Tenshin-en: A Japanese Garden at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts Julie Moir Messervy An urban haven for contemplation that embraces two cultures. For many Westerners, the idea of owning a senses a mixture of design prowess and acci- Japanese garden is an unreachable dream. dent. Equally impressive are the lushness Busy, stressed in their workaday world, they and quantity of the plantings: over 70 imagine returning home to a serene paradise species-1750 specimens in all-adorn the of ancient stones perfectly set in a bed of landscape, changing the feeling and form of moss, flanked by rippling waters of a koi the garden through the seasons. In early pond. Here, in this miniature world, they spring, the white-panicled flowers of can give voice to their inner thoughts, day- andromeda hang as tresses from the shiny dreams, and spiritual longings; they can green of the shrub’s leaves. Mid-spring into become their true selves in a garden of early summer brings a continuous bloom of beauty. azaleas in shades of white, fuchsia, rose, Few of us will have the space, find the salmon, and pale pink, hummocking as time, or have the money to create such a small hills at the feet of tall stones and sanctuary in our lives. How fortunate it is, lanterns. Early to midsummer brings the then, that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, purple, yellow, and white iris, standing in built just such a garden for all of us to expe- upright sheaths behind rocks. In fall, the rience and enjoy. Sitting within its walls, maples, azaleas, and enkianthus turn bril- closed off from busy Boston traffic and liant hues of red, yellow, and orange to mark passersby, one feels sheltered in an oasis, the onset of colder weather, before the snows paradoxically surrounded by, yet removed drape the garden in winter. One could attend from, present-day urban life and times. the garden every day and discover oneself One sits in a curiously transcendent anew through the continuously changing world, feeling the stones as venerable souls appearance of plants amidst the unchanging set with a modern freshness and vigor, rem- stolidity of the stone elements. iniscent of rocky shorelines of New England, A of Cultures yet universal in the abstract power of their Merging dry composition. At first, the visitor feels Tenshin-en, the Garden of the Heart of overwhelmed by the energy of the place, Heaven, is a 10,000-square-foot contempla- nearly 200 rocks, set here and there, and tive viewing garden located at the north side The Japanese lantern located near the water basin at Tenshin-en. Photo courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 4 The crushed gravel "sea" at Tenshm-en. Raking gives the effect of ripples on the water’s surface. Photo cour- tesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. of the West Wing of the Museum of Fine ism with a feeling of beauty and repose that Arts, Boston. Completed in 1988, the garden evokes the New England landscape. Rocky is named in honor of one of the museum’s coastlines, deep forests, soft hillsides, and first curators of Asiatic Art-Okakura craggy mountains are abstracted and recre- Kakuzo, also known as Okakura Tenshin. ated to remind viewers of the beauty and Tenshin-en is one of New England’s few diversity of this region. The intent, according semipublic viewing gardens in the Japanese to Professor Nakane, the garden’s designer, style. A true Japanese garden, according to was to create in the garden "the essence of cultural traditions, derives-and takes inspi- mountains, the ocean and islands ... as I ration-from the landscape around it. In this have seen them in the beautiful landscape of spirit the project team of landscape artists New England." flew over the New England region in a small Each rock, plant, and paving stone was plane to gain a sense of its geography and aes- chosen from local materials and combined thetic qualities. The resulting garden is an with artifacts selected from the Museum’s interpretation of two cultures, combining the collection or brought from Japan. Together depth of meaning of Japanese garden symbol- these intermingle to create a contrast 5 Lookmg along the curved path towards the gate at Tenshin-en. Photo courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. between natural materials and human The Halvorson Company, a Boston land- objects and arrangements. scape architecture firm, was chosen to pro- duce the technical documents and details of Tenshin-en Origins necessary to build a garden of another cul- The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, asked an ture in this country. Our mandate was to