck into the garden is also an aspect of planting design. According to Sakuteiki, “The stream east of the house is considered a blue dragon. If there is no stream, nine willows can replace it. The large path west of the house is considered a white tiger. If there is no path west of the house, seven hisagi (Mallotus japonicus) can replace it. The pond south of the house is considered a phoenix. If there is no pond, nine katsura (Chamaecyparis obtusa) trees can replace it. The hill on the north side of the house is considered a giant turtle, but three hinoki trees can replace it. If you have these elements, you will acquire social status and money, health, and a long life. As long as you have these elements, you can plant any tree in any direction.” Sakuteiki also says, “You should not plant a tree in the middle of the gate because it resembles 閑, meaning ‘no job’ [門 (gate) + 木 (tree)]. If the site is square, you should not plant a tree in the middle because it resembles 困, meaning ‘trouble’ [口 (walls) + 木 (tree)].” The manual also recommends planting flowering trees on the east side and trees with autumn color on the west side of the garden in order for plants to be appreciated year round. Furthermore, it recommends planting pines and willows on the islands symbolizing the landscape of the ocean or lake, and maple

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals trees at the side of the gazebo built at the water’s edge to provide coolness during the hot summer. In summary, Sakuteiki recognizes two roles for plants in the garden: as part of the structure of the garden and as a representation of the seasons. It stresses the importance of designing the planting by considering the function of each tree.

Wells

A well provides cool water during the hot summer. This section of the manual explains how to introduce water from a water source and how to construct a well in the garden.

Other

This section explains the role of architecture in the garden. Different types of architecture are built for different activities. According to Sakuteiki, “Architecture can be classified into two types: towers and flat buildings. A tower has short eaves and is good for moon viewing. A flat building has long eaves and is cool in the summer and warm in the winter.” All of Sakuteiki is still very important in garden design today. However, as the design of Japanese gardens became more diverse in later periods, some principles of gardening were more highly developed than others, and new ones were added. We will now see some of the changes in design principles in other garden manuals.

Sansui narabini nogata-zu

(The pattern book of mountain-river and fields) (approximately the Kamakura period) Author: Zōen This book illustrates how to compose rocks and how to plant trees using their names. The existing copy was made in 1466. When this book was originally published is unknown, but it is frequently compared with Sakuteiki as a work of roughly the same period. It focuses on designs to express the Taoist hermit’s cosmology and Yin and Yang philosophy. The book does not classify garden elements the way Sakuteiki does, but there are many similarities in the contents of both works. For example, according to Sansui narabini nogata-zu, “The shape of the pond should be a copy of the ocean,” an idea similar to that found in Sakuteiki. In general, Sansui narabini nogata-zu considers stones and plants the basic elements of a garden and explains how to arrange them. In particular, it discusses the role of stones by naming more than twenty kinds. The following names appear in this order: Sōji (lifting) stone (stand), Kagami (mirror) stone (laid), Jōju (wish comes true) stone (stand), Rei (greeting) stone (stand), Ryōjikai (two worlds) stone (stand), Myō-ō stone (stand), Funagakure (hidden boat) stone (stand), Imi (mourning) stone (stand), Byōbu (folding screen) stone (stand), Shunzoku stone (laid),

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals Kasumikakari (floating fog) stone (stand), Sanzon (Triad) stone (stand), Mizuotoshi (conduit) stone (laid), Torii stone (laid), Tatsui stone (laid), Mizu-uchi (watering) stone (stand), Fū-u (rain and wind) stone (laid), Mizuwake (dividing water) stone (laid), Seki (dike) stone (stand), Nagare (running water) stone (laid), Keiai (love) stone (stand), Emo stone, Ryūha (wave) stone (laid), Mizuochi (water receipt) stone (laid), Hashihiki (bridge) stone (laid), Kimi (Lord) stone (stand), Shin (subordinate) stone (stand), Furō (never aging) stone (stand), Bankyaku (medicine of longevity) stone (stand), Shin-ō (King of gods) stone (stand), Chōyū (playing bird) stone (laid), Ren (chain) stone (laid), Kan (officer) stone (stand), Suijō stone (laid), Chūshō stone (laid), Ningyō (doll) stone (stand). [“Stand” indicates standing stone and “laid” indicates laid stone.] These are not the names of rocks in a particular garden, but general names symbolizing the role of a stone based on its shape and location. The characteristics of a garden can be designed by using these names. Among them, the Sanzon (Triad) stone, Mizuochi stone, and Mizuwake stone are still commonly used in the Japanese garden today. The book describes how Furō (never aging) and Bankyaku (medicine of longevity) stones should form a turtle shape to symbolize Mount Hōrai, and these were later developed into the Turtle and Crane Islands characteristic of Japanese gardens to this day. For the composition of rocks, Sansui narabini nogata-zu uses the words ten (heaven), chi (earth) and jin (man). Ten is an upright rock, chi is a laid rock, and jin is a diagonally standing rock. Sansui narabini nogata-zu recommends composing these three rocks in one place with good balance, a concept that influenced not only garden design but also Japanese flower arrangement as a key principle of naturalistic spatial design. Sansui narabini nogata-zu says, “When you plant trees and shrubs, you should examine how these plants grow in nature. In other words, a tree on a mountain should be planted on the mountain, a tree in a field should be planted in the field, a plant at the water’s edge should be planted near water, and a plant on the seashore should be planted on the beach.” The manual continues, “All plants should be viewed at a glance. The important thing is to appreciate all trees at once. It is not good to plant a tree, no matter how precious it is, blocking the small tree behind.” Because Japanese gardens are densely planted, it is difficult to design all plants so they can be viewed at once. Therefore, the book recommends thinning plants by pruning so one can see the other plants through the thinned branches: “When you thin branches, you should observe the tree well and determine the front view of it.” The thinning technique essential to Japanese garden maintenance was already established by this period. Sansui narabini nogata-zu prefers pine trees as garden plants: “A pine looks great in any location: mountain, hills, and fields. It is the best plant for designing a landscape.” Pine trees were therefore considered the most important plants in garden design. Besides pine trees, camellia, plum, cherry, willow, peach, pear, maple, and bamboo are also discussed. In particular, the description of the plum is interesting: “Because the plum is fragrant, it should be planted in a location from which the wind always blows toward the residence.” Scent had not been discussed in garden manuals before.

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals Sansui narabini nogata-zu classifies the forms of plants as well as stones into vertical, horizontal, and diagonal shapes. It recommends composing different forms of plants in one place. The classification of plant forms is also unusual for classic garden manuals. Sansui narabini nogata-zu uses illustrations in its explanations of the forms of garden elements and their spatial composition. This book was an important influence upon the later development of stone composition and pruning techniques for the Japanese garden.

Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho

(The secret book of Saga-style gardening) (around the Muromachi period) Author: Unknown The earliest existing copy of this book was made in 1395. The content of Sagaryūtei kohō hiden-no-sho is similar to that of Sansui narabini nogata-zu. This manual discusses garden elements included in Sakuteiki; however, the stone lantern is a new element not previously discussed. The unique characteristic of this book is its recommendation to make a site plan: “When you build a garden, no matter how small the site is, you should make a site plan. There are gardens with no mountain or island; however, even for a garden designed only with rocks, you should make a site plan. No matter how wide the site or how deep, you should make a site plan.” Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho explains not only how to design gardens but how to appreciate them. For garden design, it explains the spatial composition by classifying gardens into three styles: shin, gyō, and sō. The shin style has the most garden elements, and the sō style is the most simplified. This book shows the oldest design examples based on the shin, gyō, and sō styles, which were further developed in Tsukiyama teizōden. Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho has six sections: i) garden design, ii) prohibitions in construction, iii) recommendations for design, iv) planting design, v) garden elements, and vi) garden viewing manners. The following is a summary.

Garden design

This chapter describes the importance of constructing a garden based on a site plan. It also says, “The principle of garden design is the same for the gardens of all classes; i.e. gardens for aristocrats, soldiers, and temples. However, the design for gardens of the soldier class is slightly different. For such a garden, you should stand four stones and lay five stones to make nine stones in total, a mystic number.” This advice about designing a garden for the soldier class is unique, and not found in Sakuteiki or Sansui narabini nogata-zu.

Prohibitions in construction

This section is similar to the related section in Sakuteiki.

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals

Recommendations for design

“There are two happinesses and three lucks in landscape. The two happinesses are a garden in the east, the south, and the west, and a garden with a high mountain and a big tree behind a waterfall. The three lucks are setting a resting stone on the main island and taking care of it, sanding the ground, and planting a pine on the main island.” Because the last part of the book describes kawaramono (workers on the riverside in Kyoto), the sand here may refer to the shirakawa sand in Kyoto, which was used for dry gardens in Zen temples.

Planting design

In general, Japanese prefer odd numbers such as seven, five, and three, and they dislike the number four because it sounds like shi, which is the same sound of the word meaning “death.” Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho recommends not using “four stones, four trees, or four flowers.” It says, “If you need to use four stones, trees, or flowers, you should add one more stone, tree, or flower as a supporting element.” It also advises against using single garden elements: “Even if the site is small, using only one stone, tree, or plant is not good. However, if the garden is large, because there will be more stones in other areas, setting only one stone is acceptable.” Like Sakuteiki, Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho recommends designing a garden by choosing the correct plants for the natural environment: “Don’t select a plant which grows near water for a mountain landscape, or plants which grow in the mountains for a water landscape.”

Garden elements Stone

Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho introduces many names of stones and describes their proper composition. For example, it defines the Triad Stones as the symbol of the three gods in the center of the garden: “These stones are guardian stones for the homeowner. A praying stone should be set in front of the Triad Stones.”

Mountain

Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho calls a mountain in the garden tsukiyama (built mound). The term was later adopted in the title of Tsukiyama teizōden, and is still used today to suggest a mountain in the garden.

Island

The islands named in Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho are fukiage (flotsam and jetsam beach), namiyose (intersecting waves beach), uchiyose (incoming waves beach), nakajima (central island), kakujin (guest island), shujin (master island), and namearai (wave-washed island), which should be a rocky island. Among these, fukiage, kakujin, and shujin are new names that did not appear in Sakuteiki. Fukiage is a

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals miniaturized island estuary: “The beach where sand is brought by the water. There should be no stone, just sand. Reeds or iris should be planted at the water’s edge.” By contrast, kakujin and shujin islands symbolize not the landscape but human beings, a practice that became popular around this time. According to Sagaryū-tei kohō hidenno-sho, “A garden should have two islands, a kakujin island on the right side and a shujin island on the left side.”

Mount Hōrai

Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho says the Hōrai mountain in a garden should be in the shape of a turtle: “The Hōrai mountain should be located in the center of the garden. Its shape should be a turtle with a turtle head stone, turtle hand stones, leg stones, and a tail stone. The composition of these rocks is very important. This island becomes the central island of the garden, and you should plant a pine tree on top. If you do not have a pine tree, you can place a turtle shell-shaped stone instead.” The description of a Turtle Island can already be found in Sansui narabini nogata-zu, but Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho is the earliest book to mention the head stone, hand stones, leg stones, tail stone, and a pine tree on the island, features we still see in many Japanese gardens today.

Waterfall

The description of the waterfall in Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho is not as detailed as in Sakuteiki. However, the waterfall is still considered the most important element in the garden: “The waterfall must have a supporting stone, a water reception stone, a water dividing stone, and a fudō stone with child (angel) stones on both sides. You should set stones thinking about the role of each. The design of the waterfall is the most important in the garden.”

River

Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho introduces different styles of river design and explains the different roles for stones. Some important stones in the waterfall are the suinan stone (stirring stone), name-uke stone (wave-receiving stone), mizu-uke stone (waterreceiving stone), and konoha-kaeshi stone (stone to flip falling leaves).

Bridge

“If the island is a Hōrai mountain, a bridge should not be built on it … A bridge should be built in the middle of the river, not at the base of the waterfall. However, for a big waterfall in a big garden, a simple log like one a wild monkey would use can be put across the stream above the waterfall.” Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho also recommends setting “four stones at each corner of the stone bridge.” These stones are called hashihiki (pulling bridge) stones, and stone bridges in Japanese gardens are still designed that way.

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals

Pond

There is little description of the design of the pond, but Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-nosho advises, “Even if the pond is a detention pond, it should have a waterfall as an inlet of the water and an outlet of the water.”

Plants

Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho also recommends using particular plants for the garden landscape: “Oak, maple, wolfberry, and golden lace are for the mountain landscape. Palm, sacred bamboo, yew, pine, tree peony, gingko, forsythia, azalea, and yellow plum are for the island. Camellia, sandalwood, cedar, rhododendron, and chestnut are for the water’s edge or mountain scenery. Orchid, hydrangea, chrysanthemum, peony, and Japanese silver leaf are good plants for the valley; and sacred lily, clove, daphne, lily, and wisteria are good for creating mountain scenery.”

Stone lanterns

“There are various locations where you can put stone lanterns. Although stone lanterns of various heights are available, their size should be determined by the size of the garden. The lantern should be set so its light is reflected on the surface of the water. If the column of the lantern is square, it is not good to set its front directly toward the viewing point. It is better to set it at a slight diagonal to the viewing point.” From this description, we can see that the garden was designed to be viewed not only in the daytime but also in the evening after dark. Avoiding the placement of objects so they directly face the viewer is a typical aspect of Japanese aesthetics intended to produce a sense of spatial depth. This important principle also influences the composition of elements in Japanese garden design.

Garden viewing manners

This section is unrelated to garden design, but focuses instead on how gardens should be viewed. When one visits a garden, Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho recommends viewing the garden first from the guest island, followed by the master’s island, the praying stone, and then the waterfall. When one has finished viewing the garden from all these perspectives, then one should return to the guest island.

Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu

(Garden drawings for extra landscape design) Author: Unknown, illustrated by Hishikawa Moronobu This book was published during the Edo period (1680). The author is unknown, but the illustrations were done by Hishikawa Moronobu, a famous ukiyo-e artist at that time. Unlike other garden books, which explain the garden based on its elements, this book explains gardens based on drawings by an artist. It is unknown whether the

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals illustrations were sketched from real gardens or drawn from the imagination. Some interesting types of gardens introduced in this book are the tree garden, lawn garden, Chinese garden, topiary garden, Hōrai garden, kick ball garden, cherry garden, Otowa Falls garden, miniaturized Sumida River garden, wisteria garden, Mount Akaheki garden, chrysanthemum and water garden, sunrise mountain garden, four season flower garden, Savior’s garden, winter wind garden, haze garden, beach and mountain garden, palm garden, rocky waterfall garden, and couple’s garden. Here are some examples from the text:

Tree garden

“This is a garden built in an open area within a wall. Seasonal trees are planted along the pond and stream. The path to the tea house is designed with stepping stones. This simple garden is called a ‘tree garden.’ The bridge over the stream in such a garden should be new, with railings, not a thatched bridge, wooden bridge, log bridge, bamboo bridge or other rustic bridge. In addition, mountains should not be built for this style of garden.”

Hōrai garden

“A Hōrai garden first should have a hill with a pond surrounding it. The hill should be connected with a bridge. A large rugged rock should be set on top of the hill, and smaller rocks should be set on both sides. Because this garden should represent a spring landscape, cherry and camellia should be planted along with water plants. It is better to have many flowering plants to create spring colors to be enjoyed. The lawn should be used for ground cover so that one can put down a red carpet and have parties when the flowers are in bloom.”

Savior’s garden (Figure 6.1)

This is a garden that represents approaching the gods. First, the rooms should be square with an alcove near the veranda. The window frame should be painted black, and a washing basin should be set on the veranda near the alcove. Triad Stones with a seating stone below them should be set in the garden. The garden should be a landscape of a mountain and river. A pine tree with an elegant long branch should be planted near the mountain. In front of the pine tree, a flat stone, a holding stone, and a praying stone should be set.

Haze garden (Figure 6.2)

The title of this garden suggests a far-off mountain wrapped in a haze visible even on sunny days. A haze garden is a representation of distant mountain views in a limited space. According to Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu, “This garden has a hazy mountain view from the main guest room. A progression of mountains is made in the garden, starting from the smallest mountain in front of the main guest room, to the bigger mountain behind it, to the biggest mountain at the end of the garden. There should be narrow,

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals

Figure 6.1 Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu Savior’s garden illustration Figure 6.2 Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu Haze garden illustration

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals steep paths in the valley, seating stones on the sides of the mountains, and square bench stones and stone lanterns on the mountains. You should plant various fruit trees such as chestnut, persimmon, and mountain peach and make a stream running among these trees. It will look nice to set a water gate stone and introduce the water behind it. For the bridge over the stream, a simple log bridge using a fallen tree is recommended. The surfaces of the mountains should be a combination of lawn and stones.

Rocky waterfall garden

The highlight of this garden is the rock composition of the waterfall. Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu says, “The water runs down through a rocky mountain and there is a fudō rock in front of the waterfall. The tea house is built facing south and is connected by a thatched-covered bridge with the main residence. Many small trees are planted in front of the tea house, but no trees are planted on the rocky mountain. The water falls in threads from the rock. Japanese yew, cleyera, and camellia are good plants for the space between the main residence and the tea house. The ground of the garden should be gravel, and the space under the eave of the tea house should be covered with pine needles.” Figure 6.3 Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu Partner’s garden illustration

Partner’s garden (Figure 6.3)

“This is a garden in front of the wife’s room. It is a gentle landscape with a pond and stream. A nice-looking rock should be set in the pond and trees such as plum should

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals be planted on the rock and sasa bamboo at the water’s edge. A wooded area with a shrine should be designed behind the pond. A thatched hedge should be built in front of the veranda and a large pine tree should be planted behind it. This garden is beautiful on snowy days in the winter.” This is the first description of a hedge in a garden book. The only evidence of a hedge in a garden in previous eras is found in scroll paintings after the Heian period. Because of the development of the tea garden during the Muromachi and AzuchiMomoyama periods, an enclosed small garden within a larger one, the design of hedges became important. As a result, hedge design is discussed in detail in later garden books such as Tsukiyama teizōden and Ishigumisonō yaegakiden.

Tsukiyama teizōden

Author: Kitamura Enkin, illustrated by Fujii Shigeyoshi This book, originally comprising three parts, was edited by Kitamura Enkin and illustrated by Fujii Shigeyoshi in 1735. In 1829, Akisato Ritō wrote another three parts and published the six parts together as Tsukiyama teizōden. The currently available Tsukiyama teizōden edited by Uehara Keiji is the version by Akisato Ritō. It classifies gardens by style and explains garden elements using famous gardens as examples. It describes how to design a garden, different garden styles, stones, waterfalls, ponds, built elements (bridge, stone lantern, basin), plants, hedges, and construction techniques, classifying them into 103 categories. This book basically summarizes previous garden manuals. In particular it was strongly influenced by Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho. The following list of topics shows the comprehensive nature of this work. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

principles of landscape design stone compositions that bring bad luck stone compositions that bring good luck prohibited plantings prohibition against building a bridge over a Hōrai Island prohibition against planting deciduous trees and dead trees viewed frontally field the perspective of mountains gardens that do not fit with hills and pond how to introduce beautiful scenery the shape of the site how to compose rocks and plant trees Yin and Yang in rock composition waterfalls rocks for waterfalls Hōrai mountain the rock of the two gods the spot to build a bridge rock composition at the beginning of the waterfall

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

water spout the rock at the end of the river the rock on the guest’s island the rock on the master’s island the prayer rock the names of rocks on the mountain the rock of the master’s seat the stone bridge the rock on the riverside naming of rocks plants for the valley spots for planting farmland how to compose the Nine Stones stone walls the secret of the rock for the master’s seat how to compose lucky stones how to apply the name of the god Miroku to a shin-style garden The Nine-Rank Buddhist system names of Bosatsu buddhas how to apply names of Bosatsu buddhas to the garden the principle of Yin and Yang the mottos about loving landscape design of stone composition weather in nature how to introduce a distant view into the garden how to make a tea garden gardens with no water application of stone lanterns how to fix large rocks how to keep fish in a pond with compacted soil how to keep goldfish detention pond how to grow moss the secret of planting pine trees how to revive dying pine trees how to age stone lanterns and basins how to protect fish in the pond from mice how to make dotted bamboo the best days to plant bamboo medicine for grafting the method of blooming flowers the method to prevent fruits dropping from the tree how to plant pine trees how to make trees thicker how to prevent worms from damaging trees

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals • • • •

keeping frogs in the pond diagrams for small gardens diagram for stone lanterns diagram for stone basins

At the beginning, Tsukiyama teizōden points out three important rules for garden design. The first is to learn sketching techniques because the intent of a Japanese garden is to copy beautiful natural scenery. It is important to master techniques for drawing the landform, plants, and rocks in a natural setting so these images can then be used to express these natural elements in the garden. The book refers to important scenic places in China, such as Mount Lu and the West Lake, which shows that landscapes to be recreated in the Japanese garden were not limited to scenic sites in Japan. The second rule is to learn how to compose rocks and plant trees. In order to symbolize the scenery of high mountains with a waterfall, and the vast ocean in a small space, it is necessary to know how to miniaturize such scenery using rocks and plants. The third rule is to learn how to recreate the harmonious beauty of nature by not emphasizing any particular element of the garden but the whole. Tsukiyama teizōden also mentions the three levels of formality in design – shin, gyō, and sō – and explains how to create harmonious beauty in each. Here are some of the most unique points in Tsukiyama teizōden.

Perspective of landscape

“Make mountains in the far distance low and mountains in the near distance high. Make the stream in the distance flow from a high elevation and the nearby stream flow from a low elevation.” This recommendation follows the method for evoking perspective in Chinese landscape painting.

Introduction of the view beyond the site

“Utilize the existing landform for the garden’s design. The height of mountains on the site should be low, and the trees should be thinned so that the view beyond the garden can be a part of the garden scenery.” This is the concept of borrowed scenery, which appears here for the first time in a garden manual.

Tea garden

“A tea garden should seem as if it is not man-made, or as if it is in the middle of the mountains even though it is in a city.” This principle had already been explained by Sen Rikyū as the idea of “a mountain retreat in the city.”

Dry garden

“A dry garden’s river is created by covering a flat space with white sand and building a waterless waterfall. However, the principle of its construction is the same as for a regular garden.” Tsukiyama teizōden also introduces examples of Zen gardens.

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals

How to plant moss

“To plant moss, cultivate the ground to make it soft, place the moss upon it, step on it, sprinkle soil on top, and water well on shady days.” From this description, we can see that using moss in the garden was common by this time.

How to build a hedge

“There is a set dimension and a flexible dimension for a hedge. The dimension from the ground to the bottom bar should be 7 sun (21cm); however, the height of a hedge should be in proportion to its width. If it is a bamboo hedge, the knots of the bamboo stalks should not be aligned.” The hedge had also become an important garden element by this time.

How to maintain a hedge

“The hedge in the garden must be thinned…. There are two kinds of hedge: a pruned hedge and a thinned hedge. The pruned hedge should be pruned from the front side after removing dead branches. For the thinned hedge, you should prune the front first, and then thin the hedge.” Thinning is a very important technique for creating depth in a Japanese garden. Another interesting aspect of Tsukiyama teizōden is that it considers the shinstyle garden a representation of Buddha’s world and recommends calling its elements, such as the main rocks, by the names of Bosatsu buddhas, since this most formal garden represents the landscape of the Pure Land. Because the garden is a sacred space, it should be purified and cleaned every day.

