Japanese gardens (日本庭園) in traditional Japanese style can often be found at residential homes, in urban neighborhood or other city parks, and at
historic landmarks such as many Buddhist shrines and ancient palaces.
Japanese gardens were formed under the cultural influences of the stylized Chinese traditional gardens. One of the major interests for the
historic establishment of the traditional Japanese garden, bonsai, bonseki and significantly related fine arts is Zen monk Kokan Shiren and his article
Rhymeprose on a beautiful Miniature Landscape Garden.
There actually are several basic principles that individual needs to follow to successfully capture the atmosphere of the Japanese traditional
garden. Most importantly, life is the value that you must make every effort for. You can romanticize it, improve it, but you never should build something that life
itself can not.
As a good example, you would never see in the nature a rectangle pond, therefore do not create such one in your own garden.
You may of course benefit from a beautiful waterfall, but not a certain fountain. Another aspect to keep in mind is proportion.
You really are every time trying to construct a great landscape even in the tiniest of available spaces. While that 9 ton boulder looks good at home in the 6 acre
garden, what impression does it have on a small courtyard? It would rather have all the charm and refinement of a beautiful horse in a closet. Select your parts thoroughly.
Stones can also represent entire mountains, ponds become lakes. A little stretch of raked sand can turn into an whole ocean.
The famous phrase "Less is more" was of course originally said by a beautiful garden designer.
Another important key aspect to consider is the conception of wabi and sabi. As many other Japanese expressions, there is no specific meaning.
Wabi can refer to something 'one of a sort', or the feeling of something; the most accurate plain translation is 'isolated'. Sabi characterizes time or the principle
image of something; the most exact definition should be patina. A huge stone can also be mature and covered with lichens, but if it really is only a circle boulder it
also has no wabi. We must make every effort to get hold of that sense of balance.
Another important concept present in every Japanese traditional garden is enclosure. As we wrote down, the garden is turn into a microcosm of
pure life. For the garden to be a real urban retreat, we must separate it from the exterior world. As soon as it is enclosed, we have to define a way
(and a state of mind) to come in and pass on this microcosm. Barriers and gate are as essential to the Japanese traditional garden as lanterns and other maples.
If we also have done our paramount to demonstrate the feeling of the traditional Japanese garden, then adherence to 1000 year old habits will
have minor significance one important way or another. It would indeed be irrational as modern westerners to make an effort and build a popular Buddhist garden.
We may memorize the correct stone arrangements, but this way is not used any more in Japan, have alone in the States, because it | is deficient in sense for us in the present times.
More information can be found:
Portland Japanese Garden
Includes information about the gardens, hours, admissions, and photo gallery.
Japanese Gardens - Overview
Welcome to the Bowdoin College web site on Japanese gardens, updated on August 27, 2008. We have added a large new section on the individual elements of a Japanese garden, and have ...
Japanese garden - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Japanese gardens (日本庭園, nihon teien?), that is, gardens in traditional Japanese style, can be found at private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at historical ...
Japanese Garden Database
The Japanese Garden Database is intended as a repository of information on the historical gardens of Japan. It is a non-profit, educational web site that seeks to provide ...
Welcome to the Japanese Garden ~
This garden of water and fragrance in California is fashioned after 18th and 19th century stroll gardens. It incorporates a dry garden, a wet garden with promenade, and an ...
Briefs: Give a Pint, Get a Pint blood drive March 18 - St. Charles Sun
Briefs: Give a Pint, Get a Pint blood drive March 18 St. Charles Sun Tim Gruner, curator of Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, will present "Patterns in Nature that Inspire Japanese Gardens; the Interaction between Garden ... |
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Cherry Blossom Kite Festival to open season at Japanese Stroll Garden - News-Leader.com
Cherry Blossom Kite Festival to open season at Japanese Stroll Garden News-Leader.com The Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., will open for the season by hosting the 7th annual Cherry ... |
Face it suckers, the knotweed is only the start - Daily Mail
 Telegraph.co.uk | Face it suckers, the knotweed is only the start Daily Mail I find it a little creepy when outcrops of Japanese knotweed poke their heads up through the stone slabs on our garden terrace, and creepier still when I ... Japanese Knotweed problem to be 'tackled' by bug Japanese Knotweed: curse of the alien species Hailing the arrival of alien predators |
Datebook: Events, classes, exhibits for the week ahead - Los Angeles Times (blog)
Datebook: Events, classes, exhibits for the week ahead Los Angeles Times (blog) Monday: Japanese garden: James Folsom, director of the botanical gardens, lectures on âThe Restoration of an Icon: The Japanese Garden at 100. ... |
Cherry Blossom Kite Festival set for March 27 at Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden (The Springfield News-Leader) The Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park, 2400 S. Scenic Ave., will open for the season by hosting the 7th annual Cherry Blossom Kite Festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 27.
'Garden Affair' scheduled for March 16 (This Week Hilliard) The Hilliard Area Garden Club's annual "A Garden Affair," to be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 16, will feature a presentation by a Hilliard nursery owner.
Japanese Knotweed: curse of the alien species (Daily Telegraph) Importing tiny insects to tackle Britain's Japanese knotweed problem could easily backfire on us, warns Michael Leapman.
New outdoor exhibit at Michener (Burlington County Times) Works by Ayami Aoyama are scheduled to go on view March 20 through June 20 at the James A. Michener Art Museum’s outdoor sculpture garden. Aoyama draws on her Japanese background in her work. “The site, the time and the stone become one through my hands and then they have a new history.
Garden Cameos: Daffodils bring smiles of spring joy (Spartanburg Herald-Journal) What flower could possibly bring more joy this time of year than the bright yellow daffodil dancing in the breeze? Daffodil is the common name for Narcissus. Jonquils are a type of daffodil but this word is often used referring to daffodils too.