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JAPANESE GARDENS: AN OVERVIEW

In Japan, gardening as an art form has developed over thousands of years, beginning with simple pebbled covered plots on the beach or in the forest, created for ceremonies honoring spirits believed to have come from the heavens or across the sea. Pebbled plots later developed into the graveled courtyards associated with prehistoric chiefs’ houses and Shinto shrines. This early indigenous tradition was joined by beliefs and practices from China and Korea, beginning in the third century BCE and culminating with the introduction of advanced civilization in the sixth and seventh centuries CE. This latter wave of influence brought writing, Buddhism and continental style gardens organized around a pond.

Indigenous and continental traditions continued to interact over the centuries and often were integrated in a variety of ways to serve the needs of royalty, aristocrats, temples and shrines and, eventually, also commoners. In the process, Japan created some of the most beautiful and sophisticated gardens in the world. Today, Japanese gardening practices have been adapted to the needs of modern society and exert a major influence upon gardens in other countries of the world.

Some time before the end of the Pleistocene epoch people entered Japan from various parts of Asia. Some came from the north through the island of Sakhalin; some came from China via Korea; others appear to have come from the south by boat. Not much is known about these early people except that they were Paleolithic hunters and gatherers who employed sophisticated stone tools.

During the Jōmon Period (10000–300 BCE), pottery was invented and towards the end of the period people began experimenting with wet rice agriculture on a small scale. People lived in pit houses but grain was stored in elevated structures. In the Yayoi Period (300 BCE–300 CE), new cultural influences and people arrived from the mainland to bring a more settled way of life with large villages supported by irrigation agriculture. It was during this period that the indigenous religion developed into what came to be known as Shinto.

Development of a Unified State

Beginning in the late Yayoi Period, burial mounds were created for clan leaders and other important persons. The Tomb Mound Period, beginning around 300 CE, was a time when Japan was struggling to overcome centuries of conflict between rival clans and to develop a unified state under the leadership of the Yamato clan, from which the present imperial house is descended. Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the sixth century from Korea. The period between the arrival of Buddhism and the Taika Reform of 645 is known as the Asuka Period (538–645), which takes its name from the Asuka area near Nara. During the Asuka Period, Japan underwent great transformation as it came under the influence of continental culture.

Suizenji Jōjuen, a large stroll garden in Kumamoto with large expanses of grass.

Dominance of Continental Culture

The Taika Reform of 645, which marks the beginning of the Hakuhō Period (645–710), created a central government and a legislative structure based upon the model of the Tang Dynasty in China. The first real capital was established at Fujiwarakyō in 694. Official interchange with China was established for the first time and continental culture spread from the court to the provinces. In 710, the capital was moved from Fujiwarakyō to Heijōkyō, near present-day Nara, to usher in the Nara Period, which lasted from 710 to 794. Major Buddhist denominations established their headquarters in the new capital. The great flowering of architecture and the arts that ensued marks the high point of Buddhist culture in Japan and the maturation of Japan into a nation state. The capital was moved again in 794 to Heiankyō (present-day Kyoto), where it remained for over 1,000 years until Edo (present-day Tokyo) became the capital at the time of the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Heian Period (794–1185), which derives its name from Heiankyō, saw continued borrowing from Tang China. Eventually, Japan reduced contact with the continent and assimilated what it had learned to produce a distinctive culture of its own.

Feudalism

Towards the end of the Heian Period, a series of wars between the Taira and Minamoto clans resulted in victory for the Minamoto. Partly to escape the influence of the imperial court in Kyoto, the victorious clan established a military system of government known as the bakufu in Kamakura, near present-day Tokyo. This marks the beginning of the Kamakura Period (1185–1333). Japan had become a feudal society, with a shogun as its head, governed by the principles of bushidō—the Way of the Warrior. The Kamakura shogunate, weakened by Mongol invasions, was replaced by the Ashikaga family who moved the military capital back to Kyoto, to begin the Muromachi (Ashikaga) Period (1333–1573). In the Muromachi Period, there was a great flowering of Zen-inspired arts such as black ink painting, calligraphy, flower arranging, the tea ceremony, Noh drama, the martial arts and landscape gardening. Eventually, the Ashikaga shogunate waned in power and more than a decade of clan warfare (the Ōnin War) reduced much of the capital to rubble. Japan was reunified in the Momoyama Period (1573–1600) by a succession of three great military leaders: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Tokugawa family moved the military capital from Kyoto to Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1600 to begin the Edo (Tokugawa) Period (1600–1868), which was characterized by two and a half centuries of relative peace and stability as well as isolation from the West.

Early Modern Japan

Dissatisfaction with the Edo rulers grew as Japan fell behind the West in technology and many feared the growing threat of colonization. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 abolished the shogunate and samurai class and restored the emperor to power, at least in theory. Japan became a constitutional monarchy and embarked upon the road to rapid modernization, industrialization and urbanization. With these developments came a growing militarism that eventually led Japan to defeat in World War II and occupation. Japan rebuilt rapidly after the war and soon became an important economic force in the modern world.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE JAPANESE GARDEN

In Western societies whose cultures are fundamentally European in origin, the word “garden” means a place where things are grown, as in “vegetable garden,” “flower garden” or a formal garden where flowers, shrubs and trees are artistically arranged and managed to provide aesthetic enjoyment. In Japan, this definition is too narrow since many gardens, being composed entirely of rocks and gravel, do not have vegetation.