Tsukiyama teizōden (second edition) Author: Akisato Ritō, ed.

Published in 1829 and composed of three parts, this book classified gardens according to the shin, gyō, and sō styles, and explained each garden element with illustrations. It classified tea gardens into four types: the standard tea garden, the wabi tea garden, the observatory tea garden, and gardens for sencha (steeped green tea). In the introduction, Ritō points out the three meanings of garden design. First, one can create a garden where gods and Buddhas gather by adding plants and removing dirty things, so the family will be protected by the gods. Second, the owner can achieve a peaceful mind and a long life by loving the garden. Third, one can maintain a rich ecosystem by introducing a stream or a well with pure water into the garden. These later parts provide many examples of gardens – i.e. in front of the living room or courtyard gardens – and explain principles of design, construction methods, and maintenance methods. In particular they provide many examples for designing around stone basins, and creating and naming stone compositions. For the stone lantern alone there are nineteen examples and illustrations. The third

Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals volume contains project examples and illustrates twenty different gardens with explanations for each of their characteristics. Tsukiyama teizōden was written as a practical, comprehensive garden manual. It covers gardens not only for aristocrats and the soldier class but also for the common people. It shows how gardening had become popular among all classes by this period. Much of its content is no longer used, but it was a popular book in the nineteenth century, one which Josiah Conder (1852–1920) referred to in writing Landscape Gardening in Japan (1893).

Ishigumi sono-o yaegaki-den

(The story of stone compositions, plants, and fences) Author: Akisato Ritō (1827) This book was written by the same author who wrote the second version of Tsukiyama teizoden. It explains garden elements, stones, fences, bridges, stepping stones, and stone basins and lanterns, with illustrations. It contains fifty-five examples of gates and hedges, thirty examples of stone compositions, fifteen examples of stepping stones and pavement patterns, five examples of stone basins, and five examples of stone lanterns. This is perhaps the most practical garden manual published until the twentieth century.

Conclusion

In the garden manuals written between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries, the principles of garden design set out in the very first manual, Sakuteiki, were preserved. Although different styles of garden emerged over time, the basic design vocabulary of the Japanese garden has remained consistent to this day, and generally includes the following elements: • • • • • • • • • • •

Stones: Triad Stones, seven-five-three stones, crane and turtle compositions, dry waterfalls Pond and beach: Rectangular pond, curvy pond, “pond of the mind,” rough ocean, delta, beach, bog Island: Rock island, center island, “nine mountain and eight ocean,” Hōrai mountain, Crane and Turtle Islands Hills and fields: Stream, yarimizu, curvy stream Ground cover: Moss, white sand, gravel Accents: Stone lantern, stone basin, bridge, stones Paths: Stepping stones, pavement Plants: Pruned trees, hedges Fences: Hedges, walls Architecture: Gates, benches, tea house, huts Other techniques: Thinning, pine needle covering, yukizuri

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden explained in historic garden manuals Although some elements and materials used in the garden have changed over the centuries as new styles of garden have been developed, a Japanese garden always aims at a design modeled upon the beauty of nature. The variety of elements and construction techniques described in historic garden manuals were all developed with this one goal: to express nature. The essence of the Japanese garden has always been, and continues to be, symbolizing nature.

Note

1 田中正大『造園雑誌53(4)』pp.271–282, 1990. (Tanaka Seidai, 1990)

CHAPTER 7

Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America

Japanese gardens are not found only in Japan. In 2006, there were 432 public Japanese gardens outside of Japan according to the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture.1 According to the Annual Report of the Portland Japanese Garden, there are sixty public Japanese gardens in the United States alone.2 The term “Japanese garden” suggests a common garden style found in Japan; however, the Japanese gardens built outside Japan differ significantly from those within Japan because they were built in different climates and cultures with different materials. Some garden elements lost their traditional meanings or gained new ones. The purpose and role of the Japanese garden abroad also influenced gardens in Japan. The history of the introduction of the Japanese garden to other countries is unique. Unlike the Chinese garden, which was introduced to European countries by literature and paintings brought by Western missionaries and traders during the eighteenth century, the Japanese garden was introduced to the United States by Japanese in the late nineteenth century. Japanese gardens created for exposition sites were all designed and built by well-known designers, with the best plants and building materials from Japan. Therefore, elements of the gardens and their layouts were very authentic; however, there was a fundamental lack of traditional design concepts in these showcases of Japanese culture. Because the purpose of the garden in a world exposition was to introduce various Japanese tradable goods, particularly planting and building materials, many styles of architecture and garden were squeezed into exposition gardens. As Japanese culture became popular in the West, wealthy Westerners started building Japanese gardens by the early twentieth century. Around the same time, Japanese-Americans with Japanese heritage also built Japanese gardens for their own communities in major cities on the west coasts of the United States and Canada, such as San Francisco and Vancouver. Unlike Japanese gardens in expositions, these gardens were built with native materials. Gardens were very important in enabling Japanese to preserve their lives, spirit, and education. We can classify Japanese gardens outside of Japan into the following three categories: a.

Japanese gardens built by the Japanese government: gardens sponsored by the government to introduce Japanese culture as a token of friendship, or as part of a display at an exposition.

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America b. c.

Japanese gardens built by Americans: gardens designed and constructed by wellto-do Americans introducing many materials from Japan. Japanese gardens built by Japanese-Americans: gardens sponsored by JapaneseAmericans for their community.

Although these gardens are very different in nature, there are similarities not only in the landform and planting design but also in the effect of gardens called “Japanese gardens.” In this chapter, we will look at different styles of Japanese garden built in North America to elucidate the universal symbolism and effects of the Japanese garden.

Introduction of the Japanese garden to North America

The unique aspect of the introduction of the Japanese garden to Western countries is that it was used as part of the diplomatic policies of the Meiji government. Let us first explain why and how the Japanese government used gardens as a mean of promoting a relationship with the West. In 1612, after the third Tokugawa shogun declared a national seclusion policy, Japan remained closed to all foreigners until American warships forced it to open its ports to foreign trade in 1854. After two centuries without war during the peaceful Tokugawa period, the Japanese did not have advanced military systems and weapons when they first encountered Western countries. Like other subjugated Asian nations, Japan was forced to sign unequal treaties that granted Western powers onesided economic and legal advantages. Seeing the result of the Opium Wars and the consequences of unequal treaties, the Japanese realized that the only way for a small island like Japan to regain its independence from Western powers was to pursue modernization. After great political turmoil, the shogun resigned, and in 1867 Emperor Mutsuhito came to power, and restored Imperial rule. The emperor moved the capital from Kyoto to Tokyo and established the Meiji government, Meiji meaning “enlightened rule.” The Meiji government was determined to close the gap between Japan and Western powers economically and militarily. During the Meiji period the feudal system was abolished, and Western ideas and business contacts were introduced. For the Meiji government, modernization was synonymous with Westernization.3 Therefore, the Meiji government sent delegations to Western countries and invited teachers from the West to Japan to introduce Western technology and culture. The government reformed the Japanese constitution, modeling it after German law; it also constructed Western-style buildings, and forced the Japanese to adopt Western hairstyles and clothing, and to eat Western food such as beef, butter, and bread, even though such items were very expensive for the average person. The Japanese educational system was reformed and modeled at first on the French system, and then the German. The new Japanese army was modeled after the Prussian military, and the navy after the British navy. In order to transform a traditional agrarian economy into a capitalist one, the government also encouraged the establishment of new industries, sending many Japanese scholars and students abroad to study Western technology

Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America and languages, while attracting foreign experts by offering them extravagant salaries. 2,299 foreigners were hired by the Japanese government in the period 1868–1889, including 928 English, 374 Americans, 259 French, 253 Chinese, 175 German, and 87 Dutch. These foreigners taught Western technology and other subjects in public and private schools and gave advice about Westernizing the country.4 For example, many Americans became advisors for the cultivation of new land in Hokkaido, and the Dutch were brought in to help build new dams and canals. This was an internal social and cultural revolution promoted by the ruling class, which was unprecedented in the history of the world. While the Meiji government tried to Westernize their culture, they also tried to introduce traditional Japanese culture to Western countries by participating in international expositions held in Europe and the United States. Japan needed to advertise the significance of its culture, potential, and productivity not only to be seen as an “equal” by Western nations but also to promote trade with them, and the Meiji government believed that world’s fairs were one of the best opportunities to realize this aim. After the first world’s fair in London in 1851, many world expositions took place in the West. Starting with the World Exposition in Paris in 1867, the Meiji government created significant exhibitions for them. From the time of the Vienna World Exposition in 1873, gardens were included in these exhibitions. The garden in the Japanese pavilion at the St. Louis World’s Fair, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, was the first “stroll garden” and by far the largest and most influential Japanese garden in the Western world up to that time. According to the official history of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition and the Japanese-produced catalogue, the Japanese exhibit had the largest space allotted to a single foreign participant in the fair, covering about 7 acres.5 At the California Midwinter Exposition (1894), a torii gate was built next to a Buddhist gate (Figure 7.1).6 In Japan, the torii gate is the symbol of the entrance to the sacred area of a Shinto shrine where one can find a shrine dedicated to a particular Shinto god or goddess. Small Shinto shrines can be found in Buddhist temples because some Shinto gods were merged with Buddhist gods; however, a Shinto gate and a Buddhist gate are never built side by side in Japan. Although their true cultural significance was unknown, Japanese products, including gardens and architecture, became popular among well-to-do Americans through these Japanese exhibitions, and the torii gate became a symbol of Japan, not Shinto, in the United States. These exotic products became the inspiration for the so-called “Japonism” movement, and Americans started to build Japanese gardens on their estates. However, these gardens reflected American interpretations of Japanese art in Western culture.

Japanese gardens built by the Japanese government

Before looking at Japanese gardens built by Americans, let us first introduce the characteristics of Japanese gardens introduced by the Japanese government through two gardens: the Japanese garden at the World’s Columbian Exposition, and at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

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Figure 7.1 California Midwinter Exposition Japanese Pavilion

World’s Columbian Exposition

The World’s Columbian Exposition was held in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World in 1492. The exposition covered more than 600 acres (2.4km2), featuring nearly 200 new (but purposely temporary) buildings of predominantly neoclassical architecture, canals, and lagoons, and the site was also known as “The White City.” More than 27 million people from forty-six countries attended the exposition during its six-month run. The Japanese pavilion occupied the north end of the wooded island near the north pond of Jackson Park. It was called Hō-ō-den, and was a facsimile of Byōdō-in. The designer was Kuru Masamichi, a government architect and graduate of the Imperial University. The structure was erected by Japanese workmen. This wooden building was built in the midst of the neoclassical buildings of the exposition (Figure 7.2). The structure was admired by Louis Sullivan (1856–1924) and Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), the foremost architects in the Chicago School, a group of architects working in Chicago between 1880 and 1910. Hō-ō-den’s horizontal lines, and the form of its low and widely spreading roofs inspired Wright to develop his “prairiestyle” architecture, characterized by external expression of the skeletal frame of a building.7

Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America

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However, although the original Byōdō-in was built as part of the Pure Land garden which houses the golden Amida Buddha in the Pure Land, Hō-ō-den was not a representation of the image of paradise but instead an exhibition of Japanese architecture’s repertory of interior design and craftsmanship. Hō-ō-den was composed of three different styles of building, displaying the interiors of a palace of the Heian period, Muromachi period, and Edo period. Whereas the building at Byōdō-in was designed to be viewed from the other shore with the backdrop of mountain scenery representing the image of paradise, the view of Hō-ō-den from the pond is blocked by the woods, and the backdrop of the building was the giant neoclassical pavilion. There was no symbolic link between the landscape and architecture in Hō-ō-den, and the representation of the idea of paradise was completely lacking.

Figure 7.2 World’s Columbian Exposition Japanese Pavilion

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition8

Whereas the Japanese government had introduced different interior spaces from different periods in a single architectural space, whose original model was built as a part of the Pure Land landscape at the World’s Columbian Exposition, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition the government introduced different architectural styles from different periods in a stroll garden. This was the first substantial hill-

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Figure 7.3 Louisiana Purchase Exposition Japanese Pavilion

and-pond garden introduced abroad. The exposition was held in St. Louis in 1904 to commemorate the centennial of the 1803 purchase of the Louisiana Territory, America’s “largest land deal.” Twelve million people visited the exposition, and it was the largest and most spectacular of the American world’s fairs up to that time. The fair was held on 1,272 acres in the western half of St. Louis Forest Park and on adjacent land to the west and north (Figure 7.3).9 A committee was organized by the Meiji government in 1902 to draw up plans for the exhibit. The government provided a budget of 23,214 yen and 20 sen for the survey, approximately US$300,000 in current dollars. This was a large investment for Japan because a bowl of noodles in Tokyo cost 2 sen, and monthly rent for a shabby one-room apartment 2 yen.10 Four members of the committee were sent to St. Louis to survey the site. On the basis of their report, a preparation office was built at 5655 Maple Street in St. Louis in January 1903, and an Exhibit Association was organized to prepare Japan’s exhibit. One hundred and ninety-one people were involved in this association, including Fukuba Hayato, who designed the garden, and Koreo Ichikawa, who supervised the garden’s construction from July 1903 to May 1905. Consequently, Japan, one of over thirty nations participating in the exhibition, shipped more freight to the fairgrounds than any other country, with the exception of Great Britain. John Findling reports that the

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Japanese delegation contained more than sixty technical engineers, craftsmen, and highly skilled artisans.11 The garden created in the Japanese pavilion was called the Imperial Japanese Garden. It was a landscaped village with replicas of historical buildings, including Kyoto’s eleventh-century Imperial Palace (the Main Pavilion), and the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. Other buildings were the Formosa Pavilion, the Commissioner’s Office, a large bazaar, and several smaller shelters. The garden occupied approximately 2 acres including these buildings. It was designed as a Japanese stroll garden with winding paths, a pond with an island, a waterfall, hills, stepping stones, and stone lanterns. The Main Pavilion stood on the highest point, and there was a panoramic view of the Imperial Japanese Garden from the top of the Observation Wheel located nearby. Trees were pruned in the Japanese style, and stepping stones were arranged nicely (Figure 7.4). However, compared with traditional gardens in Japan, the paths were unusually wide, and grass was extensively used for open space. Designing an open lawn is an English tradition which Fukuba Hayato, who studied landscape design in Europe, introduced to this garden to accommodate American culture. Interestingly, a bronze crane was set in the pond, although traditional Japanese gardens avoid including such a sculpture, or perennial or annual flowers. A Japanese garden miniaturizes a

Figure 7.4 Louisiana Purchase Exposition Japanese Garden

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America larger landscape using small garden elements, such as a rock for a huge mountain or a pruned tree for a large pine forest. However, if there is a sculpture or flower next to a rock, its realism would detract from the sense of abstraction and symbolism of the rock; next to a sculpture, a rock just looks like a rock. Although most stroll gardens in Japan, such as Katsura, Shūgaku-in, and Kōraku-en, were designed for the enjoyment of miniaturized sceneries, the Japanese garden of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was a Westernized garden lacking symbolic scenery. Although the Japanese garden contained little symbolism, it attracted more commentary from the American press and visitors than the exhibits of any other nation represented at the fair.12 Frank Lloyd Wright was one of these visitors to the garden, and he booked his first trip to Japan – his first trip abroad – within a year of viewing the Japanese pavilion. Wright had observed the structure of Japanese architecture in the Hō-ō-den built for the World’s Columbian Exposition, but the garden in the Louisiana Exposition gave him the opportunity to examine the relationship between Japanese architecture and the Japanese garden.13 Wright’s design began to have a strong relationship with landscape after he visited the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Thus, the Japanese Imperial Garden became the source of inspiration for certain foundational design elements of Wright’s Prairie House landscape.

Japanese gardens built by Americans

As Japanese culture became popular abroad, wealthy Americans started to build Japanese gardens on their estates. Many wealthy Americans had visited Japanese gardens at expositions, and had even experienced visiting Japan and touring Japanese gardens. What they mainly appreciated there were Japanese plants and garden elements such as stone lanterns and pagodas. When they replicated Japanese gardens in their estates, new meanings and usages were added to the garden.

Sonnenberg Gardens14

One early example of such a Japanese garden was Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaigua, New York, created on the property of Frederick Ferris Thompson and Mary Clark Thompson in 1906. Its construction was funded by the wealthy Mrs. Thompson for personal pleasure and leisure. Mary Clark Thompson was born in Naples, New York, in 1835, but she was brought up in the small town of Canandaigua and considered it her hometown for the rest of her life. The daughter of a New York State governor, in 1856 she met Frederick Ferris Thompson, a prospective banker, and they were married one year later.15 As one of the founders of The First National Bank of New York, Mr. Thompson managed to secure enormous wealth during his lifetime. The couple had their main residence in Manhattan, and in 1863 they bought a property in Canandaigua that they named Sonnenberg, which means “sunny hill” in German, and used it as their summer residence. After the death of Mr. Thompson, Mrs. Thompson made Sonnenberg her primary home, and inspired by her travels overseas, decided to create Sonnenberg Gardens, a collection of the gardens of the world. For the master plan of Sonnenberg Gardens

Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America

she hired the renowned Boston-based landscape architect Ernest Bowditch. The first garden to be constructed on the grounds was the formal Italian Garden in 1903, followed by the Japanese Garden, the Rose Garden, the Old Fashioned Garden, the Sub-Rosa Garden, the Blue and White Garden, the Rock Garden, the Pansy Garden, the Moonlight Garden, and the Peacock House/Aviary.16 The Japanese garden at Sonnenberg reflects two distinctive phases of construction. The first phase was the original design by Japanese native Wadamori Kikujiro, who tried to recreate an authentic Japanese style in a foreign environment using foreign materials. The second phase was the design by John Handrahan, a young landscape engineer who tried to create a garden of a culture he had never seen (Figure 7.5). In 1906 Mrs. Thompson hired Wadamori to construct her Japanese garden. However, he was not a professional gardener like Kuru Masamichi, who designed and constructed the Japanese garden in the World’s Columbia Exposition, but a political criminal in Japan. Wadamori Kikujiro was born in 1866 in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture. He was born into a farming family, but managed to come into prominence as a lawyer and scholar.17 In 1888 he was convicted of committing a political offence and served a seven-year sentence in a Tokyo prison. It was during this time that he invented his unique and highly effective memorization method, which brought him fame. Soon

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Figure 7.5 Sonnenberg Japanese Garden

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America after his release from prison in March 1895, he gave a grand lecture on his new method at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. His work was praised and admired by many eminent professors and congressmen in Japan and culminated in the publication in Tokyo of his book Wadamori’s Method of Memorizing.18 After his success among the Japanese intellectual class, he managed to impress the foreign advisors to the Meiji government as a memory expert. Consequently, Wadamori went to the United States and started promoting his memory system from August 1898. He began by giving lectures at Pennsylvania University, and continued to New York, where he lectured at Columbia University. Then he presented his memorization method at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in front of members of the media. A few years later, in addition to advocating his memorizing method, Wadamori ventured into new professional areas.19 In 1904, while residing in Orange, New Jersey, he patented a method of wood preservation. The method consisted of a chemical and burning treatment that would still preserve the naturalistic appearance of unpainted wood, traditionally used as a construction material in houses and gardens in Japan. On account of his entrepreneurial spirit and with clear inspiration from his motherland, Wadamori also started his own company, Wadamori Construction Co. Its beginnings can be traced back as early as 1900, and the company constructed Japanese houses and gardens for the American upper classes. How Wadamori came into contact with Mrs. Thompson is not clear, though she may have attended the entertainment “Paradise of Japan” near the Manhattan Beach Hotel in 1905. This entertainment, organized by Wadamori, was described as providing “a notion of a real Japanese village and a genuine display of the art and science of Japan.”20 The centerpiece of the garden constructed by Wadamori in Sonnenberg is the tea house. In front of the tea house is a red wooden bridge connecting it to the shore over a narrow stream. From the tea house one could observe, in the early years, a small waterfall flowing into the pond at its southwestern corner, but the stream and waterfall are completely dried up today. The artificially crafted mounds, the planting layout, the choice of stones, and employment of irregular lines are consistent with the Japanese gardening tradition. The tea house is approached by a winding path crossing the red wooden bridge. Whether the design of the tea house was requested by Mrs. Thompson or proposed by Wadamori is unknown. However, this building is unique as a tea house (Figure 7.6). First, its exterior looks like that of a small Japanese Buddhist temple, not a tea house. The floor is built on a very high elevation for a tea house, and the building is surrounded by a small veranda. Normally, the floor of a Japanese tea house is built about one foot above the ground, whereas the floor of the Sonnenberg tea house is built approximately three feet above the ground, a common height for Buddhist temples. Inside the building is the bracketed shelf and decorative alcove typical of the Japanese study room in a soldier-class residence during the medieval period, and katō windows, with a bell-shaped window frame, originally introduced from China to Japan as a window design for Zen temples in the thirteenth century and later applied to other sects of Buddhist temples in Japan (Figure 7.7). Although the ceiling of a typical Japanese tea house is lower than that of a regular house to give sitting participants a cozy feeling, and it must be equipped

Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America

with a sunken hearth to boil water and a preparation room with a sink, the ceiling of Sonnenberg tea house is instead higher than that of a regular house and there is no hearth or preparation room. Instead, a table and chairs were placed on the tatami mat. Furthermore, the table and chairs, latticework of the interior sliding doors, and framed picture hanging on the wall, as well as the bonsai and its display table were all in a Chinese style. Little remains behind the tea house today, though in earlier years, the space was enclosed by a low fence. In Japan, such a small enclosed space is often used for a tea garden, which is an approach to lead guests to the entrance of the tea house. The function of the tea garden is to stop guests from entering the tea house until the host is ready for the ceremony, and to provide a wash basin for guests to wash their hands and rinse their mouths before entering the tea room. Therefore a waiting bench, stepping stones, stone lanterns, and a wash basin are always necessary in a tea garden. All these elements except for a wash basin were set in the enclosed space behind the tea house in Sonnenberg; however, this space is disconnected from the entrance of the tea house so the garden does not function as a traditional tea garden. Because Mrs. Thompson had tea parties in this tea house, the Sonnenberg tea house and garden were built not to represent Japanese tea culture but to accommodate Mrs. Thompson’s leisure activities using elements from different types of Japanese traditional architecture and gardens (Figure 7.8).

