The Japanese garden: Expressions of Buddhist philosophy and nature

Japanese gardens are a big part of every foreign visitor’s or tourist’s hope and dreams when visiting Japan and for good reason. The most famous garden cultures in the world are Japan and England and both are very different. The Japanese gardens are especially famous around the world for their asymmetry and the world’s they express. Though you can enter some Japanese gardens in general a garden is meant to be viewed in sitting position from the edge of the garden, about 50 cm above the garden level.

Japanese gardens, like in England, are also a prominent space in traditional merchant homes and other prominent older residences all over Japan. And today you can experience these garden settings in converted high end restaurants and also in homes that have opened their unique gardens to the public.

However, the primary place for experiencing the Japanese garden is in a Buddhist temple setting. And the Zen temple gardens of Japan are by far the most important and the most “interesting” for foreigners and Japanese alike.

Long before the first formal garden was ever created in Japan, much older Shinto ritual practices viewed special stones, trees, mountains, and ponds as kamisama or dieties. These beliefs easily fit into the Taoist-influenced Buddhism and garden design philosophy that entered Japan in the 7th century from China and also Korea. Well established Shinto views gave the new Japanese “Buddhist” gardens a unique difference.

Early Japanese gardens, unlike the Chinese garden ideas on which they were initially based, were more integrated into the natural landscape surrounding them. These early gardens attempted to seamlessly merge buildings and their immediate surroundings with the natural world of plants, bushes, trees, stones and water.

Viewing or entering a Japanese garden, and only some can be entered, is a spiritual, contemplative or meditative, and experience. But for maximum calm or meditative, contemplative value, you have to be practical. Many gardens are full of visitors and this takes away from the spiritual opportunities of these unique landscaping expressions.

To experience a Japanese garden under the best of circumstances, go early in the morning, as early as possible. This is all the more true if a garden is on the list of major tourist attractions in Kyoto and in the popular zones of the Path of Philosophy or Arashiyama’s bamboo forest.

In my opinion, the Zen monasteries and gardens of Japan are the most sublime, spiritual, and least peopled gardens. Kyoto has 5 Zen monastery complexes. Daitokuji Temple and Myoshinji Temple and their many sub-temples are beyond outstanding and can be combined with early morning meditation sessions as well.

And for maximum experience and serenity, pay special attention to the stages of entering a Japanese garden setting. These stages are part of the garden experience and act as cues that open your heart and still your mind for the garden world at the end of the path or journey.

The roji tea ceremony gardens are the best examples of this process. The first stage is a small “winding” and turning path that breaks your linear thinking ways. This stage leads you to the entrance of a temple building. Then you remove your shoes and ascend a step or two and continue to the edge of the building where the tea garden awaits. Then you put on a pair of garden slippers and follow another short but indirect series of stones leading to the tea ceremony house in the garden. Often, one then waits in a short line, seated on a rustic bench, until it’s your turn to enter the humble hut where the tea ceremony is performed. The Japanese tea ceremony gardens also reflect the idea that every two weeks is another season, another type of flower, another type of green or another type of natural delicacy or sound.

In Japanese culture, garden design is ranked as highly as calligraphy and ink paintings. It is an art.

Japanese garden styles, forms and meanings from 794 to the 1800s

The history of Japanese garden development, garden types and the meaning of each garden type is interesting and revealing. Today, most foreigners are familiar with the classic Zen garden (gravel, stone and moss) but there are other forms that are also equally special.

In terms of development, the Heian period (794-1185) palace gardens can be summarized as aristocratic pleasure grounds characterized by giant ponds and extensive stroll areas. With the strong influence of Chinese landscape painting and Zen Buddhism in the Kamakura (1185-1333) and Muromachi periods (1333-1576), a completely new garden form emerged. Known as a karesansui or dry landscape garden, these now classic Zen gardens, combining gravel beds and unique rocks, are famous all over the world. The gardens of the Azuchi-Momoyama (1576-1603) and early Edo periods (1600-1868) are for the most part variations on earlier period garden designs. More information on each Japanese garden type or style and historical insights below.

