Japanese garden design
Simple peacefulness
There are many different types of Japanese garden designs, but in general it can be said that Japanese gardens are composed of symbolic and literal recreations of nature. Nature is the ideal, and gardeners strive toward an accurate and respectful depiction of it.
These gardens are not created to impress the visitor with explosions of color like gardens of other cultures. In fact, a major aspect of Japanese garden design is the inclusion of "empty" space. The key to this type of garden design is balance, and the empty space provides a "nothing" to balance the many "somethings." The seemingly simple design invites us to look closer to find the complexity both within the garden and within our own minds and spirits. When one does take the time to explore the garden and all its meanings, it can be absolutely breathtaking.
Everything in these gardens is made with a spiritual purpose. The Japanese garden is a quiet place for meditation or reflection.
There are three traditional types of Japanese gardens.
- Tsukiyama Gardens
The name translates as "hill garden." These gardens are designed to give the impression of a great expanse of land, though most are relatively small. Small bodies of water, both moving (streams, waterfalls) and still (ponds), call attention to the dynamism of nature and of life. Along with the water, hills, stones, trees, flowers, bridges and paths are used to create a miniature reproduction of natural scenery. It is said that the purpose of tsukiyama gardens is to represent the natural world boiled down to its essential elements
Some tsukiyama gardens represent actual famous landscapes of Japan or China.
Tsukiyama gardens vary in the way they are viewed. Traditionally, they have been designed to have a single viewpoint, such as the veranda of a temple. Many smaller gardens are still set up in this way. But larger and more modern tsukiyama gardens have one or multiple paths that take the visitor around the garden.
- Karesansui Gardens
Karesansui gardens reproduce natural landscapes in a more abstract way by using stones, gravel, sand and sometimes a few patches of moss for representing mountains, islands, boats, and, perhaps most importantly, bodies of moving water. Karesansui gardens are strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism and used for meditation: they are viewing gardens, not intended to be entered but contemplated from a set location. The use of sand or gravel to symbolize water is central to the karesansui garden, the raking of gravel round stones resembling the ripples caused by rocks in water.
In karesansui gardens, emphasis is placed on the beauty of "empty" space. Often, there will be little adornment aside from the small pebbles raked into waves and a few larger stones. This "emptiness" is designed to give the viewer a feeling of great calm.
- Chaniwa Gardens
Chaniwa gardens are designed for the tea ceremony. In this ceremony, called the sado, the drinking of tea symbolizes the recognition that every human encounter is a singular and unique occasion which never can or will recur again exactly. In many cases, the chaniwa is not really a full-fledged garden like the other types, but rather a narrow path of stepping stones leading up to the chashitsu, or tea room. The placement of the stepping stones that lead to the main tea room is a hallmark feature of this garden type. Chaniwa gardens also feature stone lanterns and stone water basins, called tsukubai, where guests purify themselves before partaking in the tea ceremony.
Chaniwa gardens are designed to give a feeling of detachment from the rest of the world so that the participants can concentrate solely on the tea and the others participating in the ceremony.