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Figure 7.6 Sonnenberg Japanese Tea House

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Figure 7.7 Interior of Sonnenberg Japanese Tea House According to records at Sonnenberg Gardens, Wadamori brought in several Japanese workers to construct the garden, but it is obvious that it was also built by Chinese and American workers.21 The most interesting cultural mix seen in the garden is the stone bridge at the south end of the pond. This bridge was constructed using a pile of stones and had a concrete seat on top. Such a massive stone bridge is rather unusual in a Japanese garden. The method of piling stones and placing a seat in the bridge are instead typical of a Chinese garden. However, the stone bridge in a Chinese garden is not usually made with natural stones but with cut stones. The design at Sonnenberg – a bridge made of natural stones – is common in Europe (Plate 70). After Wadamori constructed the Japanese garden, it was extended by John Handrahan in 1915. The extension starts off at the highest point in the garden with a small ellipsoidal pond. From there the water would descend the waterfall. Unlike the waterfall in Wadamori’s garden, Handrahan’s waterfall is a massive stone wall-like structure, embedding one narrow cascade and two grottos. It resembles grottos in an English garden (Figure 7.9). Another characteristic in Handrahan’s Japanese garden is the placement of statuary. For example, Handrahan placed a statue of a man sitting on a turtle in the center of the pond, something one would not find in a traditional Japanese garden. According to its posture and the presence of the turtle, this statue probably depicts Urashima Tarō, a fisherman from a famous Japanese folk tale. Handrahan created a garden based on his unique interpretation of a Japanese garden, and it has a certain frivolity but also shows the possible influence of Japanese garden designers working in America at the time (Figure 7.10).

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Figure 7.8 Sonnenberg Japanese Tea Garden Figure 7.9 Sonnenberg Japanese Garden waterfall

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Figure 7.10 Sonnenberg Japanese Garden statue in the pond In Sonnenberg’s Japanese Garden there are various sizes and styles of stone lanterns, a torii gate, pagodas, and sculptures, including pieces like the bronze Buddha statue, and the ceramic priest statue purchased in Paris by Mrs. Thompson (Figure 7.11). These elements were set on the grounds as individual artworks with little attention paid to their symbolism. For example, a pair of stone objects with a rooster on top were placed in the garden as ornamental posts (Figure 7.12). However, this is the symbol of the gateway to the Shinto shrine of the sun goddess Amaterasu. The rooster is considered a bird that dispels darkness because it calls up the dawn. The symbol on which the rooster is perching is three bean-shaped jades, which represent one of the three items (a sword, a mirror, and a bean-shaped jade) which the sun goddess Amaterasu gave her grandson when he descended to rule Japan as emperor. In Japan, these posts are set in front of the shrine to symbolize the significance of the enshrined god. The Buddha statue and torii gate and Chinese guardian lion dogs are also seen only in religious sanctuaries in Japan. The torii gate, especially, indicates the entrance of the shrine and the existence of the shrine building at the end of the path. Japanese gardens sometimes have Shinto shrines which enshrine certain gods without a torii gate; however, it is unusual to have a torii gate without a shrine building.

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Figure 7.11 Sonnenberg Japanese Garden Torii gate and statue

Figure 7.12 Sonnenberg Japanese Garden posts with rooster

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America Thus, the Japanese garden at Sonnenberg was constructed as the private garden of Mrs. Thompson. It is a representation of an exotic country, and its concept may coincide with that of Kōraku-en, in which the second lord of Mito-han, Mitsukuni, represented Chinese culture. However, whereas Mitsukuni mainly recreated miniaturized Chinese sceneries in his garden, Mrs. Thompson installed examples of Japanese arts in hers. Just as traditional Italian and French gardens display many ancient Greco-Roman sculptures, this Japanese garden was an outdoor display of Japanese sculptural pieces for Mrs. Thompson’s pleasure.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Figure 7.13 Brooklyn Botanic Garden Japanese Garden waterfall with local bluestone

Whereas Sonnenberg’s Japanese Garden was first built for a private owner, the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was constructed as a public garden from the beginning. In this sense, it was the first public Japanese garden in the United States (Figure 7.13). The garden was designed in 1910, when anti-Japanese sentiment had reached its peak. The project was initiated by Alfred T. White (1846–1921) when he donated $25,000 to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to establish a Japanese garden. Alfred T. White was born to a wealthy importer and later worked in his family’s Manhattan importing firm. Through his business, he visited Japan and became interested in Japanese gardens. At his initiative, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden decided to build a

Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America Japanese garden and asked Shiota Takeo (1881–1943), recommended by the Japanese Consul-General, to oversee the design and construction of the garden.22 Shiota Takeo was born to wealthy farmers in Chiba Prefecture. Unlike Wadamori, who built Sonnenberg’s Japanese Garden, Shiota had a proper education in horticulture and gardening. After graduating from Matsudo Horticultural School in 1901, he became an apprentice gardener. However, he felt he was unable to develop the true “spirit” of gardening under their instruction, and decided to cross the Pacific, dreaming of creating a “garden more beautiful than all others in the world.” He emigrated to New York in 1907, and set up a landscape firm. Shiota designed Japanese gardens for public institutions, such as the Newark Museum, and private patrons in the New York and New Jersey areas. Among them, his greatest accomplishment is the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden. The Hill-and-Pond Garden is a 3.5-acre stroll garden with a 1.5-acre pond in the middle. The construction of this garden began on May 17, 1914. Because the budget was limited, Shiota could not use construction materials and plants from Japan, as was the practice for Japanese gardens in expositions. He realized that a torii gate is not a common element in the garden in Japan but designed it in his garden as an attraction for Americans. The difference between the torii gate in Sonnenberg and the Hill-andPond Garden is that Shiota built a small Inari shrine behind the gate (Plate 71). Shiota had a hard time finding appropriate garden materials and laborers with his limited budget. The only available resources were American materials and American laborers with no experience in the construction of Japanese gardens. All features of the garden requiring carpentry, such as the Inari shrine, bridges, and the torii gate, were built by Americans under the supervision of Shiota and four Japanese carpenters. Shiota designed the Japanese garden to depict the beauty of American materials and respect the garden construction skills of American laborers. As a result, the form of the waterfall is somewhat reminiscent of the grotto of an Italian garden built with American bluestone. The Hill-and-Pond Garden does not have a collection of Japanese buildings and statues like Sonnenberg’s Japanese Garden. The lack of such elements serves to emphasize the sense of miniaturization in the garden, as in Japan. This garden is a representation of the beauty of the American landscape using Japanese methods. Because of anti-Japanese sentiment, the Inari shrine in the Hill-and-Pond Garden was burnt in 1938. However, the garden was still maintained for about thirty years by Frank Okayama, a Japanese man who survived and returned from an internment camp. After Alfred T. White died, his daughter kept financially supporting maintenance of the garden, and the Inari shrine was rebuilt in 1959.

Japanese gardens built by Japanese-Americans Japanese gardens in internment camps23

The value of these kinds of Japanese gardens is their very existence, not the quality of their materials or designs. Among ten internment camps, Manzanar was designated a National Historic Site in 1985, and many small and large gardens have been excavated on this site.

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America In Manzanar, internees were sent to an unfinished camp, and completed most construction themselves by the summer of 1942. As internees completed unfinished barracks and cultivated farmland, they planted trees, and constructed community gardens and ornamental gardens around their barracks. Furthermore, they constructed small-scale pond gardens for the community space. For example, a Japanese garden was built in front of the hospital building for patients and their families, and staff members. A garden called Cherry Park was built for an orphanage with 101 orphans from infants to eighteen-year-olds, including children who lost parents in the war. Furthermore, Japanese gardens were constructed for the main dining hall, called the mess hall, to provide shade and pleasant views while people waited in line for food.24 Because most dining halls were not yet completed by spring 1942, internees had to wait over an hour under a blazing sun for food.25 Excavation revealed that the garden for the dining hall was 33m × 7.5m with no hill but a waterfall running from the north side to the guitar-shaped pond. The waterfall and the rock composition flanking it were constructed by Takemura, a professional gardener in Los Angeles. A concrete bridge was built over the pond, which had an island with plantings. Many trees were planted around the pond so that people could enjoy viewing the garden from the shade. The guitar-shaped pond was named “Otowa Pond.” Otowa is the name of the waterfall in Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, whose water is thought to bestow longevity. After completion of the garden for the dining hall, many gardens were built for other dining halls. So many gardens were built for dining halls that internees had a reader’s poll to vote for the Manzanar Free Press’s Best Garden Contest in August 1943. The winners were the Otowa Pond in Block 22 and San-shi-en (three-fourgarden) in Block 34, which had a Crane Island and a Turtle Island. The standing stones of the waterfall in the ruin somewhat invoke the dry waterfall at Daisen-in.26 In addition to these small-scale viewing gardens, internees built a large-scale stroll garden in Manzanar. The stroll garden was called Merritt Park, located in the western firebreak, between Blocks 33 and 34, originally called Rose Park, then Pleasure Park, and then renamed in honor of Manzanar’s War Relocation Authority Project Director Ralph P. Merritt. The garden was approximately 3 acres of land, and was constructed by Kuichiro Nishi, Takio Muto, and four other gardeners.27 Merritt Park is still under excavation, but the excavation of the pond was completed in 2009. In Merritt Park, a waterfall was composed with massive rocks from which water flowed into the concrete-lined pond and then to the stream. The water was supplied from an aqueduct and the amount was controlled with a faucet built behind the waterfall. A big upright rock beside the waterfall could be a Crane Island (Figure 7.14), and there is a rock called Turtle Island in the pond. A stone bridge was built over the stream with two pointy rocks (Figure 7.15). At the edge of the pond, the 10 foot ×10 foot concrete foundation for a pavilion, called the Tea House, still remains. Merritt Park was a large hill-and-pond garden that people could stroll through. Once the garden was completed, Merritt Park became the most photographed place at Manzanar. In the camp, internees were forced to sign a pledge of loyalty to the United States, and young internees were encouraged to become soldiers. Many young internees volunteered to go to battle in order to release their family from the camp. Consequently, the Japanese garden in Merritt Park became a place for

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137 Figure 7.14 Manzanar Internment Camp Japanese Garden (Crane Island and waterfall)

Figure 7.15 Manzanar Internment Camp Japanese Garden (stone bridge)

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America photographing not only weddings but also young Japanese-American soldiers leaving for battle with Japan.28 Why did the Japanese construct so many ornamental gardens in internment camps? Japanese immigrants had to establish their lives under the harsh climate of racial discrimination prevailing in the United States at that time. Due to their nationality, they were suddenly deprived of their property and jobs, confined to the camp, and not allowed to speak their language. Nobody knew when they would be released, or if they would be released, and how they would be treated afterward. This overwhelming sense of despair and anxiety probably promoted nostalgia and attachment to their home country, Japan. Their pride as Japanese people and their love of Japan’s culture made them build Japanese gardens in the camp. Internees wished for longevity and happiness through their Otowa Falls, Crane Islands, and Turtle Islands built with cactuses and stones of granite, and they were reminded of a beautiful Japanese mountain landscape when viewing the snow-capped Californian Inyo Mountains (Plate 72). Indeed, designing a garden “according to the existing land reflecting on one’s memory of nature” is the first principle of garden design in the oldest garden manual, Sakuteiki. The gardens in Manzanar, which borrowed the mountain scenery in the distance and used local rocks and plants, were expressing the philosophy of Sakuteiki. Unlike Japanese gardens built by the Japanese government for world exhibitions or those built by wealthy Americans to showcase fashionable Japonism, the gardens in Manzanar, built with limited materials found on site, were constructed following the principles of Sakuteiki much more closely than any other Japanese garden in the United States. The purpose of building a Japanese garden in the internment camp was not only to provide physical and mental comfort for the internees but also to educate their children about Japanese culture and pride without using the Japanese language. Surprisingly, survivors who were small children at the time of their internment have positive memories of the internment camp. They remember the beautiful pond and stream that their parents built and stories about Japan related to the garden. Many of them lived as Americans after the war and never visited Japan; however, they remember the beautiful gardens in the camp and are proud of the culture behind the landscape.29 The hope which the Japanese garden symbolized and guaranteed to the internees was immeasurable. During the three years of internment, 150 internees died in the camp in Manzanar, 1.5 percent of the entire internee population. Considering the harsh weather, poor living conditions, and high density of the camp, the death rate was extremely low. The gardens were constructed with poor materials. There was no great pine as at Katsura Villa, no rocks as at Sampō-in, no statues as in Sonnenberg. The only available materials were cactuses, empty bottles, concrete, and small stones. However, the symbolism of the Japanese garden was strong enough to preserve the hope as well as the lives of many internees.

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John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden30

Most Japanese gardens deteriorated during the war, but some were repaired after the war and new ones constructed. The John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden was built on the northern coast of Long Island in Locust Valley by John Portner Humes, US ambassador to Austria from 1969 to 1975.31 In 1960, following a visit to Kyoto, John Humes made the decision to transform a wooded area of his property into a Japanese stroll garden to frame an imported tea house (sukiya) that he acquired in 1962. The John Humes garden is a Japanese garden designed by two former Japanese-American internees, Douglas and Joan DeFaya. The DeFayas created their garden as a piece of art to represent not only Japanese culture but also their unique experience in America during the war32 (Figure 7.16). The DeFayas lived in East Northport at the time they designed the John Humes garden. The garden was primarily designed by Douglas DeFaya (Shoju Mitsuhashi) as a way of representing his personality, religious beliefs, and individual experience with his own heritage. He was a gardener and a music teacher before the war. His gardening skills most likely were passed down from his older brother.33 John Humes probably came into contact with the DeFayas through a mutual friend. At the time, around 1962, Douglas and his wife were in the process of transforming Mr. Van Ness Darling’s property into a Japanese-style landscape. The

Figure 7.16 Sukiya Tea House in John P. Humes Japanese Garden

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America couple received the commission from Mr. Darling during a chance meeting at the Northport Trust Company as they applied for a loan. The DeFayas worked on the Humes and Darling gardens simultaneously until Douglas’s death in 1966. Douglas and Joan came from separate Japanese-American backgrounds yet somehow found each other after World War II ended. Douglas, then known as Shoju ‘Douglas’ Mitsuhashi, was a nursery operator and music teacher. He was married to a woman named Chiyo. The couple entered Gila River incarceration camp together in 1942. Joan, whose name was documented as Joni Aizawa, entered Granada incarceration camp during the same year. She was only twenty-six years old, while her future husband was thirty-seven. The way Douglas and Joan met is unknown. However, between their exits from the Granada and Gila River camps in 1945 and their relocation to Long Island in 1955, Douglas and Joan married and changed their surnames to DeFaya.34 Douglas had immigrated to the United States in 1923 when he was eighteen. His family accompanied him and began farming for a living. During Douglas’s life in California, he lived in various locations including Arcadia, Hermosa Beach, San Fernando, and Gardena among others. He had completed high school in Japan and earned his teaching certificate. Douglas probably had received his training in gardening and nursery skills in California, where his brother also worked as a nurseryman, but his primary occupation was music teacher according to his internee data file. His interest in the arts must have extended to gardening through his brother’s business as well as his exposure to gardening culture in the Gila River internment camp. Southern California in the years before World War II was a hub for Japanese gardeners. Like Manzanar, the Gila River internment camp contains substantial remains of gardens. The gardens found in the internment camps reflect a sense of rebellion, patriotism, and cultural pride. The gardens were functional as well as pleasant to look at, offering shade from the hot sun and a project for the internees to work on in a positive social atmosphere. Although Douglas’s full experience in Gila River is uncertain, he may have gained inspiration from the strong garden and landscaping culture that was present there.35 After the war, Douglas changed his family name, like many Japanese-Americans who were afraid of their ancestry becoming known and being sent to an internment camp again. By changing their names, they found a way to mask their connection with the persecution and belittling they experienced in the internment camps. However, Douglas and Joan both expressed their individuality as Japanese-Americans by designing and building private Japanese-style gardens and teaching community education classes on bonsai. Indeed, Douglas and Joan served their community in leadership roles as representatives of Japanese culture. The John Humes garden was built from around 1962 to 1965 under the direction of Douglas DeFaya. He alone designed the garden, but received help with construction from Joan and James “Jim” Petry, Jr. The garden is centered on a natural pond and tea house. Around the tea house are Japanese plants and rock lanterns originally planted and placed by the DeFayas. Two paths connect the pond and tea house to the rest of the garden. One leads to this area, while the other leads back to the parking lot. The path leading to the tea house is etched into a declining

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hill and comprised of stepping stones, most of which were chosen and placed by the DeFayas and Jim. Along the path are many scenes to view, such as a triad of boulders and stone lanterns. There used to be many juniper trees here as well, which John Humes requested, meant to mimic the appearance of clouds. However, due to the heavy shade of the native trees, most of the juniper has withered (Figure 7.17). The original part of the Humes garden seems to have been more about ornamentation than functionality. The stepping stones that Douglas placed leading from the main gate down to the tea house are unusual in their shape, spacing, size, and placement. They seem to have individuality, a quality he valued. However, these stepping stones are almost nonfunctional because they are spaced rather far apart. Their sizes vary but the spacing does not seem related to the changes in size. The rocks are also convex and rough, which presents a problem for someone attempting to move from stone to stone through the garden (Figure 7.18). Douglas’s stepping stones are all local rocks, irregularly shaped, of varying sizes, and not flat enough to walk on. Perhaps Douglas did not expect many people to actually use his stepping stones, so he chose those that appealed to him aesthetically since the garden was originally meant to be private and ornamental. Douglas’s stepping stones are quite strange, but they do reflect the local rocks and landscape

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Figure 7.17 Triad Stones in John P. Humes Japanese Garden

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Figure 7.18 Stepping stones in John P. Humes Japanese Garden of Long Island, and also reflect the Japanese respect and reverence for stones as individual personalities. There is also an interesting reinterpretation of the symbolism of Japanese rock composition in Douglas’s design. The DeFayas identified as Baptists during their time on Long Island; nevertheless, Douglas chose to incorporate his own religion into his garden, a truly Japanese impulse. Along the downward slope of the hill leading toward the sukiya and pond below are three large boulders which represent “the Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” Douglas marked the center boulder, meant to represent God, with a rope, as the rope symbolizes the presence of a deity at a Shinto shrine.36 Triad Stones were mainly seen in Zen gardens in Japan, but for Douglas, they stood for a piece of his personal life experience in response to the longstanding traditions of rock formation in his home country. Artistically, Douglas DeFaya’s design at the John Humes Garden clearly recalls Japanese garden traditions. However, the garden seems less functional than a traditional garden. Douglas’s unique yet imperfect techniques suggest that they were passed down from family and friends in California. The garden’s meaning, however, is an important statement of a life that was changed by the harsh conditions of World

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War II in America. Douglas DeFaya’s name change and religious conversion may seem to clash with his deep reliance on his native art practices. However, those qualities that make Douglas seem like a contradictory character actually make him uniquely American. His individuality and desire to define and defend his beliefs through self-expression are represented in the John Humes Garden, which is not a Japanese garden but a Japanese-American garden.

Nitobe Memorial Garden37

While the John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden was built by a former internee to represent his identity as Japanese-American, the Nitobe Memorial Garden was built by a designer from Japan to represent the friendship between Canada and Japan after the war. Built on the grounds of the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada, the garden is approximately 2.5 acres and dedicated to the memory of Dr. Inazō Nitobe (1862–1934), who did much to introduce Japan to the West and the West to Japan. Dr. Nitobe died in Victoria in 1934 on his way home from a conference in Banff. In recognition of his distinguished international service and his efforts to promote a closer understanding between Japan and Canada, friends of Dr. Nitobe and members of the Japanese community in Vancouver, and the government of Japan erected a permanent memorial on the campus of UBC (Figure 7.19). However, the memorial was ruined during World War II due to the anti-Japanese atmosphere of the time. Afterwards, the Japanese community in Vancouver and the

Figure 7.19 Nitobe Memorial Garden with azalea from Japan

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America government of Japan agreed to build the current Nitobe Memorial Garden. Most of the construction costs were covered by the Japan-Canada Society in Tokyo, and a fundraising campaign by the Japanese community in Vancouver, although some grants were received from The Canada Council and The Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation. The Japan-Canada Society in Tokyo contributed over US$21,000 and the Japanese-Canadian community in British Columbia collected over US$7,000. Through the offices of the Japan Consul, the government of Japan selected Kannosuke Mori (1894–1960) from Chiba University to design the garden. Mori arrived early in 1959 and stayed at the university until after the official opening of the garden in June 1960.38 Kannosuke Mori was born on February 4, 1894. After graduating from Chiba Horticultural College (currently the Department of Horticulture, Chiba University), Mori worked under Shigejiro Ogawa, who was gardener for the Imperial gardens. After returning from World War I, he worked for Osaka City for ten years, and became an assistant professor at Chiba University, where he remained for twenty-two years. He became one of the founders of the program in Landscape Architecture at Chiba University, which was one of the first such programs in Japan. Under his instruction, many students who graduated from Chiba University became leading landscape architects. Between 1931 and 1934, he studied extensively abroad, in the United States, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and in Germany, at the Royal Botanic Institute in Dahlem (Königliches Botanisches Institut). Mori was so highly acclaimed as a landscape designer that the government of Japan assigned him to overseas projects between 1957 and 1960. In 1960, at the age of 66, Mori died in Osaka Airport on the way back from Nagasaki where he had been supervising the garden in the Agriculture and Forestry Center. At Nitobe Memorial Garden, Mori said he wished to create a “Japanese Garden in Canada,” not a “Canadian Japanese Garden.” He spent three months in Vancouver designing the details of the garden, and then was persuaded to stay on to supervise its construction. Because Nitobe Memorial Garden is an integral part of the Botanical Garden, Mori worked under the direction of Dr. J.W. Neill, Supervisor of Landscaping for the University and Associate Director of the Botanical Garden. For the construction, considerable assistance was available from members of the local Japanese community.39 Because stones are the first element to be considered for determining the character of a Japanese garden, Mori personally directed the placement of each rock as well as the subsequent planting of each individual tree and shrub. Stones for the garden were selected from various sections of the Lower Mainland: large and small colorful rocks from near Harrison Lake for the waterfall and stream, stones with character from Britannia Beach for the tea garden, and local boulders for the margin of the lake40 (Figure 7.20). Most of the plants used in Nitobe Memorial Garden were Canadian species. Mori chose approximately 100 species from Vancouver. However, some plants, such as fifty cherry trees, fifty Japanese maple trees, Japanese iris flowers, and Japanese rhododendrons were shipped from Japan and planted to represent CanadianJapanese friendship. The plants arrived from Japan in poor condition; however, because they were so important in representing Canadian-Japanese friendship, Mori carefully planted them himself (Figure 7.21).