Kaiyu stroll style gardens: Though built at quite different periods, gardens of the type listed below all reveal a longing for the golden age of Heian culture and an indebtedness to Jodo Pure Land sect gardens. Instead of being viewed from a fixed angle, they are designed to be wandered through (circumnavigating a central pond) and appreciated from many vantage points. Such gardens reached their apotheosis in the stroll gardens of the Edo period, which present a never-ending series of scenes rich in literary and historical allusions. Recommended: Nijo Castle's Ninomaru garden, Ninna-ji Temple, Ginkakuji Temple and Kinkaku-ji Temple, Heian Shrine.

Kare-sansui Zen gardens: Kare-sansui style gardens are small but highly-symbolic Zen dry landscapes which used raked gravel, rocks, and the barest minimum of vegetation to depict oceans, mountains, and forests. Three-dimensional renditions of Sung dynasty paintings, these gardens are masterpieces of illusion, turning a tiny space into a vast universe. Recommended: Ryoan-ji Temple, subtemples in the Daitoku-ji Temple Zen complex, Taizo-in Temple in Myoshin-ji Temple Zen complex, Nanzen-ji Temple and subtemples.

Jodo Pure Land gardens: Also known as shinden style gardens, these gardens were the dominant landscape style during the Heian and Kamakura eras. They drew their inspiration from the Western Paradise described in the scriptures of the Jodo (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism, which taught that by chanting the name of Amida one could be reborn in the Western Paradise of the Pure Land. Their features generally include a pavilion enshrining an image of Amida Buddha, as well as a pond symbolizing the Western Ocean. Recommended: Byodo-in Temple, in Uji just a little southeast of Kyoto.

Shakkei "borrowed scenery" gardens: The main feature of these gardens is found in the way in which their design incorporates a distant vista into their overall design. Often hedges or walls are used to ingeniously block out extraneous objects so that only the desired mountain or other object is linked to the immediate foreground. Today, telephone poles, high-rise apartments, and other indications of modern life have an unfortunate way of interfering with the original plans of such gardens. Recommended: Entsu-ji Temple, Tenryu-ji Temple (in Arashiyama), Hakusason-so (near the Silver Pavilion), Murin-an (near Nanzenji Temple).

Roji tea gardens: The roji tea garden design is my favorite and the most “spiritual” garden experience I know of. The earliest form of the roji garden was to create green space at the rear of Heian period palaces and residences. Sen no Rikyu (1522–1591), who established the Japanese chanoyu Way of Tea in the mid to late 16th century, was highly influential in roji tea garden design. Kobori Enshu (1579-1647), Japan’s most famous garden designer ever, also favored the roji garden concepts. In a roji tea garden a path leads through an carefully arranged area of natural elements to a garden gate or teahouse. A roji garden is usually divided into an outer and inner garden. The inner garden is where the tea house is and also where the machia waiting arbor is located. Typical roji garden features include the tsukubai (on the ground, rough stone washing basin), toro (simple stone and paper lanterns),and tobi ishi (stepping stones). The plants in a roji garden are humble and rarely showy. The preference is for a natural Japanese mini landscape filled with ferns, moss, evergreens and the symbolic use of maple and ume plum trees (not cherry trees!). The roji tea garden was extremely influential in the design of the interior courtyard gardens of merchant homes from the 18th century onward. These tiny gardens were to be viewed or contemplated, not entered, and usually featured a stone lantern, a water basin, stepping stones, moss, gravel, and a few plants.

Sanzon-seki & other rock groupings: A common garden design theme, sanzon-seki are arrangements of three rocks representing the three Buddhas, usually Yakushi, Amida, and Shaka, each flanked by two attendants. Other popular rock groupings represent Mt. Horai, the mythical mountain at the center of the Buddhist and Taoist universes, and the tortoise and crane combination, a felicitous pairing symbolizing longevity.

Japanese garden stone superstitions and beliefs

Stones, believe it or not, the most important feature of any Japanese garden. If the soil is the "flesh" of the garden, then the stones are its "bones". Garden stones fall into three basic categories: "named" stones, unimportant "unnamed" stones, and stones which already existed on the site before the garden was constructed. There are five designated stone colors: red for fire, black for water, blue/green for wood, white for metal, and yellow for earth.