internationally known garden master from combine an acute sensitivity to the nuances Kyoto, Professor Kinsaku Nakane, to design of Japanese design with a full understanding and construct a Japanese garden as an impor- of the legal and technical requirements of tant addition to the museum’s world- building projects in this country. Also renowned Asiatic collection. Funds for the included in the team were various subcon- project were donated by the Nippon tractors from this country and from Japan, Television Network Corporation, Mr. Yosoji each of whom brought specialized training Kobayashi, Chairman of the Board. and craftsmanship to different aspects of the As the garden master’s project coordinator, project. The landscape contractor was my responsibility was to assemble a project Donald B. Curran, Incorporated of Ipswich, team to carry out his conceptual designs. Massachusetts. 6 The garden evolved through a style of col- Professor Nakane, in a calm and almost laboration quite different from normal casual way, would set one stone at the American landscape architectural practice. takiguchi (waterfall), the next stone on the The garden master’s concept and execution tsurujima (Crane Island), and the next in the were upheld by the efforts of every team foreground of the garden. He saw the final member in an atmosphere of unstinting result in his mind’s eye and worked around commitment to the creation of a work of art: the whole garden to balance his composition the Museum’s curatorial staff guided the gar- right from the start. As well as fitting into den process and provided and conserved the design as a whole, each stone grouping many of its artifacts; the Italian masons set had to be balanced in its own right-all of Kyoto roof tiles on its walls; the Japanese which Professor Nakane accomplished with carpenters built a traditional gate in Kyoto, split-second decisions. When the composi- dismantled it, and reinstalled it on site with tion was complete, nothing needed to be the American carpenters’ help. All upheld altered; the whole felt dynamic and yet bal- the master’s concept, in a collaboration of anced. the highest order. After he had set the stones, Professor On one of his trips to the site, Professor Nakane returned to Japan while the walls Nakane was present to set the critical ele- and new sidewalks were installed. On his ments that make up the structure of the gar- next trip to Boston he set fifty-two trees on den. To watch him was to see a true master the day he arrived, but unexpectedly at work. For six hot days in July, 1987, returned to Japan the following day, called Professor Nakane established the positions back because of a death at the Osaka of the rocks in the garden. Attending to an University of Fine Arts, which he heads. At image of power and beauty that existed only that point, his son and chief assistant Shiro in his sketches and in his imagination, he set Nakane took over and set the remaining almost two hundred stones. plantings, ornaments, and stepping stones, With the aid of a 100-foot hydraulic crane, and supervised the erection of the Japanese its highly attentive operator, and three land- gate. scape crews, the shape of the garden began to Professor Nakane returned one more time emerge. One by one, the boulders, filling for the opening of the garden on October 24, eight tractor-trailer trucks, were bound and 1988. At that time, he declined to speak but chained to the crane’s wire. Like the conduc- chose instead to paint a sign for the garden in tor of a symphony orchestra, Professor sumie-Japanese ink. Inscribed is ten, shin, Nakane would indicate to one crew how and en (with Chinese characters) in his own deep into the ground they should dig, and to beautiful calligraphic hand. Since then, another which way the stone should face- Tenshin-en has been opened to the public and where its head, feet, front, and back from spring through fall and is visited by should be positioned. The crew placed the thousands of people every year. stones, some weighing as much as eight tons, in the ground and made minute adjust- Design Features of Tenshin-en ments under Professor Nakane’s watchful Tenshin-en is designed as a viewing garden eye. All this was done without a word spo- in the karesansui style, harkening back to ken, as Professor Nakane speaks only Zen temple gardens of the fifteenth century Japanese. in Japan. Kare means "dry," san, "moun- The plan of Tenshin-en at the Museum of Fme Arts, Boston. Reproduced courtesy of the Museum of Fme Arts, Boston. 7 Ii’ t- 4~- t< tg ~ I S11 "- *~ B!Bo= -0 r *! ,,~~£ .4 -0 1 Z, m u= <c C ’O 60 ~.~. v. C u 6G O .’t‘.0 u CQ i3 ...J ::0.. OZ n.