Japanese Gardens

Japan’s historic gardens

Photos and information by kind permission from Prof. Clifton Olds. Copyright Bowdoin College

For a truly inspiring and informative trip around many of Japan ’s historic gardens, enter through the picture above.

The temple of Jisho-ji is more popularly known as Ginkaku-ji, the Silver Pavilion. Both the pavilion and the garden were part of the retirement villa of Ashikaga Yoshimasa, the eighth Shogun of the Muromachi Period, who began construction in 1482.

Koi in the garden of a former priest’s residence in Kyoto

The complex became the very centre of Japanese aesthetic concerns during the eight years of Yoshimasa’s residency, particularly in the areas of art collecting, flower arranging, and the tea ceremony. Indeed, the location of the villa on the lower slope of the foothills bordering Kyoto on the east gave its name—Higashiyama or Eastern Mountains —to the Zen-inspired culture of the late fifteenth century. The pond garden is based loosely on that of Saiho-ji, a garden that Yoshimasa passionately admired and often visited. The koi carp features in many of Japan ’s historic gardens, blending beautifully with both the history and the aesthetics of the Japanese garden.

Koi in the garden of a former Samurai's residence in Kanazawa.

The Classical Gardens of Suzhou

Suzhou is a well-known historic and cultural city as well as a tourist city of national importance. Praised as the "garden city" since ancient times, Suzhou enjoys a high reputation worldwide due to its possession of favourable locations and excellent talents. With a long history of two thousand odd years, Suzhou classical gardens take a unique position in the world of gardening history and have become a specimen of Oriental gardening art by superb artistic expression of scenery and containment of strong traditional thoughts. Suzhou classical gardens are also artistic gems of the Chinese nation. In December, 1997, Suzhou classical gardens were listed as a world cultural heritage by the UNESCO Heritage Committee. Famous scenic areas, such as Tiger Hill, Tianpin Hill and Stone Lake, enjoy the same high reputation as Suzhou gardens, and are also great tourist attractions of the world.
http://www.szgarden.com.cn/english/index.htm

Japanese Garden Forum

This forum is for the discussion of all aspects of designing, creating and maintaining Japanese gardens--including plant choices, design elements and historical information.
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