There are many taboos associated with garden stones based on superstitions that go back to the dawn of Japanese civilization. For example, bad fortune can come from taking a stone that was lying horizontally and standing it upright, or the reverse. Setting a stone upside down, as opposed to right side up, is said to release the evil spirit in the stone.

When an old property or estate is torn down, the garden stones on the property are carefully moved to one corner of the property and this is generally a job for a professional Japanese gardener who knows what to do.

The life of a Japanese garden: from design to construction and maintenance

The fundamental landscaping techniques that are the basis for any Japanese garden were first developed in Kyoto in the classic Heian period (794-1185). In the beginning the appeal of a garden and the creation of a garden was exclusively the privilege of priests, aristocrats and warriors. And this didn’t change until the 17th century when the merchant class became passionate about creating gardens, tsubo-niwa interior courtyard gardens in their machiya townhouse residences (the front of these residences was usually for conducting business).

In Japanese garden design, the various elements of a garden, including trees, stones, grasses, sand, gravel and moss, all have symbolic meaning. And these symbolic meanings are how the garden designer envisions the entire process. So it’s not really a garden. It’s a living philosophical and spiritual expression. And creating the balance between all these elements is entirely based on light and soil conditions. Based on these considerations, Japanese gardens were planned and laid out on paper to visualize perspective and elevation.

The first step in garden design is the garden foundation to ensure that water drains properly. Too much water in the ground is deadly for the roots of plants and trees: they rot! When the drainage foundation, a layer totally hidden from view, is completed the actual elements, from stones to trees and grasses, are added. The final stage involves planting or transplanting decorative moss, plants, and adding sand or gravel to designated areas in the garden design.

Japanese garden design has always been a closely kept secret. I have interviewed a few of Kyoto’s top garden designers and they prefer to give vague answers about the actual garden design process. Many multi-generational gardening families have “manuals” for all the facets of their design and construction processes. But these books are NEVER shown to people outside the “family”. Even apprentices are given access to these texts. These are the trade secrets of the Japanese gardener and his family.

However, there are still a couple of classic gardening manuals that are the treasures of any serious Japanese landscape gardener. All of them are over 200 years old and the oldest is 1,100 years old! The first Japanese gardening manual known to exist is the late 11th-century Sakuteiki ("Records of Garden Making"). Citing even older Chinese sources, the Sakuteiki explains the finer details of how to design a garden, from the placement of rocks and flowing and standing water, to how to mimic uniquely Japanese "landscapes" such as islands, beaches and rock formations. The second most influential Japanese book is the Rhymeprose on a Miniature Landscape Garden from around 1300 written by the Zen monk Kokan Shiren. The book goes into great detail on bonsai forms and other garden features and how they act to purify and still the mind, leading to a better relationship between man and nature. Two other Japanese garden books are also fundamental: 1. The Senzui Narabi ni Yagyo no Zu (Illustrations for Designing Mountain, Water and Hillside Field Landscapes) written in the fifteenth century; 2. The 18th-century Tsukiyama Teizoden (Building Mountains and Making Gardens). And these garden manuals all follow the same rules of keeping it secret: "If you have not received the oral transmissions, you must not make gardens," and "You must never show this writing to outsiders. You must keep it secret". It is no wonder that these ancient garden design manuals are still studied today.

New traditional gardens in Japan are uncommon and extremely expensive. However, new contemporary museums, high-end new architectural home owners (and condominium owners) and forward-looking corporations are still making new gardens

However, since most Japanese gardens have been in existence for over 100 years, the primary work of a traditional gardening and landscaping business is maintenance. And this is a lucrative service that top level gardeners live from. I used to pay $250 just to have my pine tree trimmed to perfection and it took the gardener two full days to do this. For larger pine trees it can take up to a week to prune and shape the tree to “perfection”. All major temples in Japan have gardens, many beyond the eye of the casual visitor and all of them rely on professional gardeners to look they way the original garden designer envisioned that particular garden and style.

Gardens of Kyoto: A selection of mostly tourist-free landscaping perfections

Kyoto is by far the best place in Japan to experience Japanese gardens. The city is over 1,200 years old and is home to all major garden types. But do be careful when choosing your gardens! In high season, go first thing in the morning to avoid the crowds.