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Figure 7.20 Stone composition by Dr. Mori Figure 7.21 Orginal planting of local trees by Dr. Mori in Nitobe Memorial Garden

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America Because Mori recognized that transmitting proper maintenance techniques is crucial to the design of the Japanese garden, he gave workshops and lectures to the local Japanese-Canadian community, extending his stay in Vancouver an additional month after completing Nitobe Memorial Garden, without any payment from UBC. The local Japanese-Canadian community in turn organized the Vancouver Japanese Garden Association (VJGA) to receive and implement his instructions. Mori created a few Japanese gardens with this group outside of the campus in the context of workshops on garden construction and maintenance techniques. After the completion of Nitobe Memorial Garden, the garden was maintained by Mr. Sumi between 1960 and 1969, the gardener who worked closest with Mori. After Mr. Sumi, the garden was maintained by the members of VJGA, who had learned maintenance methods from Mori, until 1987 (Mr. Oyama, 1969–85; Mr. Watanabe, 1985–87). Thus, Mori designed the garden not only as a place to display an aspect of Japanese culture to Canada but also as a place to teach and maintain Japanese culture and to maintain a link between UBC and the Japanese community in Vancouver.41

Healing effects of Japanese gardens

Since the Muromachi period, the Japanese garden has been designed to calm the mind for meditation and the tea ceremony. In order to maximize this calming effect, tranquility, purity, and natural beauty became the most important elements of the garden. These are not the most prominent aspects of Western gardens, in which people often expect visual excitement and grandeur. The effects of viewing nature have been shown to be therapeutic, fostering psychological well being, reducing stress, and promoting physical health as well as improving cognitive functioning. Studies have also measured visual preferences for various landscapes, but only recently have they measured visual preference for different types of garden design. Obviously, the rock garden in Ryōan-ji and the gardens in Manzanar helped to calm the minds of their viewers. If this is the goal of a Japanese garden, does a Japanese garden have greater calming effects than other types of gardens? Given that the Japanese experienced such discrimination in the United States, why were so many Japanese gardens built and maintained by Americans? Perhaps, despite their often prejudicial attitudes, Americans were unconsciously attracted to the calming effects and hidden messages of the Japanese garden. This last section will summarize three pilot studies of how American viewers respond to different types of gardens, which they prefer, and the healing effects of viewing a Japanese garden.

Garden Style Preference42

The first study introduced here is a survey of garden style preference which was done with residents of a retirement home in Medford Leas, New Jersey. We selected seven different styles of courtyard gardens and asked residents which style they preferred: a Japanese garden, a herb garden, an overgrown garden, a geometric garden, a perspective design garden, a garden with garden furniture, or an open concept garden. These seven different kinds of gardens were designed and planted

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Figure 7.22 The seven selected gardens in Medford Leas courtyards

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America by professional designers in courtyards of the retirement house complex. Residents visited these gardens and then answered questionnaires about their preference. Responses revealed that the Japanese garden was the favorite. Not one person chose the Japanese garden as the least favorite garden (Figure 7.22). It is interesting that although the Japanese garden was probably the most foreign style for residents of this American retirement home, they found it the most favorable and contemplative space. Participants in the study were encouraged to visit each of the gardens, so it was not clear whether they preferred the Japanese garden visually or experientially or both. Although the Japanese garden, developed in a unique cultural context, may be a foreign style for most Americans, they also perceive it as a place to achieve calmness of mind.

The response to viewing a Japanese garden43

A Japanese garden is visually attractive to Americans as a quiet space. But does viewing a Japanese garden have any physical calming effects that can be measured? To answer this question, the second study measured the mood changes and heart rate of relatively healthy older people (aged 62–93) viewing the Japanese garden at Medford Leas. For this experiment, the herb garden and a simple landscaped space with a lawn and young oak tree backed by a plain wooden wall were used for comparison. Two tests – POMS and heart monitor – were used to measure stress levels. The POMS is a self-administered adjective rating scale consisting of thirty items with a 0–4 score broken down into six mood states: Tension, Depression, Anger, Vigor, Fatigue, and Confusion. To measure mood changes during exposure to the garden, participants were administered the POMS (Profile of Mood States) Brief Form before and after observation of each of the three spaces. In addition to the POMS Brief Form, the participants’ heart rates were recorded before and during the garden observation using a portable electrocardiograph monitor. During the five days of the study, participants were scheduled to observe each of the three green spaces on three different days at about the same time each day. In order to avoid any bias from order of viewing, it was randomized for each subject. A station was set up in the perimeter of the courtyard for completing the questionnaires and attaching the heart monitor. When participants visited the garden, they were asked to sit and view it for thirteen minutes. For each participant, for each garden, an initial three-minute period of gazing at a blank area was followed by a ten-minute period during which the subject was shown the garden or one of the other two green spaces. Heart-rate data over each one-minute period of observation were averaged, and each time point averaged for all subjects (Figure 7.23). The POMS inventory revealed that, in general, viewing the Japanese garden and herb garden was more effective at improving mood than viewing a simple tree. The heart data added a second unique perspective on the responses of the participants to the different green spaces. Unlike the POMS, the heart-rate data clearly distinguished among responses to the different garden designs. During the viewing period for the Japanese garden, heart rates were significantly reduced compared with the viewing period for the other green spaces.

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Furthermore, sympathetic nervous activity while viewing the herb garden was significantly higher than when participants viewed either the Japanese garden or the space with a single tree. Parasympathetic nervous activity appeared unresponsive to the different environmental exposures. These two sides of the so-called autonomic (or automatic) nervous system oppose one another in controlling heart rate and a number of other bodily functions. In this study we observed a significant decrease in sympathetic output in the Japanese garden. This difference clearly points to the design principles inherent in a Japanese garden being more effective than a herb garden or simple green space in reducing stress.

The healing effects of viewing a Japanese garden44

What kind of healing effects can we expect from a Japanese garden? Participants in the studies described above were all healthy, but can people with physical and mental problems also benefit from viewing a Japanese garden? To test possible healing effects an experiment was conducted in a nursing home with a Snoezelen room, a special room for improving the behavioral symptoms of individuals with dementia. The Snoezelen room was originally developed in the Netherlands in the 1970s as therapy for cognitive disorders such as autism and Alzheimer’s. It integrates a wide array of equipment to produce auditory, visual, olfactory, and tactile phenomena intended to stimulate a patient’s senses in a controlled way in a calm, comforting environment.

Figure 7.23 Heart-rate data from viewing the Japanese garden, herb garden, and control space

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America The study site was Francis E. Parker Memorial Home, where a Snoezelen room had previously been installed and staff were familiar with its features. A temporary Japanese garden was installed in a comparably sized room in the facility to compare the effectiveness of viewing the garden versus visiting the Snoezelen room for a population suffering from dementia. The subjects were tested in two groups: eighteen individuals (six men and twelve women) from the nursing home were recruited to participate in 2010, and eighteen individuals (five men and thirteen women) were recruited in 2011. All participants were Caucasians with advanced dementia and mini-mental state exam (MMSE) scores of less than twelve. Their average age was 88 ± 4. A third of the subjects were diagnosed with depression; 15 percent were diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease; and 58 percent were diagnosed with hypertension, according to their medical records. Six subjects out of eighteen participated in all of the studies. Three of the subjects died during the course of testing and full data sets could not be compiled for them. Subjects were exposed to either the garden or Snoezelen room for fifteen minutes two times per week. The garden intervention was continued for a period of four weeks; exposure to the Snoezelen Room was continued for three weeks. Visits were scheduled only for daytime hours – 9:30–11:30 and 1:30–3:30. During each session, heart rate was assessed using a simple fingertip heart-rate monitor. For each session, for each subject, the research assistant filled out a Behavioral Assessment Check List and noted any specific behavioral or mental changes during the observation. A video camera was set up in both rooms to record the interaction of the subjects with the environment. The difference in the subjects’ response to the Japanese garden and to the Snoezelen room was significant. First of all, the subjects in the Snoezelen room focused most frequently on nothing in particular. In the Japanese garden, however, the focus was primarily on the plants, although a stone lantern was positioned to be the central architectural element and natural focal point for the viewer. Secondly, more than twice the verbal expression occurred in the Japanese garden than in the Snoezelen room. In the Japanese garden, many types of verbalization were recorded, such as comments relating to the room or the institution (comments); recollections of past events (long-term memory); memories of recent happenings (short-term memory); and nonsense or “other.” In the garden room, participants expressed their feelings not only about the garden (“beautiful” or “nice”) but also expressed critiques of the garden design (e.g., “the finish of the planter edge is rough”). Researchers also observed that there were subjects who not only were verbal but showed a desire to interact with their environment. Many subjects tried to reach out their hand to touch the plants. Indeed, one subject wanted to draw a picture of the garden and requested a pen and paper. In the Snoezelen room, verbalizations were much rarer. When they occurred, the content of the comment was rarely related to the room itself. For example, among the six subjects who participated in both the garden room and Snoezelen room studies, four were capable of verbal expression. In the garden room, all these four subjects made comments on the garden; the two other subjects were not verbal at all, yet stayed awake and murmured to themselves. In the Snoezelen room, four of the subjects fell asleep immediately and two asked if they could leave early (Figure 7.24).

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The most surprising finding of this experiment was not the quality and quantity of verbalization in the Japanese garden but the heart rate of subjects while viewing the garden. When heart rates were tracked over the fifteen-minute sessions, either in the Snoezelen room or at rest in their own rooms, there was little change in average rate. By contrast, in the Japanese garden, the average heart rate was slightly elevated in the first minute or two of the session, then declined fairly steadily throughout the fifteen-minute session (around 0.15 to 0.2 bpm/min). This decline occurred even though the subjects were active and awake during the entire session. Why did their pulse decline although they were active (Figure 7.25)? A reduction in pulse rate is correlated with reduced stress. When people focus and think, their pulse rate slows so they calm down. For example, in a study on the effects of meditation, Trapp et al. observed decreases in heart rate of less than 5 percent during a fifteen-minute intervention. The subjects of the Parker Home experiment experienced an average decrease in heart rate over 10 percent during their fifteen minutes in the Japanese garden. (This was true for all subjects and all visits). This reduction occurred even though the average subjects were more awake and their activity significantly increased in the Japanese garden compared to the average subjects in the Snoezelen room. This enhanced activity might be expected to have led to an increased heart rate, but in fact the opposite occurred.

Figure 7.24 Behaviors in the Snoezelen room (A) and the Japanese garden (B)

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Figure 7.25 Heartrate data from experiencing the Japanese garden and Snoezelen room

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This finding re-affirms the healing effect of viewing a Japanese garden even for individuals suffering from advanced dementia. The best medication for them is probably to use their brain. In the Japanese garden, the subjects stayed awake, were alert, and spoke. Their speech often reflected complex thoughts – stories based on old memories, comments based on short-term memory, as well as remarks expressing their immediate responses to the environment (Plate 73). We still do not know what element of the Japanese garden triggered a subject to stay awake. However, it is clear that viewing the garden had some kind of healing effect. When the sensory, motor, and cognitive capacities of an individual are degraded during the course of a dementing illness, a Japanese-style garden may prove to be a non-pharmacological intervention that is particularly effective at decreasing stress and improving the quality of life not only for Japanese, but also for people unfamiliar with Japanese culture and gardens, and not only adults but all generations.

Notes

1 日本造園学会 2 Portland Japanese Garden Annual report. http://japanesegarden.com/learn-more/faqs/ 3 W.G. Beasley, The Meiji Restoration (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1981), 273–300. 4 ユネスコ東アジア文化研究センター『資料御雇外国人』小学館, 1975, p. 118. (UNESCO East Asia Bunka Kenkyū Center, 1975) 5 Carol Christ, “Japan’s Seven Acres: Politics and Aesthetics at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition,” Gateway Heritage 17:2 (1996): collections.mohistory.org/media/ CDM/gateway/91.pdf, retrieved in January 2015.

Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America 6 William H. Raw, ed., The Greatest of Expositions Completely Illustrated: Official Publication/Illustrations Reproduced from Goerz Lens Photographs (St. Louis: Official Photographic Company, 1904). 7 Clay Lancaster, The Japanese Influence in America (NY: Walton H. Rawls, 1963). 8 Seiko Goto, “The first Japanese garden in the western world: The garden in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition,” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 27 (2007): 244–254. 9 農務省『セントルイス万博博覧会本邦賛同事業報告』1900. (Ministry of Agriculture of Japan, 1900) 10 森永卓郎監修『物価の文化史事典:明治・大正・昭和・平成』展望社、2008. (Morinaga Takurō, ed., 2008) 11 Christ, “Japan’s Seven Acres,” 4. 12 Martha Clevenger, “Through Western Eyes: Americans Encounter Asians at the Fair,” Gateway Heritage, 17:2 (1996): 42–51. 13 Charles E. Aguar and Berdeana Aguar, Wrightscapes: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Landscape Designs (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002), 85–87. 14 Seiko Goto, Lidija Ristovska, and E. Fujii, “The original design of the Japanese garden in Canandaigua,” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 34(4) (2014): 395–408. 15 Williams College: Archives & Special collections, Biography of Mary Clark Thompson. http://archives.williams.edu/williamshistory/biographies/thompson-mary.php. retrieved in July, 2012. 16 Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park, Gardens and Greenhouses, http:// www.sonnenberg.org/store.asp?pid=30914&catid=19990, retrieved in August, 2012. 17 “Your memory repaired,” New York Herald, April 2, 1899. U.S. National Archives, California Passenger and Crew Lists 1882–1957, Record for Kikujiro Wadamori, m1412:6. 18 “Jap with a memory system,” The Sun, March 31, 1899. Hiroshi Iwai, Kiokujutsu no susume (Tokyo: Seikyu-sha, 1997), 20. 19 “Professor Wadamori’s great memory,” New York Daily Tribune, March 31, 1899. 20 Kikujiro Wadamori, Method of treating wood, US patent 749, 004, filed May 9, 1903, issued January 5, 1904. 21 William T. Hornaday, Masterpieces of Garden Making (Canandaigua: Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park, 2010), 78. 22 “Brooklyn Botanic Garden” Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, accessed September 10, 2014, http://www.bbg.org/discover/gardens/japanese_garden#/tabs-2. Retrieved in October, 2014. 23 五島聖子「アメリカ合衆国マンザナールの日本民強制収容所に造られた日本庭園 (1943–)」『日本庭園学会誌23』 2010, 1–11. (Goto Seiko, 2010) 24 Kenneth Helphand, Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime. (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2006), 186–199. 25 Janice L. Dubel, “Remembering a Japanese-American Concentration Camp at Manzanar National Historic Site,” in Paul A. Shackel, ed., Myth, Memory, and the Making of the American Landscape (Orlando: University Press of Florida, 2001), 86. 26 National Park Service Pacific West Region. Cultural Landscape Report: Manzanar National Historic Site (National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, 2006), 128–129. 27 Ibid.. 121–127. 28 Anna Hosticka Tamura, “Gardens Below the Watchtower: Gardens and Meaning in WWII Japanese American Internment Camps,” Graduate Thesis, Master of Landscape Architecture (University of Washington, 2002), 10. 29 Seiko Goto, Kimi Margret Yoshida interview, 2008.

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden in North America 30 Jessica Weideman and Seiko Goto, “John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden: A Lost History,” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscape 32(2) (2012):128– 139. 31 The Garden Conservancy. The John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden: History. http:// www.gardenconservancy.org/presGard.pl?ID=7&Page=History, retrieved in September, 2012. 32 “Douglas S. DeFaya: A Landscaper, 61,” Long Islander [Huntington, NY] Dec. 29, 1966. Suffolk Historical Newspapers. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. http://www.live-brary.com/historicalnewspapers/, retrieved in September, 2012. 33 Stephen Morrell, Tour of J. Humes Japanese Garden, Mill Neck, NY. Apr. 2, 2011. Tour. 34 NARA AAD Government Archives. Japanese-American Internee Data File 1942–1946. http://www.archives.gov/research/japanese-americans/, retrieved in June 2011. 35 Jeffery F. Burton et al., “Gila River Relocation Center,” in Confinement and Ethnicity, http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/anthropology74/ce4b.htm, retrieved in September, 2012. 36 Jessica Weideman, Telephone interview with James Petry. Jr. Telephone interview. Apr. 26, 2011. 37 Seiko Goto, “Maintenance and reconstruction of Japanese gardens in North America: A case study of Nitobe Memorial Garden,” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 29(4) (2009): 302–314. 38 J.W. Neill, “Nitobe Memorial Garden: History and Development,” Davidsonia Vol.1, No.2. Summer (1970): 10. 39 森記念出版会『森勘之助の業績と作品』東京, 1964, 87. (Mori Kinen Shuppankai,1964) Translated by Goto. 40 Letter of J.W. Neill to Dr. N.A.M. MacKenzie, October 23 (1956), University of British Columbia. 41 Vancouver Japanese Gardeners Association, “歴史的及び芸術的観点から見た新渡戸庭 園改修工事,” Nippon June (1992): 58. 42 Seiko Goto and Thomas Fritsch, “Aesthetic preferences for garden designs – A pilot study of seniors’ aesthetic preferences for garden designs,” The Journal of the Academic Society of the Japanese Garden 24 (2011): 1–12. 43 Seiko Goto, Bun Jin Park, Yuko Tsunetsugu, Karl Herrup, and Yutaka Miyazaki, “The effect of garden designs on mood states and heart rate in older adults residing in an assisted living facility,” Health Environments Research & Design Journal 6(2) (2013): 27–42. 44 Seiko Goto, Helene Puzio, Naveed Kamal, Fred Kobylarz, and Karl Herrup, “Differential Responses of Individuals with Late-Stage Dementia to Two Novel Environments: A Multimedia Room and an Interior Garden,” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 42 (2014): 985–998.

CHAPTER 8

Symbolism of the Japanese garden: A conclusion

Different styles of Japanese gardens were developed throughout Japanese history: gardens for the residences of aristocrats, Zen gardens, tea gardens, and stroll gardens. Japanese gardens can vary in size and form but they all share a unique relationship to architecture and philosophy. A Japanese house has a skeletal structure to maximize ventilation during the hot and humid summer. The floor is raised to avoid ground water and the roof has deep eaves to protect the structure from rain. Consequently, the garden has been developed to be viewed from inside the residence as part of the interior space that lacks a roof. Unlike the Chinese garden, designed to be walked through and provide a variety of spaces, the Japanese garden is designed to be viewed from within the living space. Therefore the garden is a space into which people look all the time, from morning to evening in all seasons. It is a space where they communicate with nature, the world of Shinto, and where many spirits dwell. Unlike Western gardens, Japanese gardens are meant to be a representation of the larger world of nature, and not a symbol of human activity. This is in contrast to the strong references to humanism, individualism, or a specific code of ethics that have been important influences in shaping the design of Western gardens. The symbolism in Japanese gardens is not a representation of human art, but a representation and deep veneration of the beauty of nature made possible by human art. Even lavish gardens of emperors and rulers, such as Shūgaku-in Villa and Kōraku-en, were designed to symbolize scenic places where even the emperor or lord had never been. In other words, whereas the symbolism of the Western garden is definitive, the symbolism of the Japanese garden is infinitive. For example, whereas the Latona Fountain in the gardens of Versailles has a specific story and image from Greek mythology which viewers should recall, the humble rock rising out of white sand in Ryōan-ji was set to engage viewers through their own imagination. One moment it can be seen as an island rising out of the sea; the next it seems like a crouching cat ready to pounce. The design of a Japanese garden is an allusion to nature which lets the viewer imagine a larger landscape from a small, seemingly simple natural element. There are many techniques to create this allusion: i.e., pruning trees, composing rocks, or avoiding placing sculpture in the garden. These allusions engage the mind at every level – conscious and subconscious. The style of the Japanese garden evolved over hundreds of years to help practitioners of meditation achieve their desired mental state with this allusion which encourages both conscious and subconscious thought.

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Symbolism of the Japanese garden: A conclusion Having meaning or stories inherent in garden elements is important for enriching the quality of the space, but the most important thing in Japanese garden design is not limiting the viewers’ imagination within the given theme. As we saw with the Triad Stones in Sampō-in, symbolic meaning has been added throughout history. The stones can be interpreted as a representation of three Buddhas, the tragedy of the Gempei War, the power of Nobunaga who ended the period of war, or something else entirely. The two small stones in Ryōgen-in can be seen as stones in the pond or planets in the cosmos. In this sense, the DeFayas’ design of the Trinity rocks in the John Humes Japanese Garden which represent “the Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” with the added rope to symbolize the presence of a deity, is an entirely appropriate application of Japanese garden tradition within an American context. Abstraction and flexibility constitute the beauty of the symbolism of the Japanese garden. Because of this flexibility, a Japanese garden can be appreciated for millennia by any culture, nation, or generation. A carefully chosen and placed rock in the garden can be related not only to an island in the Sea of Japan, but also to Yosemite Valley in California. Such flexibility of symbolism is perhaps an element of the Japanese garden that explains its profound effect upon the minds and memories of all its viewers.

APPENDIX 1

Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors

Here are twenty gardens the authors recommend that readers should visit. They are the best examples of Japanese gardens not only for their symbolic representation but for their quality of maintenance and historical significance.

Byōdō-in

Byōdō-in is a United Nations World Heritage Site near Uji City. The back of the Japanese 10-yen coin bears an image of this temple, founded by Fujiwara Yorimichi in 1052. Uji, located southeast of Kyoto City, was known for its scenic beauty and was a popular place for nobles to have villas during the Heian period. Fujiwara Michinaga, Yorimichi’s father, built a villa there as a stopping point for visiting Kasuga Shrine in Nara, and for boating in the spring and autumn. When he inherited the villa from his father, Yorimichi rebuilt it as a temple. Yorimichi had knowledge of architecture and gardens and supervised the construction of his residence Kanoya-in in Kyoto. He often visited Uji to supervise the construction of Byōdō-in. The garden is a typical Pure Land style garden. As the mercy of Amida Buddha is symbolized by abundant water, Byōdō-in has a pond filled by a spring behind the Amida Hall.

Jōruri Temple

Jōruri Temple, located in the hilly area north of Nara, was originally built by Monk Gimyō in 1047, and called Nishi Odawara Temple. The original temple was a humble building whose roof was built within a day. Sixty years after the original construction, the main building was rebuilt in 1107. The monk of Jōruri Temple at that time was an ardent believer in Amida Buddha and taught people to chant for Amida. Although the Pure Land garden became popular during this period, the temple did not have a pond at first. According to “Jōruriji ryu kiji” (the oldest document about the construction of Jōruri Temple), the pond was built in 1150 by Eshin, and the main building moved to its west side in 1157. Twenty-one years later, in 1178, a three-story pagoda was moved to the east side of the pond from Ichijō Ōmiya in Kyoto. Initially, the historic Buddha Shaka was enshrined there, and the Yakushi Buddha and Amida Buddha were

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Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors enshrined together in the main building of Jōruri Temple. The landscape around the three-story pagoda was created in 1205. The current landform, the main temple, the Benzaiten Shrine, and three-story pagoda can be seen in Shūi miyako meisho zue (Collection of drawings of scenic places in the capital), written in 1787. Recent excavation has revealed that the edges of the pond and island were beaches covered with fist-sized cobbles. They had long been buried under accumulated dirt. Further research to restore the original beach is underway.

