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4. Conventional

Classifications

SCHOLARS of the Japanese garden—in contradistinction to those who actually design and build the gardens—have been inclined to an academic, conventional formalism in their analyses. They say that a garden must fit into a certain category and classification in order to be a valid work of art. The result has been that those who build gardens, both in Japan as well as abroad, have tended rigidly to follow rules laid down by the writers and classifiers. They have ended up copying the outer form of the garden without penetrating to the heart of the matter. This slavish copying of forms classified by scholars may be the result of the awe and respect shown in the Orient to the teacher and scholar. But it is an unquestioning subservience without any real analysis or criticism on the part of the artisan and pupil.

The classification of gardens into types and the enunciation and compilation of conventional rules came in the later years of the feudal Edo period. Previous to that time there was much greater freedom and flexibility in garden making. The garden artist-builder. designed according to his own artistic judgment, without caring whether the finished product would or would not fit into any particular category. This is how it should always be. The over-conventionalization and standardization of garden design led in later years to a stultification and discouragement of originality of design. The modern garden builder, with an eye to the needs of the people who will use the garden, certainly will not want to be tied down to outworn rules and patterns. He can build his garden and achieve that wonderful unity with nature without being hemmed in by the academic restrictions of garden scholars who have done a painstaking job in classifying gardens, but have never wrestled with the problem of creating one.

The pitfalls of blindly following standard conventional patterns and rigid classifications are unmistakable. Yet for the purpose of orientation, we may benefit by knowing what these standard conventions and classifications are.