East side of Kyoto

Tenju-an Temple: Tenju-an, established in 1340, is noted for its classic Zen sand and stone gardens, and the subtleties of its moss covered surfaces. Located in Nanzen-ji Temple.

Shoren-in Temple: Also called the Awata Palace, Shoren-in was formerly the temple of the imperial abbot of the Enryakuji Temple Tendai headquarters. The main garden, designed in the Muromachi period (1336-1573), has a stream that flows from a miniature waterfall set over a pond filled with large stones that look like dragons bathing and swimming. Located south of Sanjo, Jingu-michi.

Chishaku-in Temple: This garden, designed and created by Kobori Enshu in the Edo period, and characterized by an balanced arrangement of plants and stones, is considered to be one of the most beautiful in Kyoto. Located southeast of Shichijo, Higashioji.

Kanshu-ji Temple: Kanshu-ji's garden was originally part of a Heian period nobleman's residence, and is characterized by a wide perspective reminiscent of a small park (the pond alone is 200 meters long). The dynamic backdrop of Mt. Daigo looming over the pond is particularly impressive. This garden is especially popular from spring through the summer for its irises and lotus flowers. In Yamashina, just west of Ono Station on the Tozai subway line.

Gardens in northern Kyoto

Renge-ji Temple: Renge-ji's classic garden design is full of Buddhist and Taoist imagery. The small island (symbolizing nirvana) sits in a pond surrounded with stones representing a crane and a turtle, Chinese symbols of longevity. Located in Kamitakano, Hachiman-cho, Sakyo-ku not far from Miyakehachiman Station on the Eizan line to Yase.

Shisendo: Known as Japan's first garden to be built strictly according to an individual's preferences, Shisendo dates back to 1641. Built by exiled samurai-turned-scholar Jozan Ishikawa, the garden has 3 levels that merge with the maple forest and hillsides in the background. In May this garden becomes a cascade of color when the azaleas bloom. Located south of Shugakuin.

Zuiho-in: Zuiho-in was founded as an ancestral worship temple in 1535 by an important Kyushu daimyo, who later converted to Christianity. The garden, designed in 1961 by Shigemori Mirei, is a fine example of a dry landscape garden designed to create simplicity and elegance. Located in Daitoku-ji Temple.

Shoden-ji Temple: The clear contrast between green and white is the bold stroke of genius that characterizes the garden at Shoden-ji. And a unique plant trimming style clearly reveals the geometric shapes that form the fundamental base for this beautiful garden. During May and June it is well known for the breathtaking beauty of its azalea blossoms. Located northeast of Omiya/Misonobashi.

Genko-an Temple: Genko-an's 700-year-old garden was designed to reflect the philosophy of early Zen Buddhism. The view of the garden, through a square window, called the "Window of doubt", is said to symbolize the human struggle with pain and ego. From a round window, called the "Window of Enlightenment," one is presented with a garden view symbolizing nirvana. Despite the totally different views, it’s the same garden. Located in Kita Takagamine-cho, Takagamine Kita-ku, about 2 km directly north of Kinkaku-ji Temple.

Ryugen-ji Temple: Ryugen-ji, one of the oldest extant examples of a Zen abbot's residence, has five very simple but powerful old Zen gardens. The north garden, designed around 9 stones set on a rolling surface of lush moss, is particularly stunning. Located in Daitoku-ji Temple.

Gardens on the west side of Kyoto

Toji-in Temple: Toji-in was founded in 1341 by the first Ashikaga shogun. This beautiful pond garden was designed by Zen garden genius Muso Soseki. And despite the passage of nearly 700 years, the garden's lush greenery seems to be unchanged by the passage of time. Located a 7 min-walk from Keifuku Toji-in Station.

Taizo-in Temple: The great painter Kano Motonobu, who once lived here, is credited with the design of this unusual dry landscape garden, which depicts a stream flowing between cliffs and exhibits a strong influence from Chinese landscape painting. In the same compound, a modern garden designed by Nakane Kinsaku, uses classical hide-and-reveal techniques associated with roji tea ceremony garden design. Located in Myoshin-ji Temple.