Saihō Temple

Saihō Temple was built in the valley of Mount Matsuo, along the Saihō-ji River, to the south of Mount Arashi. According to Saihō-ji chitei engi (History of Saihō Temple garden), Saihō Temple was constructed in 731, one of forty-nine temples built by Gyōki. During the Kamakura period, the temple was rebuilt and split into two temples, Saihō Temple and Edo Temple. Saihō Temple became a Pure Land Buddhist temple. Later, Musō Soseki was invited to be its head monk. Soseki loved this site and redesigned the two separated temples as one temple again, Saihō Temple. As a result, the temple is composed of three parts: the pond garden, which was originally the site of Saihō Temple; the mountain area around Shitō-an (Pointing East Hut), which was the site of Edo Temple; and the lookout area on the top of the mountain. In front of the main temple there was a cherry tree called “The Wonder of Rakuyō.”1 Soseki revitalized the stagnant pond water by replenishing it from a mountain stream, and planted pine trees and other evergreens around the white sand beach. The view of the flowering cherry in spring and the autumn color of Japanese maples were considered too gorgeous to describe. It is said that many people who visited were so moved by this beautiful garden that they decided to become monks. In contrast with the pond garden, the garden in the mountain area symbolizes the mountain where Ryo Alsace, a Chinese Zen scholar monk who attained enlightenment, retreated to meditate. Soseki revered this monk, and built a meditation hall called Shinan-dō (Teaching Hall). Soseki built a dry waterfall near the teaching hall, which represents the story of Dragon Gate Falls. Saihō Temple was burned completely during the Ōnin War in 1469. Since then, many people, including shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, have tried to reconstruct it. As a result, all the current buildings are from later periods, but the landform and rock compositions covered with thick moss are original. The garden is still ranked as the most prominent in Japan.

Tenryū Temple

The new government of Emperor Godaigo foundered only three years after being established. Emperor Godaigo came into conflict with Ashikaga Takauji with whom he had defeated the Kamakura government. Eventually, Takauji exiled Emperor Godaigo from Kyoto, and established the Muromachi government, backing Emperor Komei in 1336. Emperor Godaigo fled to Yoshino and asserted his claim as emperor. However, he died there in 1339, still at odds with Takauji. At the recommendation

Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors of Soseki, Takauji and his brother Naoyoshi built Tenryū Temple to console the spirit of Emperor Godaigo. Mount Arashi is a scenic area at the west end of Kyoto City where many aristocratic villas were built from the Nara period on. Tenryū Temple was built here because it is where Emperor Godaigo spent his childhood. The site plan of Tenryū Temple was modeled after that of Kenchō Temple in Kamakura, which has the typical site plan of a Zen temple. However, Tenryū Temple has a Pure Land garden to express the wish that the spirit of Emperor Godaigo go to the Pure Land. This temple was moved from the residence of Emperor Godaigo in Yoshino and cherry trees were planted in front of it. Yoshino is famous for its cherry trees. The pond garden with Dragon Gate Falls was designed in front of the hōjō by Soseki. According to Muchū mondō shū (Collection of debates in dreams), a publication by Takauji’s brother Naoyoshi on Soseki’s comments, Soseki classified garden lovers into three types: the first wants to show off a grand garden with rare plants and stones; the second gets comfort from the garden; and the third finds spirituality in the elements of the garden and enriches his spirit by assimilating with nature. Soseki said, “There is no good or bad in the garden. It is all about the human mind.” Soseki considered the elements of nature part of himself. He designed the garden, the view of the mountain, the waterfall, the stream, and the pond, as a part of himself, and let the observer realize that a human being is just one of the many small creatures living in nature.

Golden Pavilion

The site of the Golden Pavilion was originally a villa of Saionji Kintsune during the Kamakura period. The formal name of Golden Pavilion is Rokuon-ji, and it has been recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site. The garden was built on high ground from which one could view Mount Ikasa in the west and Kuzuno Plain in the south. The garden had a pond and a grand waterfall, and an island planted with pine trees. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu rebuilt the villa as his retirement residence. However, it was also a political center. Many buildings were constructed around the pond including the three-story Golden Pavilion. Although the site plan is similar to that of a Pure Land garden, this garden represents Yoshimitsu’s power as king of Japan. After Yoshimitsu’s death, the Golden Pavilion became a Zen temple, Rokuon-ji, in 1422. The temple declined and was destroyed during the Ōnin War (1467–1477). During the Edo period, the head monk of Rokuon, Hōrin Shōshō, reconstructed the temple. The pavilion was destroyed by arson in 1955, but rebuilt in 1960. The gold leaf of the pavilion was replaced in 1993.

Nijō Castle

Nijō Castle was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu as a reception hall for the Tokugawa family in Kyoto. Here shoguns met with daimyō and held important ceremonies. In 1601, Ieyasu received the title of shogun from the Imperial family in Nijō Castle. The second shogun Hidetada also received his title of shogun in Nijō Castle. After Hidetada’s daughter Kazuko married Emperor Gomizuno-o, he visited Nijō Castle in

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Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors 1626. The palace building was extended and the garden enlarged to its current scale by Kobori Enshū for the emperor’s visit. The garden was designed to be viewed from the emperor’s seat in the building on the south side of the garden. The view of the huge rocks and well-trained pine trees from this seat together with the flashy landscape paintings made of gold leaves on the fusuma screen represented the power of the shogun. By contrast, the view from the shogun’s seat where he met with other daimyō was a rather quiet, elegant landscape. The building with the emperor’s seat was demolished, and the site is now the lawn. At the end of the Edo period, the shogun transferred his political power to the emperor in Nijō Castle. Currently, the castle is maintained by the city of Kyoto.

Daigo Temple Sampō-in

Daigo Temple is a Shingon Buddhist temple, originally founded in 874 in the Heian period by Rigen-daishi (Shōbō). Emperor Daigo entered the Buddhist priesthood at this temple in 930, after having fallen ill and abdicated. He died shortly afterward at the age of forty-six and was buried in this temple, which is named after him. Daigo Temple is composed of three parts: Sampō-in, Lower Daigo, and Upper Daigo. Sampō-in and Lower Daigo are at the base of the mountain, and Upper Daigo is on top of the mountain. Toyotomi Hideyoshi had flower-viewing parties there in 1597. In February 1598 he designed the reconstruction of the garden and transplanted 700 cherry trees. The new garden was completed in May 1598. Hideyoshi was planning to invite Emperor Goyōzei to visit in 1599, but passed away in August 1598. The garden kept being repaired, extended, and maintained for more than twenty years after Hideyoshi’s death. This garden is meant to be viewed from the buildings, and rare rocks and welltrained plants are its highlight. The process of the reconstruction of Sampō-in garden, together with the role and achievements of famous gardeners and other professionals at that time, is recorded in detail in Gien Suiko nikki (The Diary of Gien Suiko). Based on this document, we can say that the main part of the garden has been well preserved since Hideyoshi’s reconstruction.

Chishaku-in

This was originally the site of Hojyū Temple, founded by Emperor Goshirakawa in the Heian period, and Shōunzen Temple built by Hideyoshi in 1593 for his son Tsurumatsu, who died young. Chishaku-in is a Shingon Buddhist temple, and was originally built as a sub-temple of Negoro Temple in Kishu; however, the entire complex was totally destroyed by Hideyoshi in 1585. The chief priest of Chishaku-in, Genyū (1529–1605), fled from the assault and later received the support of Tokugawa to reconstruct Chishaku-in. He was given the site of Shōunzen Temple and built Chishaku-in there in 1615. The current main building was erected in 1685 after the building constructed by Genyū was destroyed by fire in 1682. However, according to the diary of the seventh monk of Chishaku-in, Unshō, the garden was created before this reconstruction, in

Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors 1674. The view of the garden from the building is like an ink brush painting. One can observe Amida Peak in the distance, and a mound covered with pruned shrubs representing the mecca of Zen Buddhism in China, Mount Lu. From the window of the shoin (study room), one can view the straight stream of the waterfall falling down the steep hill. This garden was praised as the best in the Higashiyama district in the Edo period, and a sketch of it was published in Miyako rinsen meisho zue (The best garden picture book of Kyoto) in 1799.

Nishi Hongan Temple

Nishi Hongan Temple (Western temple of the original vow) is one of two temples of Jōdo Shinshū, a school of Pure Land Buddhism. The other is Higashi Hongan Temple (Eastern temple of the original vow). Nishi Hongan Temple is the head temple of Jōdo Shinshū, and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hongan Temple was originally established in Ōtani in 1272 as a transformation of the grave of the monk Shinran, the founder of Jōdo Shinshū. However, the temple was destroyed multiple times, being attacked by other Buddhist sects and Oda Nobunaga. The current Nishi Hongan Temple was founded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1591 and Higashi Hongan Temple was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1602. There are several gardens in the current Nishi Hongan Temple, and the east garden (tōtei) on the east side of the shoin (study room) is the most famous one. According to “Keichō nikki” (Keichō diary) the garden of Nishi Hongan Temple was constructed by 3,000 followers in 1601, though it is not clear which parts of the garden were built in that year. The east garden is a dry garden also called “The Garden of Kokei (Hu Xi).” Kokei is the name of the valley at the foot of Mount Lu, the Buddhist mecca in China, and the threshold between the secular and religious worlds. The garden has a dry waterfall with a composition of huge rocks representing the valley of Kokei. The temple built on top of the mound viewed from the shoin represents Tōrin (Dong Lin) Temple on Mount Lu. The flowing water of the falls is expressed with round gravel. One of the streams flows into the central dry pond, which has a magnificent Turtle Island and Crane Island in the center. The garden was designed to be viewed from any point of the shoin building, which is oriented in a north-south direction.

Omote Senke Fushin-an

Sen Rikyū established the tea ceremony with the support of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. However, in 1591 he was sentenced to death by Hideyoshi because of many conflicts. Rikyū’s residence was demolished and his son Shōan (1546–1614) was exiled to Aizu, though he was allowed to return in 1594. Shōan built a tea house with oneand-a-half tatami mats using old construction materials from Rikyū’s residence and named it Fushin-an, a name derived from the teaching of Zen monk Kokei Sōchin, the Zen master of Rikyū, meaning “不審花開今日春” (Tea ceremony starts with a greeting). Shōan re-established the school of the tea ceremony, and his son Kōshin succeeded him. In 1647, Kōshin extended Fushin-an to its current size. Fushin-an is now located next to the larger shoin tea garden Zangetsu-tei, a copy of Rikyū’s study

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Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors built by Shōan. Once one enters the outer roji of Zangetsu-tei and goes through the inner path and the gate, Fushin-an appears in the inner roji. It is said that the stone basin in Zangetsu-tei was Rikyū’s favorite, taken from his residence. There is a stone bridge over the dry river beyond this basin. One feels in the middle of the mountains, which was Rikyū’s idea of the tea house: “a mountain hut in the city.”

Katsura Imperial Villa

Katsura Imperial Villa is one of the representative stroll gardens built during the Edo period, with a pond to walk around or boat upon. It was built on the west bank of the Katsura River by Prince Toshihito of the Hachijō Family. The garden is composed of a pond for boating that can be viewed from the shoin-style main building, a tea garden, and a dry garden. The main shoin-style building is constructed with a staggered plan and the view of the pond opens from there. Tea houses Shōkin-tei, Shōka-tei, Shōiken, and Gepparō, and huts are all built around the pond. Prince Toshihito began construction of the villa in 1620, keeping in mind the image of the landscape in Tale of Genji, the record of the Katsura residence of the Fujiwara Family, and Chitei-ki2 (A note for the hut on the pond), the book of Bai Juyi (772–846). He extended the garden when he married Tomiko from the Kaga clan in 1642: he added the island in the pond, cut stone pavement, and laid stepping stones on the path. In 1663, the eighth lord of Katsura, Prince Iehito, embellished the garden, adding the music room and a new building for the visit of Emperor Gomizuno-o. The hedge and paths were rebuilt in 1882, but the plantings were severely damaged by Typhoon Muroto in 1934. In 1976 the garden underwent major repairs reflected in its current condition.

Konchi-in

The Edo government established a hierarchy system for Buddhist temples and drew up many regulations concerning their operation. Ishin Sūden was appointed head monk of Nanzen Temple, the top Zen temple in Kyoto, by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and became the leader in establishing the Edo government’s Buddhist temple system. Sūden moved Konchi-in Temple, built in the mountains northwest of Kyoto between 1394 and 1427, to its current location and started to build the temple complex around 1612. After constructing the main buildings, Sūden asked Kobori Enshū to build the garden of the hōjō and tea house in 1627. The process of building this garden is recorded in detail in Sūden’s diary, Honko kokushi nikki 本光国師日記. Based on this record, the hōjō garden was built by Kentei, a popular gardener monk at that time, and the tea garden was built by Murase Sasuke. Currently, the hōjō building is known for its fusuma screen paintings by famous artists of the era, such as Kanō Tan’yū and Tosa Mitsuoki. The garden of the hōjō was constructed between 1631 and 1632. It is a dry garden covered with white sand, and has a Turtle Island on the left-hand corner and a Crane Island on the right. The Crane Island has standing rocks to represent the crane’s wings, and the Turtle Island has rocks to represent its head, four legs, and tail – forms that are quite realistic. There is a miniature Tōshōgū Shrine built in 1628 to enshrine Ieyasu’s heir, and his

Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors Buddha statue is on the hill behind the garden. In the hōjō garden there are Triad Stones composed with big rocks where one can pray facing the Tōshōgū Shrine. Trees on the hill with the shrine are pruned to represent Mount Hōrai. Sūden built this garden to pray for the peace of the spirit of Shogun Ieyasu, who had appointed him the highest monk in Japan.

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Kyoto Imperial Palace is called “Kyoto Gosho,” Gosho meaning “the residence of emperors.” This palace was the emperor’s residence until 1870, when the capital of Japan moved to Tokyo and the emperor moved to a new palace there. Currently, the emperor does not live in Kyoto, but the coronation ceremony is held in Kyoto Imperial Palace. The emperor’s residence was relocated many times, and Kyoto was chosen as its site in the fourteenth century. There are many building complexes and gardens at Kyoto Imperial Palace. The current palace was rebuilt after the previous one, built in 1788 in the style of the Heian period, was destroyed by fire in 1854. The central building, called Shishinden, has a raised floor and stairs in the center of its south side, forming a ceremonial entrance. It faces a garden to the south, which is enclosed by a corridor with a main gate in the center of its south side, and smaller gates at the centers of the east and west sides. This garden is a flat rectangular space covered with white sand. It is a traditional ceremonial space of the kind built since the seventh century, whose concept originated in the ceremonial space of a Shinto shrine like Ise Grand Shrine. The garden is an open space, but two trees are planted on either side of the central stairs of Shishinden: a mountain cherry on the east, and a tachibana tree on the west. Originally, a plum tree was planted on the east side, but it was replaced by a mountain cherry in the ninth century. Seiryōden, northwest of Shishinden, was once the living quarters of the emperor. In the old days, the southern half of Shishinden was used for ceremonies and the northern half for the emperor’s living space, which was later moved to Seiryōden. The garden east of Seiryōden is also covered with white sand but bamboo is planted in front of the building. The most interesting gardens in Kyoto Imperial Palace that we can visit today are the pond garden on the east side of the Kogosho, and the yarimizu garden of the Tsunegoten. The pond garden has a pond with a central island, and a beach with splendid rocks representing a cliff by the sea. This garden has a beautiful view of Mount Higashi in the distance. The traditional stream was rebuilt on the east side of Tsunegoten. Originally, water was introduced from the Kamo River, but now it is pumped up from underground. The winding stream flowing to the south gives people cool relief in the hot, humid Kyoto summers. Many flowering trees are planted along the stream to provide shade for people writing poems.

Murin-an

The major road connecting Tokyo and Kyoto during the Edo period was called the Tōkaidō. There were sixty-three inn villages along this road whose scenery was made

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Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors famous by Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e. Keage, which literally means “kick off,” was the starting point of the Tōkaidō in Kyoto. In 1890, a new water canal from Lake Biwa, Biwako sosui (sluice), was built through the Keage area as part of an industrialization project in Kyoto. Because residents were allowed to introduce water from the canal onto their property, this area became popular for many new bourgeois who wished to build a villa with gardens. Between the Meiji and Taisho (1912–1926) periods, many new gardens with crystal-clear running water and excellent views of Mount Higashi were created for enjoying tea ceremonies and socializing. One such villa garden was Murin-an, built by Yamagata Aritomo (1838–1922). Yamagata was from Yamaguchi Prefecture, which played an important role during the Meiji revolution. He was an influential politician who was twice prime minister. Prior to Murin-an in Keage, he had built two other Murin-ans, one in his birthplace, and one in Nijō Kiyachō, a different district of Kyoto. Murin-an is built on a triangular site and contains a Japanese house, a Western house, and a tea house. The garden has a waterfall with three steps, which flows into the stream and pond. The concept of the garden was conceived by Yamagata and built by Ogawa Jihei, one of the leading gardeners in Kyoto at that period. The garden does not have traditional stone compositions symbolizing religious concepts or episodes; instead it is a representation of the picturesque landscape of Japan, and was influenced by English gardens that Yamagata visited in Europe. Yamagata described Murin-an as follows: “This is a place to spend my retirement in the midst of greenery and water near the pine forest of Nanzen Temple. I named it Murin-an (Hut with no neighbor). The water in the garden comes from Lake Biwa. I can hear the sound of the waterfall, see fish jumping in the stream, stones, moss, and grasses with no name. A kingfisher is perched on a maple branch extending down to the water’s surface. I enjoy the beauty of the four seasons here: the sunrise on Mount Higashi in the spring, the cool air brought by the moon shining over the stream and the field in the summer, the burning red maple at sunset in the autumn, and the view of distant snowy mountains in the winter. Especially wonderful is the view of the garden on a rainy day. Although it is small, it has the sense of the universe, of spirit, grandeur, and elegance. I sweep away the dust of worldly cares here by reading books in the daytime, and composing poems, having tea, playing go games, drinking, and conversing in the evening.”

Ryōan Temple

In 986, En’yū Temple, which enshrined the Yakushi Buddha, and the chanting hall on the east side of the pond, were built by Emperor En’yū. At the end of the Heian period in 1147, Tokudaiji Sanetaka built his villa here. The large Kyoyo Pond at the foot of the hill in Ryōan Temple was built by Sanetaka for his garden; so many mandarin ducks gathered there it was called Oshidori-ike (Duck Pond). In 1450, Hosokawa Katsumoto acquired the property from the twelfth Tokudaiji, Kimiari, and built Ryōan Temple, inviting Giten Genshō from Myōshin Temple as the head monk. The temple was burnt during the Ōnin War, and rebuilt by Katsumoto’s son Masamoto. Then it was burnt again in 1797. The current hōjō was from Seigen-in, one of the sub-temples of Ryōan Temple built in 1601.

Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors The rock garden with fifteen rocks in a 250m2 space is unique, but few documents about its origin remain, so there are many hypotheses concerning its designer, completion year, and concept. The only remaining records are two names, “Kotaro and Seijirō, or Hikojirō,” inscribed on the back of a rock. They could be the garden’s designers, but there is no other evidence. However, the rock garden at Ryōan Temple was declared a cultural treasure by the Japanese government in 1925 based on the fact that Katsumoto created a sand garden on this site, and it has been recognized as a garden since the Muromachi period. In Miyako rinsen meisho zue (The book of drawings of Kyoto’s famous gardens), written in 1800, two years after Ryōan Temple burned down, there is a drawing of the rock garden which shows that it is almost the same as the garden in Ryōan Temple now. This book notes that the designer of this garden is Sōami, and explains its concept: “The garden symbolizes the ocean with no plants. Rocks with interesting shapes represent islands. The concept of the garden is exceptionally interesting. People call this the garden of a tiger transporting her cubs.” Sōami was the gardener of Shogun Yoshimasa, who built the Silver Pavilion; however, there is no record to prove that he designed the garden of Ryōan Temple. The allegory of a tiger transporting her cubs is based on the Han dynasty story that not only people but tigers will cross a river to live in a district with a good head officer. If the garden is truly designed to represent this allegory, its theme was the representation of the Hosokawa family motto. The book also states that no trees were planted so the Hachiman Shrine could always be viewed and worshiped from inside. The Hachiman Shrine is devoted to the god of the region from which the ancestor of the Hosokawa family came. Nowadays the view of the shrine is blocked by trees beyond the garden wall, but it was visible in Hosokawa’s time. The beauty of this garden is enhanced when one observes its rocks while contemplating its mysterious history.

Sentō Imperial Palace

Whereas Kyoto Imperial Palace was the residence of emperors, Sentō Imperial Palace was the residence of retired emperors. It was originally built by Emperor Gomizuno-o in 1629. The building was destroyed by fire seven times, and now only the garden remains because the palace was never rebuilt after it burned down for the seventh time in 1854, as there was no retired emperor. The garden of Sentō Imperial Palace was designed by Kobori Enshū, the famous tea master who also designed the garden in Konchi-in and the tea garden of Kohō-an in Daitoku Temple. Emperor Gomizuno-o started to build his retirement residence in 1627, before he retired. In 1627, he and his wife Kazuko visited Nijō Castle and moved the newly erected buildings to Sentō Imperial Palace with Enshū as superintendent. The construction of Sentō Imperial Palace was not completed until 1629, after Gomizuno-o’s retirement in 1628. The garden, including the rectangular pond with cut stones and the tea garden with plank bridge, was constructed by Enshū between 1631 and 1633. After Gomizuno-o’s death, many emperors rebuilt their new retirement residence here. Over the years, seven major fires occurred, and as a result, the building and garden of Sentō Imperial Palace have been redesigned and rebuilt many times.

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Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors Notably, the famous beach was built by Emperor Reigen, who retired in 1687, by combining the south and north ponds. Cobbles on the beach were round stones from Odawara Beach donated by the head officer of Kyoto, Ōkubo Tadazane. Thus, the garden of Sentō Imperial Palace has changed over time, reflecting the tastes of emperors of different eras.

Shūgaku-in Villa

From 1624 through 1643 during the Edo period salon culture, called Kanei culture, flourished. Emperor Gomizuno-o, who loved art, especially gardening, was its patron. In 1641, he asked the head monk of Golden Pavilion, Hōrin Shōshō, to find a site for his retirement villa, and also explored the Kitayama area and built experimental gardens with a lookout hut on a hilltop. He finally determined that the current site of Shūgaku-in was the best place for his villa, and built Shūgaku-in between 1659 and 1661. The Shūgaku-in byobu (Folding screen painting of Shūgaku-in) was made in 1664, three years after the completion of the garden. In this painting, there is a tea house in the lower garden, which is lost today. The shape of the pond and the course of the stream are also different from what we see in the present garden. In addition, although the path connecting the lower and upper gardens is now a pine allée, it was once a simple footpath through a rice paddy. The tea house does not appear in the painting because it was added in the Meiji period. In the upper garden a large pond was built for boating by damming the water from the mountain with a 200m-long dike. The panoramic views from the two huts built on the highest points, Rinun-tei and Senshi-dai, are superb. It is truly a vista for a ruler. One can view the great waterfall and hear the sound of water from Senshidai, artificially created using a mountain stream. This garden was designed for boating, and for enjoying the culture of the nobility during the Heian period. As we can see in the painting, people enjoyed music and food on the boat while looking at the surrounding landscape. Surprisingly, different social classes are depicted in the painting, not only members of the court and soldiers but also monks and townspeople. Shūgaku-in was apparently open to all classes from the beginning, a tradition that continues.

