For more detailed information on Japanese government policy and other such matters, see the following home pages. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Website http://www.mofa.go.jp/ Web Japan http://web-japan.org/ GARDENS A unique integration of elements to create beauty Grounds of Motsuji Temple (Iwate Pref.) This pond, with its island, was part of a landscape garden built in the 12th century. It is a fine example of the Jodo-style garden. © Motsuji Characteristics of Japanese so as to reunite them in a confined area. Gardens This could mean the creation of idealized scenes of a mountain village, even within a In addition to trees and shrubs, the Japanese city. Symbolization involves abstraction, an garden makes artistic use of rocks, sand, example being the use of white sand to suggest artificial hills, ponds, and flowing water. In the sea. Designers “borrowed views” when contrast to the geometrically arranged trees they used background views that were outside and rocks of a Western-style garden, the and beyond the garden, such as a mountain or Japanese garden traditionally creates a scenic the ocean, and had them become an integral composition that, as artlessly as possible, part of the scenic composition. mimics nature. The basic framework of the Japanese Garden designers followed three basic garden, according to one school of thought, principles when composing scenes. They are is provided by rocks and the way they are reduced scale, symbolization, and “borrowed grouped. Ancient Japanese believed that a views.” The first refers to the miniaturization place surrounded by rocks was inhabited by of natural views of mountains and rivers gods, thus naming it amatsu iwasaka (heavenly GARDENS 1 barrier) or amatsu iwakura (heavenly seat). Likewise, a dense cluster of trees was called himorogi (divine hedge); moats and streams, thought to enclose sacred ground, were referred to as mizugaki (water fences). Japanese gardens can be classified into two general types: the tsukiyama (hill garden), which is composed of hills and ponds, and the hiraniwa (flat garden), a flat area without hills and ponds. At first, it was common to employ the hill style for the main garden of a mansion and the flat style for limited spaces. The latter the gardens of mansions. In this funa asobi Ryoanji (Kyoto) The temple’s celebrated type, however, became more popular with (pleasure boat) style, the often oval-shaped Zen-style dry landscape the introduction of the tea ceremony and the ponds were large enough to allow boating; garden is surrounded by a low wall on three sides chashitsu (tea-ceremony room). and fishing was made convenient by putting and consists only of 15 up fishing pavilions that projected out over oddly shaped rocks, of varying sizes, placed on a Gardens in Ancient Times the water and were connected by covered bed of white gravel. corridors to the mansion’s other structures. © Ryoanji The earliest known gardens date back to Between the main buildings and the pond was the Asuka period (593–710) and the Nara an extensive area covered with white sand, period (710–794). In the Yamato area (now in a picturesque site for the holding of formal Nara Prefecture), designers of Imperial family ceremonies. gardens and those of powerful clans created Another style of garden, the shuyu (stroll) imitations of ocean scenes that featured large style, had a path that allowed strollers to ponds dotted with islands and skirted by proceed from one vantage point to another, “seashores.” It was at this time that Buddhism enjoying a different view from each one. Such was brought to Japan from the continent by gardens were frequently found in temples way of the Korean peninsula. Immigrants from and grand houses in the Heian, Kamakura, there added continental influences to Japanese and Muromachi periods. The garden of the gardens, such as stone fountains and bridges Saihoji Temple in Kyoto, laid out by the priest of Chinese origin. Muso Soseki in the Muromachi period, is well known as a typical “stroll” garden. It is Gardens of the designed to give the impression that the pond Shinden-zukuri Style blends naturally with the mountain in the background. The capital of the Japanese state was moved from Nara to Kyoto in 794, and the Heian Jodo-Style Gardens period (794–1185) began. As the noble family of Fujiwara consolidated its grip on power, an In the tenth century Japan’s aristocracy aristocratic, natively inspired art and culture became increasingly devout in its practice developed. These aristocrats lived in luxurious of Buddhism. As faith in the concept of a mansions built in the shinden-zukuri style. The paradise known as Jodo (Pure Land) spread, gardens of this age were also magnificent. the garden came to be modeled on images of Several rivers came together in Kyoto, and Jodo as described in scripture and religious channels were dug to let water flow through tracts. It