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六根清浄の庭

ROKKONSHŌJŌ NO NIWA

Private Residence Tokyo, Japan, 2017

A tall wood fence separates the garden from the adjacent properties and acts as a gentle backdrop to layered garden elements, which increase in height from the stone patio in the foreground to the tsukiyama artifical hill at the back.

Shunmyo Masuno designed the compact garden on the south side of the residence to stimulate all the senses, with views from both inside the house and out, as well as to function as a space to practice yoga.

A bamboo spout provides a steady stream of water into the shihōbutsu chōzubachi water basin, with its four faces carved with images of the Buddha by the Kyoto-based master carver Nishimura Daizō.

IN A DENSE RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD in Tokyo, Shunmyo Masuno designed the Rokkonshōjō no Niwa, “The Garden of Six Pure Senses,” for a client who inherited the fifty-year-old house and garden. Planning a complete interior and exterior renovation, the client commissioned Masuno to renew the garden, which despite being on the south side of the house, was dark and very damp. An overgrown kaizukaibuki, or Hollywood juniper, completely covered the entire garden and also impeded the ventilation and daylighting for the living room and butsuma Buddhist altar room facing the garden. After removing the kaizukaibuki, the garden and adjacent rooms were opened up to light and air.

The design concept for the small garden was not only to provide a beautiful landscape for viewing but also to serve as a practical and useful place that fit the client’s lifestyle. Specifically, the client wanted a space to practice yoga outside, with an area set apart for the yoga instructor. Using granite paving stones in a random pattern, Masuno covered the ground surface next to the house, creating a functional flat area that is also a beautiful mosaic of large flat stones. Some of the stones have an intentionally pock-marked finish, while others have a natural surface. A single broad cylindrical stone set into the edge of the random paving contrasts with the flat area and provides a raised platform for the yoga instructor.

A few stepping stones lead from the front paved area through a river of pea gravel to a carved stone shihōbutsu chōzubachi water basin made especially for this garden by the stone carver Nishimura Daizō from Kyoto. Shihōbutsu means “Buddhist figures in the four cardinal directions,” and each of the four faces of the cube-shaped water basin features a Buddha image. The top of the basin has a perfect circle carved out to hold water dripping from the bamboo spout. The two circles in the garden—the carved top of the chōzubachi and the cylindrical platform stone—seem to be in quiet dialogue across the space of the garden. Small river stones surround the base of the chōzubachi and also fill in the space behind the cylindrical platform, creating another subtle connection between the two geometric elements within the garden.

From inside the residence, a framed view of water dripping from the bamboo spout into the carved stone shihōbutsu chōzubachi water basin and its surrounding greenery offers a serene scene.

Floor-to-ceiling glass doors capture a view of the miniature hill-and-stream garden, bringing the nature of the garden into the residence, while also sliding open to allow the owner to move directly into the space of the garden.

Landscape rocks of many shapes, sizes, and textures hold back a moss-covered mound at the edge of the gravel river. The height of the mound grows as it moves toward the far corner of the garden, giving a sense of spatial depth and suggesting the undulation of hills and valleys. A tall wooden perimeter fence, which is layered in front of a wall with a brushed plaster finish, serves as a backdrop for the garden. In front of this, Masuno planted six trees that would grow tall and four bushes that would grow wide. In addition to creating a lush green backdrop, together with the wall and fence, the trees and bushes add layers of space to the garden.

The trees that Masuno chose comprise different varieties to give texture and color to the garden throughout the seasons. The aodama, or Chinese flowering ash, has delicate branches with soft clouds of fragrant lacy white flowers in the spring. The tsubaki, or common camellia, features deep red blossoms in late winter and early spring, while the trunk of the himeshara, or tall stewartia, exhibits very visual patterning, and the foliage changes color in the autumn. The yamamomiji, or Japanese mountain maple, has leaves with the distinctive maple shape, which also turn a beautiful color in the autumn season.

The bushes interspersed within the trees serve to add visual variety as well. A senryō, or nine-knotted flower (also known as a bone-knitted lotus), from the original garden has sharp shiny leaves in sets of four with clusters of bright red berries. Sakaki is a flowering evergreen with bright green leaves and small off-white flowers that bloom in bunches. The spherical masses of flowers of the jinchōge, or winter daphne, bloom in the winter and give off a sweet fragrance. The leaves of the broad-leafed hisakaki, a species of evergreen related to sakaki, change from green to a deep red color in winter. The deciduous dodan-tsutsuji, a native Japanese shrub, has small white pendant flowers in the spring and leaves that change to orange-red in the fall.

Between the rocks and sugigoke, or hair moss, Masuno placed a few plants to provide focal points within the undulations of the mossy mound. Tsuwabuki, or Japanese silverleaf, yaburan, or big blue lilyturf (also known as monkey grass), and shida (ferns) are among the ashirai, or assorted small plants, which Masuno added to the garden to finalize the design.

With the seasonal views of the garden and the sound of the water dripping into the chōzubachi, the landscape imparts a strong sensory feeling of tranquility. Masuno designed the garden from the theme of rokkonshōjō, a Buddhist way of thinking that refers to the five senses—genkon (sight), nikon (hearing), bikon (smell), zekkon (taste), and shinkon (touch)—plus the consciousness of intuition or ikon, the sixth sense. In Buddhist thought, in accordance with one’s senses, an effect can occur in one’s kokoro (heart-mind-spirit); this is ikon (intuition). Rokkonshōjō encompasses all six senses, with rokkon referring to the six senses and shōjō meaning pure. Therefore, Rokkonshōjō no Niwa is “The Garden of Six Pure Senses,” a quiet space for contemplation and for the mental concentration required for each pose and breath in the practice of yoga.