Silver Pavilion (Jishō Temple)

The official name of Silver Pavilion is Jishō Temple Ginkaku. Jishō-ji was originally called Higashiyama-den and was built by the eighth shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436–1490). Yoshimasa acquired the site of Jōdo Temple in 1482 and spent eight years building Higashiyama-den until 1490, when he passed away. Higashiyama-den became a Zen temple according to his wishes, and was renamed Jishō-ji. The temple burned during the Tenbun War (1542–1548), and Oda Nobunaga later removed the Kusen-hakkai (Nine Mountains and Eight Ocean Stones) from the ruins and set them in the residence of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last shogun of the Muromachi era, whom he supported. Jishō Temple was owned by Sōkoku Temple and rebuilt in its current form in 1615.

Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors Yoshimasa visited many Zen temples and was especially fond of Saihō Temple, so he modeled the garden of Higashiyama-den after its garden. Like Saihō Temple’s garden, the garden of Higashiyama-den was composed of two levels. The pond was designed after the Golden Pond in Saihō Temple, and Togu-dō and the Silver Pavilion were built around the pond just like Sairai-dō and Ruri-den at Saihō. The original Togu-dō was further south than its current position, where the raked sand area called Silver Sara3 and the sand mountain called Moon Table are now located. In the upper garden, there was a hut called Shitō-an (East Pointing Hut), associated with Seishi-an (West Pointing Hut) in Saihō Temple, and the Yamanoue-tei (Hill Top Hut) and Chōzen-tei (Hut of the Superior), associated with the Shukuen-tei (Hut of Miniaturizing Distant Views). Originally, Togu-dō was the building that enshrined the Buddha statue. The statue of Amida Buddha was placed in the southwest room in this square building, and a lotus pond was created on the south side of the building. Yokokawa Keizō commented that the garden was “the world of the Pure Land,” when he visited on December 13, 1487. The northwest room of 4.5 tatami mats is called Dōjin-sai, and has a hearth for tea. This room was Yoshimasa’s private study where he made tea to offer to his ancestors, and it became a model of the tea room for wabi-cha, which invokes the image of a winding river for the Water Song Festival. The excavated “Well for Tea” resembles the well in Saihō Temple called Ryūfuchisui (Water of the Dragon’s Den). However, the well in Saihō has an austere atmosphere, but the surroundings of the well in Jishō Temple have an elegance enhanced by the composition of round rocks.

Tōfuku Temple

Tōfuku Temple is located in southeast Kyoto on a beautiful hill where several mountain streams flow. The site is close to Yamato Avenue, once the main road to the city of Kyoto. Today, Hasso-no-niwa (Garden of Eight Phases), the hōjō building’s garden designed by Shigemori Mirei in 1939, is the most popular garden in Tōfuku Temple. The history of Tōfuku Temple began with Hosho Temple, built between 923 and 931 by Fujiwara Tadahira. His third son Kujō Kanezane built his retirement residence and garden with a beautiful waterfall on this site, which was depicted in Honen Shōnin Eden: The Scroll Painting Biography of Monk Shōnin. Kanezane’s grandson built the Shaka Hall, and founded Tōfuku Temple with Enni Ben’en (1202–1280), who studied Zen Buddhism in Southern Song dynasty China, as the head monk. Fumon-in was built as Ben’en’s residence in the northeast part of the temple site. When Ben’en died, the hut in the northeast of Fumon-in was renamed Kaizan Hall, and Ben’en’s ashes were enshrined there. The existing building and garden of Fumon-in and Kaizen Hall were built in the middle of the Edo period. The central approach, added during the Meiji period, divided the garden into two parts: the flat, dry garden with a checkerboard sand pattern, and the pond garden with waterfall. There is a Sengyoku Valley with a stream between the main Buddha Hall and Kaizan Hall. The two buildings are connected by a long wooden covered bridge called Tsūten Bridge. Many maple trees brought from

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Twenty outstanding Japanese gardens, selected by the authors China by Ben’en were planted in the valley, which still turn a superb red color in the autumn nowadays. The experience of walking to Kaizen Hall across the bridge is one of the highlights of Tōfuku Temple.

Entsū Temple

Entsū Temple, located in the Hataeda district on the outskirts of Kyoto, is famous for its borrowed scenery. The garden was originally designed for Hataeda Villa, built by Emperor Gomizuno-o. After his retirement from the emperorship in 1629, Gomizuno-o built villas that were studies for Shūgaku-in Villa. Hataeda was one of these villas, built at a location with an excellent view. A building for chōbō was constructed on top of a hill, and a residence for moon viewing was built at its foot. The emperor held a moon viewing party there on September 13, 1649, during which he composed poems and had drinks with guests. Although this site had an excellent view, Gomizuno-o decided to build his final villa in Shūgaku-in because there is no water source on this site. In 1672, the building on top of the hill was given to the Konoe family, and the residence at its foot was given to Buneini, who served Gomizuno-o’s mother and became a nanny for Emperor Reigen. When Gomizuno-o’s wife, Empress Tōfukuin Kazuko, became ill in 1678, Buneini made the building into a temple and named it Daihizan Entsu (Myōshin-ji school Rinzai sect Zen temple) to pray for the peace of the royal family. The dry garden in front of the hōjō was probably built at this point. The garden is a rectangular flat garden 36m (north-south) × 8m (east-west). It is covered with moss, and approximately fifty stones are set on the northeast corner. There are stones which can be interpreted as Triad Stones; however, most are oblong flat stones. The garden was enclosed by a hedge that was pruned vertically and horizontally absolutely straight. Several conifer trees are planted behind the hedge which create a frame for the view of Mount Hiei in the distance. The view of Mount Hiei from the hōjō is like a vast painting that changes color with time and the seasons. Entsū Temple is definitely one of the most representative gardens for borrowed scenery, shakkei, in Kyoto.

Notes

1 Rakuyō is the alternate name of Kyoto. 2 The book was originally written in Chinese but the title is translated to be read as the Japanese pronounce it. 3 One of the three holy trees in Buddhism.

APPENDIX 2

Key words

Garden and architecture

chōbō A panoramic view from a high point, including the garden. fusuma A paper sliding door to separate interior space in Japanese architecture. hiraniwa A garden built on flat topography. hōjō The highest monk’s living quarters in a Zen temple. kakei A wooden or bamboo pipe to provide drinking water to the basin, a common device, particularly in tea gardens. karesansui A dry landscape. machiai The waiting bench in a tea garden. nagae A clipper with long handles. nijiri-guchi The small guest entrance (900mm × 900mm) of the tea house for ducking into the room. niwa Garden roji The path in the tea garden. sanzonseki Triad stones representing three deities. secchin The toilet in the tea garden. shinden-zukuri A palace-style building built in the Heian period. shakkei Borrowed scenery. shiki-matsuba The ornamental pine needles which cover a portion of ground in the tea garden. shishi-odoshi A water fountain device to make noise, consisting of a segment of bamboo pivoted to one side of a balance point to catch a trickle of water from kakei. When the bamboo fills with water, the heavier end goes down and the other end hits the stone. As the water is dumped out, the pipe rotates back to its original position, and the cycle repeats. shoin A building with a room with a built-in table and shelf for a study space. suikin-kutsu A sound device buried under the stone basin in the tea house. It is an upside down metal pot with a small hole on top. When one uses the water, it drips through the hole into the pot, and the splashing resounds within the pot. sōan A rustic-style tea house. sukiya A tea-house style building. suteishi A “discarded stone,” meaning a stone with no symbolic meaning that is set for visual accent.

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Key words tokonoma An alcove to put decorations, such as a pot of flowers and incense, and hang a scroll painting or calligraphy. tōrō A stone lantern. tsukubai A water basin set on the ground. tukiyama A garden with hills. yarimizu A slow meandering stream in the garden. yodomari-ishi Stones that portray boats anchored at night. yukizuri Temporary ropes put over a pine tree to protect its branches from snow.

Religion

Amida Buddha of the Pure Land, also called Amitābha. Amitābha Another name for Amida. Benzaiten Buddhist and Shinto goddess who originated as a Hindu goddess. iwakura A large rock considered the seat of kami. jiriki Self-power in Buddhism. jōdo “The Pure Land” kami “Gods” kōan A puzzle used in Zen training. mandala A visual representation of the universe in Shingon Buddhism. mappō Era of the end of the law in Buddhism. Niō A protector deity in Mahayana Buddhism. Rinzai One of the three main sects of Zen Buddhism in Japan. Shaka The historic Buddha. Shingon Buddhism One of the main sects of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism. Shinto The Japanese native religion. torii A gate set at the entry of a Shinto shrine. zazen The sitting meditation in Zen Buddhism.

Japanese culture

chanoyu “Tea ceremony” daimyō Feudal lords from the tenth century to the mid-nineteenth century in Japan. kofun A local ruler’s tomb constructed between the early third century and the early seventh century in Japan. han Fief of a daimyō. higan Buddhist holiday celebrated during both the Spring and Autumnal Equinoxes, when ancestral spirits are believed to return home. matcha Green-tea powder. meisho Historically famous scenic points. sadō The manner of the tea ceremony. tatami Straw mats for a Japanese living room. tencha To make tea using matcha. tōcha A competition to determine the tea brand, popular during the Muromachi period. wabi-cha The style of tea ceremony developed by Sen Rikyū. waka A Japanese poem consisting of five lines of 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic units.

Key words

Philosophy

mitate Double meaning. sabi Aesthetic of rusticity. wabi Aesthetic of aging and simplicity.

Key figures

Ashikata Yoshimasa (1358–1408) Third shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate of the Muromachi government who ruled from 1368 to 1394. Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1436–1490) Eighth shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate of the Muromachi government who ruled from 1449 to 1473. Emperor Gomizuno-o (1596–1680) 108th emperor of Japan. Kobori Enshū (1579–1647) Noted Japanese artist and aristocrat, who became the leading tea master. Musō Soseki (1275–1351) Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk, calligraphist, and poet who designed many gardens for Zen training. Sen Rikyū (1522–1591) One of the most influential tea masters, who established the tradition of wabi-cha, the rustic tea ceremony.

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APPENDIX 3

Addresses of gardens in figures

Byōdō-in

116 Renge Uji, Uji-shi, Kyoto

Daigo Temple Sampō-in

22 Higashioji-chō, Daigo, Hushimi-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Chishaku-in

964 Higashi Kawara-machi, Higashi Oji Dōri, Shichi-jo Kudaru, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Daitoku Temple Daisen-in

54-1 Daitokuji-chō, Murasakino, Kita-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Eihō Temple

1-42 Kokeizan-chō, Tajimi-shi, Gifu

Genkyū-en

3 Konki-chō, Hikon-shi, Shiga

Golden Pavilion (Rokuon-ji)

1 Kinkakuji-machi, Kita-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Entsū Temple

389 Hataeda-chō, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Heijō Palace Ruins

Saki-cho, Nara-shi, Nara

Hō-Kongō-in

49 Hanazono Ogino-machi, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Jikō-in

865 Koizumi-cho, Yamato Koriyama-shi, Nara

Ishigami-ruins Jonokoshi Ruins Jōruri Temple

Kasuga Shrine

Katsura Imperial Villa

Asuka-mura, Takaichi-gun, Nara 4724 Hido, Iga-shi, Mie

40 Fudaba Nishio Kamo-chō, Kizugawa-shi, Kyoto 160 Kasugano-chō, Nara-shi, Nara

Misono Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Kenchō Temple

8 Yamanouchi, Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa

Kiyomizu Temple

10294 Kiyomizu, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Kinsei Ruins Konchi-in

Koshikawa Kōraku-en

Kyoto Imperial Palace

Kinsei Yato Oizumi-chō, Hokuto-shi, Yamanashi

86-12 Fukuchi-machi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 1 Kōraku, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

3 Kyotogyoen, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Addresses of gardens in figures Manpuku Temple

25-33 Higashi-machi, Masuda-shi, Shimane

Mōtsū Temple

58 Osawa Hiraizumi, Hiraizumi-chō, Nishiiwai-gun, Iwate

Matsuo Taisha Murin-an

Nanzen Temple Nijō Castle

Nishi Hongan Temple Omote Senke

Ōsawa Pond (Daikaku Temple)

3 Arashiyamamiya-chō, Nishikyō-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyoto

31 Kusakawa-chō, Nanzen-ji, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto Hukuchi-chō, Nanzenji, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

541 Nijojo-machi, Nijō Dōri, Horikawa Nishi Hairu, Chukyoku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 60 Monzen-chō, Horikawa Dōri, Hanaya-machi Kudaru, Shimokyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

536 Dodo-chō, Horikawa Teranouchi-tori agaru, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 4 Osawa-chō, Saga, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Rikugi-en

6 Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo

Ryōan Temple

13 Ryoanji Goryonoshita-chō, Ukyō-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Sentō Imperial Palace

3 Kyotogyoen, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Rokuon-ji Kinkaku

Saihō Temple

1 Kinkakuji-chō, Kita-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 56 Jingatami-chō, Matsunoo, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Shōmyō Temple

212 Kanesawa-chō Kanesawa-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa

Silver Pavilion (Jishō-ji)

2 Ginkakuji-chō, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Shūgaku-in Villa

Shūgaku-in Yabusoe, Sakyō-ku, Kyōto-shi, Kyoto

Sōrin Temple

210 Kogusi, Ube-shi, Yamaguchi

Suyama Kofun

Miyoshi Koryo-chō, Kitakatsuragi-gun, Nara

Suizen-ji Jōju-en Tenryū Temple Tōfuku Temple Uji Byōdō-in Hōō-dō

Wakayama Castle Zuisen Temple

8-1 Suizen-ji Kōen, Chūō-ku, Kumamoto-shi, Kumamoto 68 Susukinobaba-cho Tenryū-ji saga, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 15-778 Honmachi, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 116 Renge Uji, Uji-shi, Kyoto

1-3 Wakayama-shi, Wakayama

710 Nikaido, Kamakura-shi, Kanagawa

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APPENDIX 4

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Japanese culture Literature

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Philosophy and religion Buddhism

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Taoism

本田済、沢田瑞穂、高馬三良訳『抱朴子/列仙伝/神仙伝/山海経』 (中国の古典 シリーズ 4)平凡社、1973. (Honda Wataru, Sawada Mizuho, Kōma Miyoshi, trans., 1973) 福永光司『道教と日本文化』人文書院、1982. (Fukunaga Mitsuji, 1982) 窪徳忠『道教の神々』平河出版社、1986. (Kubo Tokuchū, 1986)

Japanese gardens and architecture General

『日本庭園史大系月報12』社会思想社刊、1974. (Shakai Shisō-sha, 1974) 本中真『日本古代の庭園と景観』吉川弘文館、1994. (Motonaka Makoto, 1994) 山口敬太、中島功、川崎雅史「京都の古庭園における地形的囲繞の構成と眺望景 観の特性」『土木学会論文集』D 65:3, 2009, pp. 317–328. (Yamaguchi Keita, Nakajima Isao, Kawasaki Masashi, 2009) 河原武敏『日本庭園の伝統施設鑑賞と技法の基礎知識』東京農業大学出版 会、2001. (Kawahara Taketoshi, 2001) 京都林泉協会編著『日本庭園鑑賞便覧』学芸出版社、2002. (Kyoto Rinsen Kyōkai, ed, 2002)

Pure Land gardens

森蘊『平安時代庭園の研究』桑名文星堂、1945. (Mori Osamu, 1945) 『東アジアにおける理想郷と庭園』奈良文化財研究所・文化庁、2009. (Nara bunkazai kenkyū-sho/bunkachō, 2009)

Tea gardens

川上貢『禅院の建築』河原書店、1984. (Kawakami Mitsugu, 1984)

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176

Bibliography 田中正大ほか『禅寺と石庭』(原色日本の美術第10巻)小学館、1967. (Tanaka Seidai et al., 1967) 森蘊『小堀遠州』創元社、1974. (Mori Osamu, 1974.) 浅野二郎、仲隆裕、藤井英二郎「わび茶と露地(茶庭)の変遷に関する史的考 察 : その5:鎖の間について」『千葉大学園芸学部学術報告41』67–74, 1988. (Asano Jirō, Naka Takahiro, Fujii Eijirō, 1988)

Zen architecture

中村昌生『茶室の研究』墨水書房、1971. (Nakamura Masao, 1971)

Zen gardens

田中正大ほか『禅寺と石庭』(原色日本の美術第10巻)小学館、1967. (Tanaka Seidai et al., 1967) 川瀬一馬『禅と庭園』講談社、1968. (Kawase Kazuma, 1968) 吉川需『枯山水の庭』至文堂、1971. (Yoshikawa Matsu, 1971) 村岡正「夢窓国師」京都国立博物館編『日本美術史の先達たち上』筑摩書 房、1982、202–203. (Muraoka Tadashi, 1982) 太田博太郎、松下隆章『禅寺と石庭』小学館、1971. (Ōta Hirotarō, Matsushita Takaaki, 1971) 仲隆裕「夢窓疎石と庭園」熊倉功ほか編『夢窓疎石』春秋社、2012、187–223 (Naka Takahiro, 2012)

Garden design and maintenance

尼﨑博正編『植治の庭―小川治兵衛の世界』、淡交社、1990. (Amasaki Hiromasa, ed., 1990) 尼﨑博正・中村一編『風景をつくる』、昭和堂、京都、2001.(Amasaki Hiromasa, Nakamura Makoto, ed., 2001) 上原敬二『石灯籠・層塔』ガーデンシリーズ4、1958. (Uehara Keiji, 1958) 田中正大『日本の庭園』、鹿島出版会、1967.(Tanaka Seidai, 1967) 田村剛『作庭記』相模書房、1964. (Tamura Tsuyoshi, 1964) 斉藤勝雄編纂『造園実務集成庭園編(2)庭園施工の実際』、技法堂、1973. (Saitō Katsuo, ed., 1973) 上原敬二『樹芸学叢書IV 樹木の剪定と整姿』加島書店、1976. (Uehara Keiji, 1976) 斉藤勝雄『斉藤勝雄庭園技法集成第5巻 日本庭園の手入法』、河出書房新 社、1977. (Saitō Katsuo, 1977) 上原敬二『樹芸学叢書V 増殖と仕立』加島書店、1978. (Uehara Keiji, 1978) 川勝政太郎『灯篭・手水鉢』誠文堂新光社、1984. (Kawakatsu Masatarō, 1984) 京都芸術短期大学・京都造形芸術大学日本庭園研究センター編『庭園学講座 IV植物の管理と病虫害』、1997. (Kyoto Geijutsu Tanki Daigaku/Kyoto Zōkei Daigaku Nihon Teien Kenkyū Center, ed., 1997) 京都造形芸術大学日本庭園研究センター編、『大名庭園の世界』 (庭園学講座 8)、京都、2001.(Kyoto Zōkei Geijutsu Daigaku Nihon Teien Kenkyū Center, ed., 2001) 京都造形芸術大学編『庭づくりの心と実践』、角川書店、1999. (Kyoto Zōkei Daigaku Nihon Teien Kenkyū Center, ed., 1999) 仲隆裕「文化財庭園の修復技」京都造形芸術大学日本庭園研究センター編『庭園 学講座10 文化財庭園の保存管理技術』、2003.(Naka Takahiro, 2003)

Bibliography 中村一・尼崎博正編著『風景をつくる 現代の庭園と伝統的日本庭園』昭和 堂、2001. (Nakamura Makoto, Amasaki Hiromasa, 2001) 新田伸三『植栽の理論と技術』鹿島出版会、1975. (Nitta Shinzō, 1975) 平等院編『史跡及び名勝平等院庭園保存整備報告書』平等院、宇治、2003. (Byōdō-in, ed., 2003) 京都芸術短期大学・京都造形芸術大学日本庭園研究センター編、『庭園学講 座VII日本庭園と植物』2000. (Kyoto Geijutsu Tanki Daigaku/Kyoto Zōkei Daigaku Nihon Teien Kenkyū Center, ed., 2000) Conder, Josiah. Landscape Gardening in Japan. Tokyo: Kelly and Walsh, 1893.

Plants and Japanese gardens 京都芸術短期大学・京都造形芸術大学日本庭園研究センター編『庭園学講座VII 日本庭園と植物』2000. (Kyoto Geijutsu Tanki Daigaku/Kyoto Zōkei Daigaku Nihon Teien Kenkyū Center, ed., 2000) 中村一・尼崎博正編著『風景をつくる 現代の造園と伝統的日本庭園』昭和 堂、2001. (Nakamura Makoto, Amasaki Hiromasa, ed., 2001)

Individual gardens Asuka Ishigami Ruins

The survey report of Asuka Ishigami Ruins excavation: http://www.gensetsu. com/021123isigami/doc1.htm. Retrieved in October, 2013.

Byōdō-in 宇治市歴史資料館編『史跡及び名勝平等院庭園保存整備報告書』平等院、2003. (Uji-shi rekishi shiryō-kan, ed., 2003)

Daigo Temple Sampō-in 吉永義信「醍醐寺三宝院庭園」『名勝調査報告 第三輯』文部省、1997. (Yoshinaga Yoshinobu, 1997)

Daikaku Temple

『史跡大覚寺御所跡発掘調査報告』大覚寺、1997. (Daikaku-ji, 1997)

Genkyū-en 仲隆裕「彦根藩の下屋敷-玄宮園・楽々園・御浜御殿-」、『庭園学講座VIII 大名庭園の世界』、京都造形芸術大学日本庭園研究センター、2001、21–32. (Naka Takahiro, 2001)

Golden Pavilion

鳳林承章『隔冥記』 1668. (Hōrin Shōshō, 1668)

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178

Bibliography 吉永義信「金閣寺(鹿苑寺)庭園」『名勝調査報告』第二輯文部省、1935. (Yoshinaga Yoshinobu, 1935) 『特別史跡特別名勝鹿苑寺(金閣寺)庭園 防災防犯施設工事に伴う発掘調査報 告書』鹿苑寺、1997. (Rokuon-ji, 1997)

Heijō Palace 『特別史跡特別名勝毛越寺庭園発掘調査報告書』平泉町教育委員会、1985. (Hiraizumi-cho kyōiku iinkai, 1985) 『特別史跡平城京左京三条二坊宮跡庭園整備報告書』奈良市教育委員会、1986. (Nara-shi kyōiku iinkai, 1986) 『平城京左京三条二坊六坪発掘調査報告』奈良国立文化財研究所、1986. (Nara kokuritsu bunkazai kenkyūsho ed., 1986) 奈良国立文化財研究所編『発掘庭園資料』奈良国立文化財研究所、1998. (Nara kokuritsu bunkazai kenkyūsho ed., 1998)

Jonokoshi Ruins 三重県埋蔵文化財センター編「三重県埋蔵文化財調査報告99-3」『城之越遺跡- 三重県上野市比土-』三重県埋蔵文化財センター、1992. (Mie-ken Maizō Bunka Center, ed., 1992) 穂積裕昌編『城之越遺跡』三重県埋蔵文化財センター、1992. (Hozumi Hiromasa, ed., 1992) 上野市遺跡調査会編「城之越遺跡発掘調査報告」『上野市文化財調査報告51』 上野市教育委員会、1998. (Ueno-shi iseki chōsa iinkai, ed., 1998)

Jōruri Temple 『国宝浄瑠璃寺庭本堂・三重塔修理工事報告書』京都府教育委員会、1967. (Kyoto-fu kyōiku iinkai, 1967) 庭園文化研究所編『名勝浄瑠璃寺庭園―環境整備事業報告書』1977. (Teien bunka kenkyūsho, ed., 1977) 佐伯快勝『古寺めぐりの仏教常識』朱鷺書房、1987、66–74. (Saeki Kaishō, 1987)

Katsura Imperial Villa

森蘊『桂離宮』東都文化出版社、1955. (Mori Osamu, 1955) 内藤昌『新桂離宮論』鹿島研究所出版会、1967. (Naitō Akira, 1967)

Kenchō Temple

高木宗監『建長寺史 開山大覚禅師伝』大本山建長寺、1989. (Takagi Sōkan, 1989) 三浦彩子『建長寺に見る初期禅宗伽藍と庭園の関係についての研究』 2003. http://jairo.nii.ac.jp/0069/00006662/en. Retrieved in October, 2013 (Miura Saiko, 2003)

Bibliography

Kinsei Ruins 坂井秀哉・本中真編『野外復元日本の歴史』(別冊歴史読本97)新人物往来 社、1998. (Sakai Hideya, Motonaka Makoto, ed., 1998) 新津健「金生遺跡」 『山梨県史 資料編1 原始・古代〔考古(遺跡)〕』1998. (Niitsu Ken, 1998) 『金生遺跡県営圃場整備事業に伴う発掘調査報告書』山梨県埋蔵文化財センタ ー、1988, 1989. (Yamanashi-ken Maizō Bunka Center, 1988, 1989)

Kofun

広陵町教育委員会編『巣山古墳調査概報』学生社、2005. (Kōryōchō kyōiku iinkai, ed. 2005) 『須山古墳第7次現地調査説明会』(The presentation of the 7th site survey of Suyama Kofun), http://www.furutasigaku.jp/jfuruta/kaihou79/kai07907.html. Retrieved in August 2013. 『巣山古墳第七次調査現地説明会』(Suyama kofun dai 7ji chōsa genchi setsumeikai.) http://www.furutasigaku.jp/jfuruta/kaihou79/kai07907.html, Retrieved in August 2013.

