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Japanese Gardens

Traditional Japanese gardens hold a place of fascination unlike gardens of any other region of the world. These gardens go beyond the obvious aesthetic beauty. They speak not just of blooms and roots, but of spiritual transcendence.

In design, Japanese gardens are composed of symbolic and literal recreations of nature. These gardens are not created to “wow” the visitor like gardens of other cultures. The seemingly simple design invites us to look closer to find the complexity both within the garden and within our own minds and spirits. The subtlety is apparent and the underlying complexity can be breathtaking.

Everything in these gardens is made with a spiritual purpose. The Japanese garden is a quiet place for meditation or reflection. A zig-zag designed bridge, for instance, ensures that the walker will take time to cross and that she will have an opportunity to contemplate herself and her surroundings. The inclusion of a Japanese maple tree, which changes colors dramatically through the seasons—culminating in a fiery crimson-orange during the autumn—prompts the visitor to think about the passage of time.


Japanese Gardens Guides

  • Japanese garden design

    It is not a stretch to say that Japanese garden design has for many centuries been a point of pride within Japan, and a source of fascination for others. The seemingly simple designs hold worlds of complexity within them.
  • Japanese water gardens

    Water gardens have an important place within Japanese culture. Water is a symbol of the fluidity and changeability of life. The look and sounds of water has a calming effect—a key to Japanese gardens, which are places for calm and quiet.
  • Japanese zen gardens

    Japanese Zen gardens are places of quiet contemplation. More appropriately called Karesansui, or "Dry Garden," they use sand, pebbles, and stones to abstractly represent the different elements of nature.
  • Japanese rock gardens

    The Japanese rock garden is an old tradition with strong links to the philosophy of Zen Buddhism. These gardens contain little, if any, vegetation, and use sand, pebbles, and larger stones to represent aspects of nature, especially water.