Autumn at Sanzenin Temple in Ōhara, near Kyoto, which stands in moss-covered grounds shaded by towering cryptomeria.

The Concept of Teien

The modern Japanese term for garden is teien, a compound word composed of the characters for niwa and sono. In prehistoric times, the term niwa referred to places where specific activities were carried out, such as ceremonies dedicated to kami, spirits believed to have descended from the heavens or to have come from across the sea. These special places may have included areas around sacred objects such as trees, rocks, waterfalls, naturally pebbled beaches or plots in the forest that were covered with gravel. After the development of agriculture, the term niwa was used to refer to the bare clay-packed area in front of a farmhouse for conducting activities such as daily chores and ceremoniously seeing off guests.

With the spread of agriculture around 300 BCE, the word sono was employed to describe plots that were shaped into paddies and flooded for the planting of rice. Wet rice agriculture involved extensive modification of the surroundings. In addition to clearing trees, fields had to be leveled; in some cases terraces were constructed; retaining walls were built around each field to retain the water; and irrigation systems were constructed to distribute water among the numerous fields. The importance of water is also seen in the sacred ponds and purification rites of early Shinto.

In brief, niwa were areas that were graveled or covered with clay in preparation for activities such as ceremonies, whereas sono were areas in which things were planted and watered. Both of these early roots were retained in the term teien.

China had a major influence on Japanese gardens at various times in its history. Shown here is the Yoen (Jp.) pond garden in Shanghai, constructed in the Ming Period (1368–1644).

Sacred Versus Secular

To help clarify the relationship between graveling and planting, it is useful to make a distinction between “sacred” and “secular”—terms that form two ends of a continuum. At the sacred end are compounds dedicated to spiritual entities and activities, including individuals with “divine” origins, such as the emperor. In the ancient tradition, these compounds are austere graveled areas adjacent to or surrounding buildings such as important shrines and temples, or the imperial palace. A good example is provided by the graveled courtyards of the shrines at Ise Jingū, long associated with the imperial family. Though graveled courtyards often are not included in books on Japanese gardens, they are the heirs to an indigenous tradition that has had a considerable impact upon the concept of teien.

At the secular end of the continuum are spaces dedicated to entertainment and aesthetic enjoyment, such as gardens constructed for mansions and villas. Such gardens are generally larger, have a pond and are planted with trees, shrubs and flowers. This complexity is further enriched with a variety of visual stimuli such as rocks, lanterns and pavilions. A good example is the Naritasan Shinshōji garden in the town of Narita near Tokyo.

In the middle of the continuum are gardens that combine aesthetic pleasure with a feeling of philosophical or religious profundity, as in the Katsura Rikyū Detached Palace garden in Kyoto (pages 130–3), said by some to be the high point of garden and palace architecture in Japan. A little more towards the sacred end from this mid-point is the austere Zen meditation garden, Ryōanji, in Kyoto (pages 104–7), composed entirely of white gravel and rocks; and a little more towards the secular end is the Saihōji Temple garden in Kyoto, popularly known as Kokedera (Moss Temple) (pages 90–2), which is famous for its lush green mosses and stately trees. Many would consider the gardens in this middle portion of the continuum to be Japan’s finest.

Entrance to Kōtōin, a subtemple of Daitokuji Zen Monastery, Kyoto.

Continental Influences

Japanese gardens did not develop in isolation. Though rooted in ancient prehistoric traditions, they were influenced by new cultural waves coming from the continent, beginning in the third century BCE and culminating in the sixth and seventh centuries CE when the advanced civilization of the Tang Dynasty was at its height. In 607, Ono-no-Imoko, the leader of the first Japanese diplomatic mission to China, returned to Japan with detailed observations on Chinese gardening methods. In 612, Michiko-no-Takumi arrived from Korea to construct for Empress Suiko a garden inspired by mythical Mount Sumeru, mentioned in Buddhist scriptures. Complete with an artificial lake and an island, this continental model was quite different from the earlier graveled courtyard model indigenous to Japan. Both models were destined to play an important role in the development of Japanese gardens.

Organization of the Book

The sacred/secular continuum described above could be used to organize the book as a whole. To do so, however, would require making subjective judgments about the position on the continuum occupied by each garden discussed in the book. This is simply not practical. Traditionally, Japanese gardens have been organized into three types: natural scenery gardens (shizen fūkeishiki) that represent nature with artificial ponds and hills, stones and vegetation; dry landscape gardens (karesansui) that suggest natural scenes with stones, gravel and sand; and tea ceremony gardens (chaniwa) that consist of landscaped paths (roji) leading to a teahouse. This classification scheme also could be used to organize the book. It is, however, overly simplified. Instead, Japanese gardens will be described in this book in terms of their historical development. The value of this approach is that it provides a basis for understanding how Japanese gardens were influenced by broader cultural forces and how early gardens evolved into, or influenced, later types, including gardens in other countries.

Austere and simpleVisually rich and complex

SacredSecular

Cleared and graveledContoured and planted

Though there are exceptions, gardens that evoke religious feelings and philosophical insights tend to be towards the austere end of the continuum, whereas gardens that stimulate a sensual aesthetic response are towards the secular end. Many of Japan’s finest gardens lie in the middle of the continuum.

Karesansui (dry landscape) garden at Zuihōin, the smallest of the Daitokuji subtemples open to the public.