Koishikawa Kōraku-en

吉川需『小石川後楽園』(東京公園文庫28)郷学舎、1981. (Yoshikawa Matsu, 1981) 五島聖子『小石川後楽園の作庭と利用にみる哲学』千葉大学大学院自然科学研 究科環境計画学講座緑地設計学研究室特別研究 No.104 号、千葉大学、1996. (Goto Seiko, 1996)

Kyoto Imperial Palace

『京の離宮と御所』JTB日本交通公社出版事業局、1995. (JTB Nihon kōtsū kōsha shuppan jigyōkyoku, 1995) 京都市産業観光局観光MICE推進室『京都観光NAVI』(Kyoto City Official Travel Guide) http://kanko.city.kyoto.lg.jp/ wakaru/culture/garden/basis/file06.html. Retrieved in November 2013.

Manpuku Temple

矢冨巌夫「雪舟庭園論」『益田市立雪舟の里記念館研究誌 No.4』益田市立雪舟 の里記念館、1995. (Yatomi Itsuo, 1995) 益田市立雪舟郷記念館編集・発行 『雪舟・益田没後 雪舟五百年記念特別展 雪 舟』 2005. (Masuda shiritsu sesshū gō kinenkan, ed., 2005)

Matsuo Taisha

松尾大社編『松尾大社』学生社、2007. (Matsuo Taisha, ed., 2007) 中田勝康『重森三玲 庭園の全貌』学芸出版社、2009. (Nakata Katsuyasu, 2009)

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Bibliography

Murin-an

尼崎博正編『植治の庭-小川治兵衛の世界-』淡交社、1990. (Amasaki Hiromasa, ed. , 1990)

Rikugi-en

森守『六義園』(東京公園文庫19) 東京都公園協会監修、郷学舎、1981. (Mori Mamoru, 1981)

Ryōan Temple

『指定庭園調査報告(京都府)第一輯』内務省、1928. (Naimu-shō, 1928) 田中正大「龍安寺方丈前庭之図 」『建築史研究』彰国社 1972. (Tanaka Seidai, 1972) 村岡正・飛田範夫「竜安寺の石庭」『太陽庭と家シリーズ 枯山水』平凡 社、1980. (Muraoka Tadashi, Hida Norio, 1980)

Shōmyō Temple

『称名寺庭園苑池保存整備報告書』横浜市教育委員会、1988. (Yokohama-shi kyōiku iinkai, 1988) 福島金治『金沢北条氏と称名寺』吉川弘文館、1997. (Fukushima Kinji, 1997)

Schönbrunn Japanese Garden 仲隆裕「シェーンブルン宮殿石庭の修復」『ランドスケープデザイン』マルモ出 版、1999、82–84. (Naka Takahiro, 1999)

Shūgaku-in Villa 森蘊「修学院離宮の復原的研究」『奈良国立文化財研究所学報第2冊』奈良国立 文化財研究所、1954. (Mori Osamu, 1954) 森蘊・村岡正『修学院離宮』大原出版企画、1976. (Mori Osamu, Muraoka Tadashi, 1976)

Sōrin Temple

重森三玲『宗隣禅寺庭園復元改修之記」宇部郷土文化会、1969. (Shigemori Mirei, 1969)

Suizen-ji Jōju-en 北野隆、黒田正巳、塩田睦、川畑博「水前寺成趣園の歴史的研究」『造園雑 誌』41(3), 2–13, 1978. (Kitano Takashi, Kuroda Masami, Shiota Mutsumi, Kawahara Hiroshi, 1978)

Bibliography

Tōfuku Temple 重森三玲『重森三玲作庭集 庭 神々へのアプローチ』誠文堂新光社、1976. (Shigemori Mirei, 1976) 大岡信ほか『東福寺』(古寺巡礼京都18)淡交社、1977. (Ōoka Makoto, 1977)

Toyama-sō 小寺武久『尾張藩江戸下屋敷の謎-虚構の町をもつ大名庭園』中央公論 社、1989. (Kodera Takehisa, 1989) 李偉「尾張藩戸山荘の眺望に関する研究」『日本研究第34集』国際日本文化研 究センター、2007, pp. 131–164. (Ri Ii, 2007)

Old Japanese garden manual books

上原敬二『解説山水並野形図・作庭記』加島書店 1972. (Uehara Keiji, 1972) 上原敬二『解説余景作り庭の図・他三古書』加島書店、1972. (Uehara Keiji, 1972) 上原敬二『築山庭造伝(前編)解説』加島書店、1965. (Uehara Keiji, 1965) 上原敬二『築山庭造伝(後編)解説』加島書店、1965. (Uehara Keiji, 1965) 田中正大『造園雑誌53(4)』1990. (Tanaka Seidai, 1990) 飛田範夫、「造園古書の系譜」『造園雑誌』47(5), 1984. (Hida Norio, 1984)

Japanese gardens in North America 五島聖子「アメリカ合衆国マンザナールの日本民強制収容所に造られた日本庭園 (1943–)」『日本庭園学会誌23』 2010, 1–11. (Goto Seiko, 2010) 農務省『セントルイス万博博覧会本邦賛同事業報告』1900. (Ministry of Agriculture of Japan, 1900) 森記念出版会『森勘之助の業績と作品』東京, 1964, 87. (Mori Kinen Shuppankai, 1964) Aguar, Charles E. and Aguar, Berdeana. Wrightscapes: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Landscape Designs. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Beasley, W. G. The Meiji Restoration. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1981. Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, http://www.bbg.org/ discover/gardens/japanese_garden#/tabs-2. Retrieved in October 2014. Burton, Jeffery F., Farrell, Mary M., Lord, Florence B., Lord, Richard W. “Gila River Relocation Center.” In Confinement and Ethnicity, http://www.cr.nps.gov/ history/online_books/anthropology74/ce4b.htm. Retrieved in September, 2012. Christ, Carol. “Japan’s Seven Acres: Politics and Aesthetics at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition,” Gateway Heritage 17:2, 1996. collections.mohistory.org/ media/CDM/gateway/91.pdf. Retrieved in January 2015. Clevenger, Martha. “Through Western Eyes: Americans Encounter Asians at the Fair.” Gateway Heritage, 17:2, 1996: 42–51. “Douglas S. DeFaya: A Landscaper, 61.” Long Islander [Huntington, NY] Dec. 29, 1966. Suffolk Historical Newspapers. http://www.live-brary.com/historicalnewspapers. Retrieved in September 2012. Dubel, Janice L. “Remembering a Japanese-American Concentration Camp at Manzanar National Historic Site.” In Paul A. Shackel, ed. Myth, Memory, and the Making of the American Landscape. Orlando, FL: University Press of Florida, 2001, 86.

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Bibliography The Garden Conservancy. The John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden: History. http://www.gardenconservancy.org/presGard.pl?ID=7&Page=History. Retrieved in September 2012. Goto, Seiko, Puzio, Helene, Kamal, Naveed, Kobylarz, Fred and Herrup, Karl. “Differential Responses of Individuals with Late-Stage Dementia to Two Novel Environments: A Multimedia Room and an Interior Garden.” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 42, 2014: 985–998. Goto, Seiko, Ristovska, Lidija and Fujii, E. “The original design of the Japanese garden in Canandaigua.” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 34(4), 2014: 395–408. Goto, Seiko, Park, Bun Jin, Tsunetsugu, Yuko, Herrup, Karl and Miyazaki, Yutaka. “The effect of garden designs on mood states and heart rate in older adults residing in an assisted living facility.” Health Environments Research & Design Journal 6(2), 2013: 27–42. Goto, Seiko and Fritsch, Thomas. “Aesthetic preferences for garden designs: A pilot study of senior’s aesthetic preferences for garden designs.” The Journal of the Academic Society of the Japanese Garden 24, 2011: 1–12. Goto, Seiko. “Maintenance and reconstruction of Japanese gardens in North America: A case study of Nitobe Memorial Garden.” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 29(4), 2009: 302–314. Goto, Seiko. “The first Japanese garden in the western world: The garden in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 27, 2007: 244–254. Goto, Seiko. “The confrontation with western culture: a new garden style in Kyoto – Murin-an.” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes 25(3), 2005: 191–202. Helphand, Kenneth. Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime. San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press, 2006. Hornaday, William T. Masterpieces of Garden Making. Canandaigua, NY: Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park, 2010. Lancaster, Clay. The Japanese Influence in America. New York: Walton H. Raws, 1963. National Park Service Pacific West Region. Cultural Landscape Report: Manzanar National Historic Site. San Francisco, CA: National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior, 2006. Neill, J.W. “Nitobe Memorial Garden: History and Development.” Davidsonia Vol.1, No.2. Summer, 1970: 5–17. Raw, William H., ed. The Greatest of Expositions Completely Illustrated: Official Publication/Illustrations Reproduced from Goerz Lens Photographs. St. Louis, MO: Official Photographic Company, 1904. Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion State Historic Park. Gardens and Greenhouses, http://www.sonnenberg.org/store.asp?pid=30914&catid=19990. Retrieved in August 2012. Tamura, Anna Hosticka. “Gardens Below the Watchtower: Gardens and Meaning in WWII Japanese American Internment Camps.” Master’s thesis (Landscape Architecture), University of Washington, 2002. Vancouver Japanese Gardeners Association. “歴史的及び芸術的観点から見た新渡 戸庭園改修工事,” Nippon. 1992(6): 52–64. Weideman, Jessica and Goto, Seiko. “John P. Humes Japanese Stroll Garden: A Lost History.” Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscape 32(2), 2012: 128–139.

Bibliography Williams College: Archives & Special collections. Biography of Mary Clark Thompson, http://archives.williams.edu/williamshistory/biographies/thompsonmary.php, retrieved in July, 2012. 日本造園学会『ランドスケープ研究 69(3)』2006. (Nihon Zōen Gakkai, 2006) ユネスコ東アジア文化研究センター『資料御雇外国人』小学館、1975. (UNESCO East Asia Bunka Kenkyū Center, 1975) 森永卓郎監修『物価の文化史事典:明治・大正・昭和・平成』展望社、2008 (Morinaga Takurō, ed., 2008)

Dictionaries

安津素彦、梅田義彦編集兼監修『神道辞典』堀書店、1937. (Anzu Motohiko, Umeda Yoshihiko, 1937) 鎌田正著『故事成語名言大辞典』大修館書店、1988. (Kamata Tadashi, 1988) 廣松渉『哲学思想事典』岩波書店、1998. (Hiromatsu Wataru, 1998) 田畑貞寿・樋渡達也編『造園の辞典』朝倉書店、2004. (Tabata Sadatoshi, Hiwatashi Tatsuya, 2004)

183

APPENDIX 5

Credits

Figure 1.1 Figure 1.2 Figure 1.3 Figure 1.4 Figure 1.5 Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2 Figure 2.3 Figure 2.4 Figure 2.5 Figure 2.6 Figure 2.7 Figure 2.8 Figure 2.9 Figure 3.1 Figure 3.2 Figure 3.3 Figure 3.4 Figure 3.5 Figure 3.6 Figure 3.7 Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 4.3 Figure 4.4 Figure 4.5 Figure 4.6 Figure 4.7 Figure 4.8 Figure 4.9 Figure 4.10 Figure 4.11 Figure 4.12

Diagram: Seiko Goto Diagram: Seiko Goto Diagram: Seiko Goto Diagram: Seiko Goto Diagram: Seiko Goto Heijō Palace Tōin diagram: Asuka Kitagawa Byōdō-in Buddha: Byōdō-in Jōruri Temple Buddhas: Seiko Goto Jōruri Temple pagoda: Heibon-sya Publishing 『別冊太陽78 京の小 庭』Katsutoshi Okada” Tōfuku Temple bridge: Takahiro Naka Omote Senke Fushin-an interior: Toshiyuki Numata; Takahiro Naka Omote Senke Fushin-an tea garden: Toshiyuki Numata Omote Senke Fushin-an plan: Omote Senke Omote Senke Fushin-an bench: Toshiyuki Numata Eihō Temple waterfall: Masanori Takahashi Jikō-in old view: http://www1.kcn.ne.jp/~jikoin/ Jikō-in current view: Takahiro Naka Shūgaku-in Villa map: Seiko Goto Shūgaku-in Villa Rinun-tei: Minao Tabata Illustration: Tsukiyama teizōden Schönbrunn Garden: Takahiro Naka Shōmyō Temple pond: Takahiro Naka Aji Shōmyō Temple pond plan: Seiko Goto Mōtsū Temple, stream: Takahiro Naka Angkor Wat: Takahiro Naka Manpuku Temple: Takahiro Naka Nakoso Falls: Takahiro Naka Waterfall of the Blue Woman: Tadashi Muraoka Golden Pavilion, map: Seiko Goto Murin-an, suteishi: Takahiro Naka Iwakura: Takahiro Naka Katsura Villa, Kama Stone: Takahiro Naka Shishi-odoshi: Seiko Goto

Credits Figure 4.13 Figure 4.14 Figure 4.15 Figure 4.16 Figure 4.17 Figure 4.18 Figure 5.1 Figure 5.2 Figure 5.3 Figure 5.4 Figure 5.5 Figure 5.6 Figure 5.7 Figure 5.8 Figure 5.9 Figure 5.10 Figure 5.11 Figure 5.12 Figure 5.13 Figure 5.14 Figure 5.15 Figure 5.16 Figure 6.1 Figure 6.2 Figure 6.3 Figure 7.1 Figure 7.2

Figure 7.3

Figure 7.4

Figure 7.5 Figure 7.6 Figure 7.7

Oribe Lantern: Toshiyuki Numata Snow-viewing Lantern: Seiko Goto Cape Lantern: Minao Tabata Boat Pine (Golden Pavilion): Takahiro Naka Tachibana (Kyoto Imperial Palace):Takahiro Naka Lotus (Tenryū Temple): Takahiro Naka Compacted soil (Kohō-an): Takahiro Naka Dry garden at the front gate at Daitoku Temple: Toshiyuki Numata Sand mountains at Daitoku Temple: Toshiyuki Numata Dry garden at Shūon-an: Toshiyuki Numata Sand and pond at Daigo Temple, Sanbo-in: Toshiyuki Numata Manju-in dry stream: Toshiyuki Numata Manju-in dry garden: Toshiyuki Numata 7-5-3 stones (Daitoku Temple): Toshiyuki Numata Well-maintained pine at Katsura Villa: Takahiro Naka Pine trees in Silver Pavilion: Takahiro Naka Overgrown pine tree: Takahiro Naka Entrance hedge at Silver Pavilion: Toshiyuki Numata Pruning overgrown hedge: Takahiro Naka Hedge at Entsū Temple: Takahiro Naka Combination of white sand and hedge at Jishō Temple: Toshiyuki Numata Koishikawa Kōraku-en map; Water Bridge: Mito Shōkōkan Illustration: Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu Illustration: Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu Illustration: Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu California Midwinter Exposition Japanese Pavilion: SF History Center, SF Public Library World Columbian Exposition Japanese Pavilion: Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views. / United States. / States / Illinois. / Stereoscopic views of the World’s Columbia Exposition / by Strohmeyer & Wyman. New York Public Library Louisiana Purchase Exposition Japanese Pavilion: Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views. / United States. / States / Missouri. / Stereoscopic views of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis. New York Public Library Louisiana Purchase Exposition Japanese Garden: Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views. / United States. / States / Missouri. / Stereoscopic views of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis. New York Public Library Sonnenberg Japanese Garden: Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park Sonnenberg Japanese Tea House: Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park Interior of Sonnenberg Japanese Tea House: Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park

185

186

Credits Figure 7.8 Figure 7.9 Figure 7.10 Figure 7.11 Figure 7.12 Figure 7.13 Figure 7.14 Figure 7.15 Figure 7.16 Figure 7.17 Figure 7.18 Figure 7.19 Figure 7.20 Figure 7.21 Figure 7.22 Figure 7.23 Figure 7.24 Figure 7.25 Plate 1 Plate 2 Plate 3 Plate 4 Plate 5 Plate 6 Plate 7 Plate 8 Plate 9 Plate 10 Plate 11 Plate 12 Plate 13

Sonnenberg Japanese tea garden: Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park Sonnenberg Japanese Garden waterfall: Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park Sonnenberg Japanese Garden statue in the pond: Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park Sonnenberg Japanese Garden torii gate and statue: Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park Sonnenberg Japanese Garden posts with rooster: Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park Brooklyn Botanic Garden Japanese Garden Waterfall with local bluestone: Seiko Goto Manzanar Internment Camp Japanese garden (Crane Island): Seiko Goto Manzanar Internment Camp Japanese garden (Stone Bridge): Seiko Goto Sukiya Tea House in John P. Humes Japanese Garden: Seiko Goto Triad Stones in John P. Humes Japanese Garden: Seiko Goto Stepping stones in John P. Humes Japanese Garden: Seiko Goto Nitobe Memorial Garden with azalea from Japan: Hope Watanabe Stone composition by Dr. Mori: Nitobe Memorial Garden, UBC Botanical Garden Original planting of local trees by Dr. Mori in Nitobe Memorial Garden: Nitobe Memorial Garden, UBC Botanical Garden Seven selected gardens in Medford Leas courtyard: Seiko Goto Heart-rate data of viewing Japanese garden, herb garden, and control space: Seiko Goto Behaviors in Japanese garden and Snoezelen room: Seiko Goto Heart-rate data of experiencing Japanese garden and Snoezelen room: Seiko Goto Suyama Kofun: Koryo-city Suyama Kofun beach: Koryo-city Jonokoshi Ruins: Center for Archaeological Operations, Mikio Tsukuda and Tadao Inoue Heijō Palace Tōin Garden overview: Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties Sanjo Nibo Place Garden: Takahiro Naka Kinsei Ruins: Takahiro Naka Heijō Palace Tōin garden: Takahiro Naka Pure Land painting: Byōdō-in Byōdō-in Jōruri Temple overview: Heibon-sya Publishing 『別冊太陽78 京の 小庭』Katsutoshi Okada Ryōan Temple: Toshiyuki Numata Tōfuku Temple dry garden: Takahiro Naka Tōfuku Temple hill-and-pond garden: Takahiro Naka

Credits Plate 14 Plate 15 Plate 16 Plate 17 Plate 18 Plate 19 Plate 20 Plate 21 Plate 22 Plate 23 Plate 24 Plate 25 Plate 26 Plate 27 Plate 28 Plate 29 Plate 30 Plate 31 Plate 32 Plate 33 Plate 34 Plate 35 Plate 36 Plate 37 Plate 38 Plate 39 Plate 40 Plate 41 Plate 42 Plate 43 Plate 44 Plate 45 Plate 46 Plate 47 Plate 48 Plate 49 Plate 50 Plate 51 Plate 52 Plate 53 Plate 54 Plate 55 Plate 56 Plate 57

Ōsawa Pond: Takahiro Naka Katsura Villa Ama-no-hashidate: Minao Tabata (left), Takahiro Naka (right) Kōraku-en Ōi River: Seiko Goto Rikugi-en Ki River: Seiko Goto Katsura Villa Shōkin-tei: Minao Tabata Omote Senke Fushin-an tea house: Toshiyuki Numata Omote Senke Fushin-an gate and stepping stones: Toshiyuki Numata Eihō Temple panorama: Katsutoshi Nakata Zuisen Temple cave: Toru Matsunaka Zuisen Temple panorama: Toru Matsunaka Entsū Temple: Takahiro Naka Shūgaku-in Villa: Takahiro Naka Nanzen Temple Hōjō: Takahiro Naka Saihō Temple pond: Minao Tabata Golden Pavilion pond: Takahiro Naka Genkyū-en pond: Takahiro Naka Kenchō Temple pond: Mirei Hiraide Yarimizu at Heijō Palace: Takahiro Naka Daisen-in, dry stream: Toshiyuki Numata Murin-an, stream: Takahiro Naka Nara Asuka, shumisen: Nara National research Institute for Cultural Properties Heijō Palace, shumisen: Takahiro Naka Daisen-in, Hōrai Mountain: Toshiyuki Numata Koishikawa Kōraku-en, Hōrai Mountain: Seiko Goto Suizen-ji Jōju-en, Mount Fuji: Takahiro Naka Koishikawa Koraku-en, Mount Lu: Seiko Goto Tenryū Temple, Dragon Gate Falls: Takahiro Naka Kiyomizu Temple, Otowa Falls: Takahiro Naka Turtle Island (Nishi Hongan Temple): Toshiyuki Numata Crane Island (Konchi-in Temple): Toshiyuki Numata Matsuo Taisha, Iwakura garden: Takahiro Naka Sambō-in, Triad Stones: Toshiyuki Numata Wakayama Castle, Seven Gods Stones: Seiko Goto Saihō Temple, Boat-stopping Stones: Takahiro Naka Daitoku Temple, Seven-Five-Three Stones: Takahiro Naka Golden Pavilion, Mount Fuji Basin: Takahiro Naka Kasuga Lantern: Cory Maryott Sumiyoshi Pine (Katsura Villa): Takahiro Naka Bamboo (Kyoto Arashiyama): Takahiro Naka Plum (Shimabara Castle): Seiko Goto Cherry (Taizō-in ): Toshiyuki Numata Raked sand (Ryōan Temple): Takahiro Naka Sand ocean and moon view table (Silver Pavilion): Andrew Opt’Hof Unmaintained sand garden: Toshiyuki Numata