Rinsen-ji Temple: The Rinsen-ji gardens were constructed in 1335 by Zen Buddhism master and garden designer, Soseki Muso, who is also credited with the gardens at Tenryu-ji and Kokedera (The Moss Temple). He spent the last years of his life at Rinsen-ji. The garden is composed of white sand and 19 stones (representing Buddha preaching to 2 Bodhisattvas surrounded by the 16 Arahats of Buddhism). Located in front of Arashiyama Stn., on the Keifuku line.

Fumon-ji Temple: The most attractive aspect of Fumon-in's dry landscape garden is unquestionably its unique checker-board pattern of white sand and dark green moss. The pond in the garden is so long that it looked like a still stream. It is highly unusual for a garden of this style to incorporate water. Located in Tofuku-ji Temple near Keihan or JR Tofuku-ji Station.

Gardens in central Kyoto

Rozan-ji Temple: Rozan-ji is said to have been the residence of Lady Murasaki, who wrote the world’s first narrative novel, Tale of Genji. The garden's mystical scenery is composed of mossy islands that seem to flow over an ocean of clouds. On Teramachi just east of the Kyoto Imperial Palace.

Gardens of Tokyo: A selection of high-value, less known gems

Tokyo was the home base for nearly all the samurai clans in Japan from the 17th century to the end of the 19th century. And samurai clan lords in Tokyo built large secure residences that all had extensive gardens, mostly stroll gardens. Many of these estates survive. And Kamakura, an hour west of Tokyo, is the best place to experience Japan’s earliest Zen temples and gardens. Kamakura was the base for Japan’s first shogun dynasty (1185-1333) and the Zen complexes here are huge properties filled with many Zen style gardens.

Kyū-Shiba-Rikyū Teien: The Kyū-Shibarikyū garden is a former imperial garden Edo-period stroll garden built on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in 1658. The striking contrast between the garden and the forest of tall buildings around it is unreal.

Rikugi-en: Rikugi-en is an exceptional Edo-period stroll garden that once featured 88 famous views in miniature. Today, 18 of these unique landscape views remain. And you can enjoy matcha green tea in this already calming garden setting.

Koishikawa Gardens: The Koishikawa garden is one of the oldest gardens in Tokyo. It is also a stroll garden, as most of the gardens in Tokyo are. The “stroll” around the pond was designed such that every few steps a different view reveals itself.

Happoen Gardens: Happoen is a garden complex that combines a section of 300-year-old bonsai trees, a large shaded pond, tea ceremony facilities (18th century) and a large modern wedding banquet complex. The café terrace overlooking the garden is outstanding.

Mukojima Hyakkaen Garden: Mukojima Hyakkaen is small merchant residence Japanese garden in the Sumida district. The garden is also a celebration of Japan’s literary world with 29 engraved stone monuments. In September the garden is famous in Tokyo for its lush Bush Clover Tunnel. However, the garden was designed to be attractive and colorful in all 4 seasons.

The best 4 gardens in the Zen worlds of ancient Kamakura

Kencho-ji Temple gardens: Kenchō-ji is the oldest Zen training monastery in Japan, dating from 1273. The layout of the temple follows the Chinese Zen design: all the buildings are on single axis. The garden is believed to have been designed by Muso Soseki.

Meigetsu-in Temple gardens: Meigetsu-in Temple in north Kamakura dates from 1383 and is especially famous for its ajisai hydrangea bushes in late May, June. The temple also has one of the earliest dry landscape Zen gardens in Japan and all the old temple windows are round.

Zuisen-ji Temple gardens Zuisen-ji is a small Zen temple “hidden” in the eastern hills of Kamakura. The temple is better known as the “flower temple” for its entry garden, considered the most “beautiful” in Kamakura. Zen priest, poet and garden designer Muso Soseki founded this unique temple in 1327. The garden is full of twisted, moss covered trees, flowering shrubs, mossy stone lanterns and stones, and colorful perennials. The temple also has a cave, a pond of rock carved islands. The views from this high hillside location is spectacular year round

Hokoku-ji bamboo forest garden: Hokoku-ji is a small Zen temple and famous around the world for its 2,000 plus moso bamboo in a forest setting. The temple was built in 1334 and has a colorful samurai history that is part of the temple experience. The temple also has many fine stone lanterns, gravestones, yagura tomb caves, and a small tea house.

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