represented a crystallization of some various parts of the city. Summers in Kyoto extremely ancient Japanese garden motifs. are hot and humid, so people fashioned In this type of garden, the focal point is the ponds and waterfalls in order to bring a sense pond, with an arched bridge reaching to a of coolness. Streams called yarimizu were central island. The garden of the Byodoin, a made to flow between buildings and through temple at Uji (near Kyoto), is a good example GARDENS 2 of the Jodo-style garden. This temple was originally the country home of a powerful man of the time, Fujiwara no Michinaga. Because elite members of society took great interest in gardens, they are the subject of numerous excellent critical works, the oldest being Sakuteiki (Treatise on Garden Making), by Katsura Detached Tachibana no Toshitsuna (1028–1094). or zakan (contemplation) style, the viewer is Palace situated in a shoin, a room in a shoin-zukuri The palace’s main building building, and the view is composed so as to is seen here from across Gardens of the Zen Sect the pond of the kaiyu-style resemble a picture that, like a fine painting, garden. © Imperial House Hold Agency, The Kamakura period (1185–1333) that invites careful and extended viewing. Kyoto Office followed saw the rise of a warrior class and the influence of Zen priests from China, bringing The Tea Garden about changes in the style of residential buildings and gardens. It was not the The tea garden, imbued with a quiet custom of the military elite to hold splendid spirituality, was developed in conjunction with ceremonies in their gardens. Instead, they the tea ceremony, as taught by Sen no Rikyu preferred to enjoy their gardens from inside (1522–1591). It was through the tea garden, the house, and gardens were designed to be which avoided artificiality and was created appreciated primarily for their visual appeal. so as to retain a highly natural appearance, In this period, priest-designers, or ishitateso that one approached the teahouse. Today’s (literally, rock-placing monks), came to Japanese garden incorporates a number of the fore. elements inherited from the tea garden, such It is said that the golden age of Japanese as stepping stones, stone lanterns, and clusters gardens occurred in the Muromachi period of trees. The simply designed gazebos in which (1333–1568). Groups of skilled craftsmen called guests are served tea also have their origin in senzui kawaramono (mountain, stream, and the tea garden. riverbed people) were responsible for creating a new style of garden, known as karesansui (dry Kaiyu-Style Gardens mountain stream). Heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism, these gardens are characterized by The various forms that gardens took on extreme abstraction: groups of rocks represent over the centuries were synthesized in the Edo mountains or waterfalls, and white sand period (1600 –1868) in kaiyu (many-pleasure) is used to replace flowing water. This form gardens, which were created for feudal lords. of garden, not seen in any other part of the Superb stones and trees were used to create world, was probably influenced by Chinese miniature reproductions of famous scenes. ink-painted landscapes of barren mountains People walked from one small garden to and dry riverbeds. Examples include the rock another, appreciating the ponds in the center. garden at the temples of Ryoanji and Daitokuji, The garden of the Katsura Detached Palace in both in Kyoto. The former, created with just 15 Kyoto, a creation of the early Edo period, is a rocks and white sand on a flat piece of ground, typical kaiyu-style garden, with a pond in the is also typical of flat-style gardens. center and several teahouses surrounding it. In addition, gardens of this period received This garden came to the attention of a wide much influence from the style of architecture audience through the writings of German known as shoin-zukuri, which included the architect Bruno Taut. Another famous garden tokonoma (alcove), chigaidana (staggered in Kyoto is the Kyoto Imperial Palace Garden. shelves), and fusuma (paper sliding doors), Constructed in the seventeenth century, it and still serves as the prototype for today’s is called Oikeniwa, which means “Pond traditional-style Japanese house. In this kansho Garden.” A large pond dotted with several GARDENS 3 pine-clad islets occupies most of the garden. The Korakuen Garden, laid out in 1626, is one of the most magnificent kaiyu-style gardens in Tokyo. The lake in the garden has an island with a small temple dedicated to Benzaiten, originally an Indian goddess Shinjuku Gyoen known in Japan as one of the Seven Dieties period. National Garden (Tokyo) of Good Luck. The stone bridge to the island The so-called three most beautiful This public park straddles is called the Full-Moon Bridge because of its landscape gardens in Japan—Kairakuen 58.5 ha of Shinjuku and Shibuya wards.