187

188

Credits Plate 58 Plate 59 Plate 60 Plate 61 Plate 62 Plate 63 Plate 64 Plate 65 Plate 66 Plate 67 Plate 68 Plate 69 Plate 70 Plate 71 Plate 72 Plate 73

Checkerboard-pattern raked sand (Tōfuku Temple Fumon-in): Takahiro Naka Pine trees on the island at Golden Pavilion: Takahiro Naka Pine trees in the winter in Silver Pavilion: Takahiro Naka Kenroku-en, yukizuri: Seiko Goto Thinned hedge at Silver Pavilion: Toshiyuki Numata Pruned shrubs at Chishaku-in: Toshiyuki Numata Wetted stone at Fushin-an tea garden: Toshiyuki Numata Shiki-matsuba: Toshiyuki Numata Oyaku-en: Takahiro Naka Koishikawa Kōraku-en rice field: Seiko Goto Byōdō-in shore before restoration:Tadashi Muraoka Genkyū-en island restoration before and after: Takahiro Naka Sonnenberg Japanese Garden bridge: Lidija Ristovska Brooklyn Botanic Garden Japanese Garden torii gate: Seiko Goto Borrowed scenery in Manzanar Internment Camp Japanese garden: Seiko Goto Japanese-style garden built in Parker Home: Seiko Goto

Index

addresses 172–3 aesthetics 1–2, 28, 155–6 Aizuwakamatsu Castle 94 Akisato Ritō 42, 113, 116–7 alternate attendance see sankinkōtai Ama-no-hashidate 3, 6, 21, 26 America see North America Amida Buddha 13–8, 46–7 Amida Hall 16, 97 Amitābha 13–8, 46–7 Angkor Wat 54–5 Ashikaga Naoyoshi 159 Ashikaga Takauji 158–9 Ashikaga Yoshimasa 166–7 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu 48–9, 159 Ashiwara Island 49 Ashiwara-jima 62–3 Asuka Palace 12 Asuka Temple 54 Austria 42, 44

calming effects 148–52 Canada 143–6 Cape Lantern see Misaki Lantern care see maintenance Cave of the Goddess 36–7 chanoyu see sadō cherry 76–7 China 2, 12, 22, 24–5, 27, 58 Chinzan-sō 64 Chishaku-in 92, 160–1 chōbō 35–7 Chōsei Pond 36 Christianity 8–9, 72 Chūson Temple 66 clan see han Conder, J. 42, 44, 117 Confucianism 8–9, 23–5 Crane Island 62, 136–8 credits 184–8 culture 2, 12, 120–1, 138

bamboo 75–6 basins see tsukubai Bay of Poetry 24 Benzaiten 16–8 bibliography 174–83 Blue Woman, Waterfall of the 59–61 Boat Pine 75 Bonin–gan 36 borrowed scenery see shakkei Bowditch, E. 126–7 bridge 108 Brooklyn Botanic Garden 134–5 Brown, L. 39 Buddhism 2–3, 8–9, 12–3, 54, 121; Esoteric 47–8, 58; lotus 78; Pure Land 13–8, 46–7; stones 66–7; Zen 3, 5, 18–21, 35–8, 51, 66 built elements 69–74 Buneini 168 Byōdō-in 14–5, 96–8, 122–3, 157

Daigo Temple 67, 84–5, 160 Daihi Falls 58 Daikaku Temple 59 daimyo garden 5–6, 136, 139–43 Daisen-in 52, 57, 84, 92 Daitoku Temple 69, 83–4, 87, 92 Daoism see Taoism DeFaya, D. 139–43 DeFaya, J. 139–41 design layout 3–6, 106–7, 116–7, 146–8 see also manuals disasters 81 discarded rocks 64 Dōgen 19 Donglin Temple 58 double meaning see mitate Dragon Gate Falls 58–9 dry garden see karesansui Dunhuang caves 14

California Midwinter Exposition 121

Edo 22–4, 95 Eihō Temple 35–6

190

Index Eisai 19, 27 Emperor Daigo 160 Emperor En’yū 164 Emperor Godaigo 158–9 Emperor Gomizuno-o 37, 82, 159–60, 162, 165–6, 168 Emperor Reigen 166, 168 Emperor Saga 21 Enni Ben’en 20, 167–8 Entsū Temple 37–8, 92, 168 Enryaku Temple 37 environmental change 81 Esoteric Buddhism 47–8, 58 expositions see world expositions famous places see meisho Fan Zhongyan 24 Findling, J. 124–5 flat gardens see hiraniwa Fudō Myō-ō 58 Fuji-kō 57 Fujii Shigeyoshi 113 Fujiwara Kintō 59 Fujiwara Michinaga 22, 97, 157 Fujiwara Motohira 51 Fujiwara Tadahira 16, 167 Fujiwara Tadamichi 16 Fujiwara Yorimichi 14, 96–7, 101, 157 Fujito Stone 67 Fukuba Hayato 124–5 Fukuhara Hirotoshi 69 Fumon-in 87, 167 Furuta Oribe 72, 94 fusuma 75, 160, 162 garden design see design layout Garden of Iwakura 65–6 garden manuals see manuals Genkyū-en 22, 49–50, 97–8 Genpei War 67 Genyū 160 geometric pruning 91–2 Geppa-rō 70 Gimyō 157 Golden Pavilion 48–9, 62–3, 70–1, 75, 82, 88–9, 159 Golden Pond 46–7 gyō garden 42, 106, 115–6 Gyōki 46–7, 158 Hachiman Shrine 165 han 22, 24, 49, 50, 57 Handrahan, J. 127, 130 Hasso-no-niwa 167 haze garden 110–2 healing 146–52 heart rate 148–52 hedges 91–3, 113, 116

Heijō Palace East Garden 12–3, 55 Henkai Ichiran-tei 37 higan 17 Hikone Castle 49–50, 97–8 hills 39–41 see also mountains hiraniwa 41-2 Hishikawa Moronobu 109 historic gardens 96–8 historic manuals see manuals Hōnen 47 Hō-ō-den 122–3 hōjō 5, 42, 50, 52, 69, 83–4 162–4, 167–8 Hōjō Sanetoki 47 Hōjō Tokiyori 50 Hōkongō-in 59 Hōrai garden 110 see also Mount Hōrai Hōrin Shōshō 82, 159, 166 Hōryū Temple 66 Hosokawa Katsumoto 19, 164–5 Hosokawa Masamoto 19, 164 Hosokawa Tadatoshi 57 Hosokawa Tsunatoshi 57 Hosokawa Yūsai 57 hospitality 94 Huiyuan 58 human agency 81 Humes, J.P. 139, 141 Iehito, Prince 162 Ii Naonaka 50 Ii Naooki 22, 49 Imperial Japanese Garden 125–6 Inazō Nitobe 143 internment camps 135–8, 140 Ishigami Ruins 54–5 Ishigumi enjo yaegaki-den 117 Ishin Sūden 162 island 61–3, 102, 107–8 iwakura 2, 64–6, 142 Japanese government 120–6 Japanese-Americans 135–6, 138–44, 146 Jikō-in 37–9 jiriki 19 Jishō Temple see Silver Pavilion jōdo 3, 14, 47, 161 John P. Humes Garden 139–43 Jōju-in 70 Jonokoshi Ruins 10–1 Jōruri Temple 15–7, 157–8 Jumping Fish Pond 49–50 Kaizan-dō see Kaizan Hall Kaizan Hall 21, 167 kakei 32 kami 9–10, 64–5, 77 Kannon Hall 35–6

Index Kannosuke Mori 144, 146 Kanoya-in 97 karesansui 19–21, 82–7, 115 Kasuga Lantern 72 Kasuga Shrine 72 Katagiri Sekishū 37–8 Katsura Imperial Villa 26, 32, 70, 73 162 Kegon Falls 58 Kenchō Temple 50–1 key words 169–71 Ki River 53 Kinsei Ruins 11–2 Kitamura Enkin 42, 113 Kiyomizu Temple 60, 70 kōan 18–20 Kobori Enshū 160, 162, 165 kofun 2, 10–1, 19, Kohō-an 82 Koishikawa Kōraku-en 24–5, 32, 53, 57–8, 95 Kojiki 62 Koki-an 64 Konchi-in 162–3 Korea 12–3 Koreo Ichikawa 124 Kubota Castle 70–1 Kuichiro Nishi 136 Kujō Kanezane 167 Kujō Michiie 20 Kūkai 47 Kuru Masamichi 122 kusen hakkai 54 Kyōko-chi 49, 75 Kyoto Imperial Palace 75–7, 163 Lake Biwa 49–50, 96 Lake Dongting 21–2 landform: physical 39–45; visual 35–9 lanterns 71–4, 109 large garden see stroll garden literature 3, 9, 21–5 lookout 35–7 lotus 78 Louisiana Purchase Exposition 121, 123–6 maintenance 81–2, 98–9, 146; plants 87–93, 105–6; reconstruction 96–8; representation 94; water 94–6; white sand 82–7 mandala 14 manners see viewing manners Manpuku Temple 55–6 manuals 100, 117–8; Ishigumi sono-o yaegaki-den 117; Sagaryu-tei koho hiden-no-sho 106–9; Sakuteiki 101–4; Sansui narabini nogata-zu

104–6; Tsukiyama teizoden 113–7; Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu 109–13 Manzanar 60, 135–8 mappō 13–4, 16 Masuda Kaneharu 56 matcha 26–7 Matsudaira garden 94 Matsuo Taisha 65 Medford Leas 146–8 Meiji 43, 64, 120–6 meisho 3, 21–6, 53 Merritt Park 136 miniaturization 3 Minki Soshun 50 Mirror Pond 49, 75 Misaki Lantern 73 mitate 3, 4, 47 Mitsukuni 24–5, 134 modernization 120–1 moss see Saiho Temple Mōtsū Temple 51–2 Mount Fuji 57 Mount Hiei 37, 40, 168 Mount Hōrai 56–7, 108 Mount Lu 58 mountains 11–2, 31–2, 39–41, 54–8, 107, 110–2 Murasaki Shikibu 25 Murata Jukō 27 Murata Sōju 27 Murin-an 53–4, 64, 163–4 Musō Soseki 19, 35–7, 158–9 Myōshin Temple 84 Nachi Falls 58 nagae 91 Nakoso Falls 59 Nanzen Temple 42, 96 Naoyoshi see Ashikaga Naoyoshi naturalism 1, 88, 94 nature 1–2, 8–12, 81, 101, 118, 155 see also meisho; Shinto nervous system 149 nijiriguchi 28 Nijō Castle 159–60 Niō Gate 47 Nishi Hongan Temple 161 Nitobe Memorial Garden 143–6 niwa 2, 65 North America 119–21, 126–30, 132–5; expositions 121–6; health 146–52; Japanese-Americans 135–6, 138–44, 146 ocean 9–10 Oda Nobunaga 32, 67, 161, 166 Odawara post station 23 Ogawa Jihei 64, 164

191

192

Index Ōi River 53 Okayama, F. 135 Omote Senke Fushin-an 161–2 Oribe Lantern 72 Ōsawa Pond 21–2, 59 Otowa Falls 60 Otowa Pond 136 paradise garden 3–4, 47 Paradise Hall 16 paradox see kōan partner’s garden 112–3 Phoenix Hall 14–5 physical landform 39–45 pine 75, 88–90, 105 Pine-Lute Pavilion 26 plains 41–5 plants 75–8, 87–93, 103–7, 109, 144–5 plum 76, 105 poetry 11, 23–5, 51 Profile of Mood States (POMS) 148 pond 46–51, 102, 109 prayer 1 prohibitions 103, 106 pruning 87–93, 105–6 Pure Land 13–8, 46–7 Rankei Dōryū 50 raking 82–7 Rakuraku-en 97 reconstruction 96–8 reed island 62–3 religion 1–2, 8–11, 142–3 see also Buddhism; Shinto representation 94 residential garden 4 rice 38–41, 62, 70, 94–5 Rigen-daishi 160 Rikugi-en 23–4, 53, 82 Rinchi-kaku 50 Rinken 59 Rinun-tei 40 Rinzai 19 ritual 1–2, 10–1 river 10–1, 51–4, 102, 108 rocks 2, 63–9, 103–5, 107, 144–5; stepping stones 30–2, 117, 140–1 rocky waterfall garden 112 Rodrigues, J. 27–8 roji 28, 30–1, 162 Rokuon-ji 48–9, 62–3, 70–1, 75, 82, 88–9, 159 Ryōan Temple 19–20, 42, 82, 164–5 Ryūfuchi-sui 167 Ryūmon-baku 58–9 sabi 28 sadō 3, 9, 26–32, 69–72, 94

Saga, Emperor 21–2 Sagaryū-tei kohō hiden-no-sho 106–9 Saihō Temple 46–7, 66, 158, 167 Saionji Kintsune 159 Sakuteiki 21, 58, 63–4, 100–4, 138 Sampō-in 67 sand see white sand Sanjō Nibō Palace Ruins 11 sankinkōtai 22 Sansui narabini nogata-zu 104–6 sanzonseki 66–7, 142 Savior’s garden 110–1 scenery see meisho Schönbrunn garden 44 sea 9–10 seasons 1–2 secchin 5, 31 Seijo-no-taki 59–61 Sen Rikyū 27–31, 94, 161 Sen Shōan 161–2 Sentō Imperial Palace 165–6 Sesshū 56 Seven Lucky Gods 67–8 Seven-Five-Three Stones 69 Shaka 66, 157–8, 167 shakkei 37–9, 115 Shen Kuo 50 Shichi-Go-San 69 Shigejiro Ogawa 144 Shigemori Mirei 65–6 shiki-matsuba 94 shinden-zukuri 4 Shingon Buddhism 47–8, 58 Shinto 2, 8–12, 57, 64–5, 84, 121; torii 121, 132–3, 135 Shiota Takeo 134–5 shin 42–4, 106, 114–6 ship stones 68–9 shishi-odoshi 71 Shōan see Sen Shōan Shōichi Hōshi 47 shoin 21, 31, 70, 161–2 Shoju Mitsuhashi 139–43 Shōmyō Temple 47–8 Shōtoku, Prince 46 Shūgaku-in 39–41, 166 Shumisen 54–6 Shun’oku Myōha 21 Shūon-an 84–5 Silver Pavilion 82, 89, 91–2, 166–7 site plan 106 Snoezelen room 149–52 Snow-viewing Lantern see Yukimi Lantern sō garden 42, 106, 115–6 Sōami 165 sōan tea house 28–9, 31 Soga Umako 54

Index Sonnenberg Gardens 126–34 Sōrin Temple 68–9 Sōtō 19 spirits see Shinto statuary 130, 132–4 stepping stones 30–2, 117, 140–2 stone lanterns 71–4, 109 stones 104–5, 107, 144–5; stepping 30–2, 117, 140–2 see also rocks stories 25–6 stream 11, 51–2, 103 stroll garden 5–6, 136, 139–43 style see design layout suikin-kutsu 71 Suizen-ji Jōju-en 57, 94 sukiya 139, 142 Sullivan, L. 122 Sumeru Mountain 54–6 Sumiyoshi Pine 75 Sumiyoshi Taisha 7 suteishi 64 Suyama Kofun 10 tachibana 77 Tachibana Toshitsuna 100 Takeno Jōō 27 Takio Muto 136 Tale of Genji 25–6, 53, 162 Tales of Ise 25 Taoism 3, 8, 12, 56–7, 62, 104 tatami 27–8, 129, 161, 167 Taut, B. 19 tea ceremony see sadō tea garden 5, 29–32, 115, 128–30, 140–1 teire see maintenance tencha 27 Tenryū Temple 58–9, 158–9 themes 8–32; see also Buddhism; literature; Shinto; tea ceremony Thompson, M.C. 126–9, 132, 134 tōcha 27 Tōdai Temple 47 Tōfuku Temple 20–1, 87, 167–8 Tōkaidō highway 23 tokonoma 29 Tokudaiji Sanetaka 164 Tokugawa Ieyasu 159, 161–3 Tokugawa Mitsutomo 22 Tokugawa Tsunayoshi 23–4 Tokugawa Yorifusa 24 Tokugawa Yorinori 68 torii 121, 132–3, 135 tōrō 71–4, 109 Toshihito, Prince 22, 26, 162 Toyama-sō 22–3 Toyotomi Hideyoshi 32, 67, 160–1 trees 2, 75, 88–90, 105

Triad Stones 66–7, 142 Tsukiyama teizōden 42, 113–7 tsukubai 69–71 Tsūten Bridge 21, 167–8 Turquoise Lake 50–1 Turtle Island 61–2, 108, 136–8 Uehara Keiji 113 U.S. see North America viewing 109, 148–52 wabi-cha 27, 167 wabi 28 Wadamori Kikujiro 127–8, 130 waka 23–4, 70 Waka-no-ura 24 Wakayama Castle 68 water 9–10, 103; maintenance 94–6; pond 46–51, 102; rivers 10–1, 51–4, 102, 108; sand 84, 87 Water Song Festival 11, 51 waterfall 36, 58–61, 102, 108, 112, 130–1 weather 1–2 wells 104 Western garden 6, 42, 44–5 see also North America Westernization see modernization White, A.T. 134–5 white sand 82–7 world fair see world expositions world expositions 121–6 World’s Columbian Exposition 122–3 Wright, F.L. 122, 126 Yakushi Buddha 16–8, 157, 164 Yamagata Aritomo 53–4, 164 Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu 23–4, 53 yarimizu 11, 51–2, 96, 103 Yatsugatake Mountains 11–2 yodomari-ishi 68–9 Yokei tsukuri niwa-no-zu 109–13 Yūka-tei 71–2 Yukimi Lantern 73 yukizuri 90 Yokokawa Keizō 167 Yokuryū-chi 40 zazen 18–9, 36 Zen 3, 5, 8, 10–21, 26–7, 35–8, 42, 47–51, 66–7, 82, 84, 107, 128, 158–9, 161–2, 166–8 Zen garden 5, 19–20, 35–8, 51 Zhu Shunsui 24–5 Zōen 104 Zuisen Temple 36–7

193

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Colour plates

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Plate 1 Suyama Kofun aerial view

Plate 2 Suyama Kofun excavated beach

Plate 3 Jonokoshi Ruins

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Plate 4 Heijō Palace Tōin Garden overview

Plate 5 Heijō-kyō Sakyo Sanjo Nibo Palace Garden

Plate 6 Rocks in Kinsei Ruins

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Plate 7 Heijō Palace Tōin garden

Plate 8 Image of the Pure Land in a Pure Land painting

Plate 9 Byōdō-in

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Plate 10 Jōruri Temple overview

Plate 11 Ryōan Temple

Plate 12 Tōfuku Temple Fumon-in dry garden

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Plate 13 Tōfuku Temple Fumonin hill-and-pond garden

Plate 14 Ōsawa Pond (left); Lake Dongting (right)

Plate 15 Katsura Villa Ama-nohashidate (left); Ama-no-hashidate in Kyoto (right)

Plate 16 Rikugi-en Ki-i River (left); Ki-i River in Wakayama (right)

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Plate 17 Koishikawa Koraku-en Oi River

Plate 18 Katsura Villa Shōkin-tei (left); map of Katsura Villa Garden (right)

Plate 19 Entrance of Omote Senke Fushin-an

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Plate 20 Steppingstones and gate of Omote Senke Fushin-an

Plate 21 Eihō Temple Garden: panoramic view from Zazen Rock

Plate 22 Zuisen Temple cave

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Plate 23 View of Mt. Fuji from Zuisen Temple upper garden

Plate 24 Entsū Temple

Plate 25 View of Yokuryū-chi (Bathing Dragon Pond) from Rinuntei in Shūgaku-in Villa

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Plate 26 So-style garden of Nanzen Temple Hōjō

Plate 27 Golden Pond at Saihō Temple (left); plan of Golden Pond (right)

Plate 28 Mirror Pond at Golden Pavilion

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Plate 29 Jumping Fish Pond in Genkyū-en

Plate 30 Turquoise Lake Pond at Kenchō Temple (left); plan of Kenchō Temple (right)

Plate 31 Yarimizu at Heijō Palace

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Plate 32 Dry stream in Daisen-in

Plate 33 Stream in Murin-an

Plate 34 Sumeru Mountain (Shumisen) in Ishigami Ruins in Nara

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Plate 35 Sumeru Mountain (Shumisen) in Heijō Palace Garden

Plate 36 Mount Hōrai in Daisen-in

Plate 37 Mount Hōrai in Koishikawa Koraku-en

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Plate 38 Mount Fuji in Suizen-ji Jōju-en

Plate 39 Mount Lu at Koishikawa Koraku-en (left); Mount Lu in China (right)

Plate 40 Dragon Gate Falls at Tenryū Temple (left); position of Dragon Gate Falls (right)

Hōjō

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Plate 41 Otowa Falls at Kiyomizu Temple

Plate 42 Diagram of Turtle Island stone composition (left); Turtle Island at Nishi Hongan Temple (right)

Plate 43 Diagram of Crane Island stone composition (left); Crane Island at Konchi-in Temple (right)

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Plate 44 Iwakura garden in Matsuo Taisha

Plate 45 Triad Stones at Sambō-in

Plate 46 Seven Gods Stones at Wakayama Castle

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Plate 47 Boatstopping Stones at Saihō Temple

Plate 48 SevenFive-Three Stones at Daitoku Temple

Plate 49 Mount Fuji Basin at Golden Pavilion

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Plate 50 Kasuga Lantern

Plate 51 Sumiyoshi pine tree at Katsura Villa

Plate 52 Bamboo at Kyoto Arashiyama

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Plate 53 Plum tree at Shimabara Castle

Plate 54 Cherry tree at Taizō-in

Plate 55 Raked sand at Ryōan Temple

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Plate 56 Sand Ocean and Moon View Table at Silver Pavilion

Plate 57 Unmaintained sand garden

Plate 58 Checkerboardpattern raked sand at Tōfuku Temple Fumon-in

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Plate 59 Pine trees on the island at Golden Pavilion

Plate 60 Pine trees in the winter at Silver Pavilion

Plate 61 Snow protection (yukizuri) at Kenroku-en

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Plate 62 Thinned hedge at Silver Pavilion

Plate 63 Pruned shrubs at Chishakuin

Plate 64 Wetted stone at Fushin-an Tea Garden

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Plate 65 Shiki-matsuba

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Plate 66 Oraku-en

Plate 67 The rice field at Koishikawa Kōraku-en

Plate 68 Byōdōin shore before restoration

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Plate 69 Genkyūen Island restoration before (left); and after (right)

Plate 70 Sonnenberg Japanese Garden bridge

Plate 71 Brooklyn Botanic Garden Japanese Garden Torii gate

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Plate 72 Borrowed scenery in Manzanar Internment Camp Japanese Garden

Plate 73 Japanesestyle garden built in Parker Home