What are the traditional gardens of Japan

Traditional Japanese garden art Japanese culture is a fusion of Japan's own culture and the Chinese culture that was introduced to Japan, and a culture that has developed in a very unique form. According to the record of "Uemiya Shotoku Dharma King Emperor" in 538 and "Nihon Shoki" in 552, at that time, Buddhism was imported from China, and a kind of architectural method of pursuing magnificence and opulence in traditional Chinese architecture was accepted by Japan, and the Japanese began to build Buddhist buildings on a large scale. Later, with the continuous introduction of Chinese culture, the Japanese gardens were influenced by China in many aspects. In the Heian Period (784-1185), the Japanese gardening method was influenced by the introduction of Buddhism, resulting in the formation of bedchamber-style gardens, and then in the Kamakura Period (1185-1373), due to the widespread spread of Zen thought in China, the Kusan-sui (landscape) garden appeared as a type of temple garden, as well as the Shoin-gyuan (garden of the academy of studies) and the Hiru-sui (garden of the mountains and waters) gardens. During the Muromachi period (1373-1573), landscape gardens were at their peak. In the Momoyama period (1573-1603), the pursuit of luxurious and imposing gardens began again around the 15th and 16th centuries A.D., which corresponds to the Renaissance period in Europe. This trend prevailed for about 200 years, and a large number of excellent gardens were built, including the famous Katsura Rikyu Shrine Garden, which is a work of this era. Many of the famous gardens in Kyoto were built during this era. From the Edo period (1603-1867) in the 17th century, a large number of gardens were created, but not many of them can be called famous. In more detail, the traditional Japanese gardens from Nara to the Edo period can be divided into three periods. Period 1: Nara and Heian Periods (646-1185) The traditional Japanese gardens began to dig lakes and pile up mountains in the gardens from a very early time, and the lakes were used to represent the view of the sea. In the Nara period (646-784), because of the water transportation with China, when the ships traveled in the sea, they felt a lot of scenery that could not be appreciated on the land, and in order to reproduce this scenery in their gardens, they often used this way of digging lakes in order to pursue a kind of spiritual fulfillment. In the Heian Period (784-1185), the garden was developed as a form of residence and became a bedchamber-type garden. Generally, the south side of the bedchamber was surrounded by a large garden. The building called the "bedchamber" was usually placed in the center of the garden, facing north and south. The outbuildings to the left, right, and rear were called "rival houses. The bedchamber is the room for the head of the family, and the other rooms are used by other members of the family. To the south of the bedchamber was the main garden, which was paved with stones. Further south is a man-made lake and a mountain made from the soil of the lake. Nakanoshima is usually placed in the lake and connected by a small bridge. In addition, the southern shore of the lake can be reached from the opposite house through a corridor, and there are garden buildings called "Izumiden" or "Fishing Hall", which are built with half of the building sticking out of the water, and they are used as a place to cool off in summer, to go fishing, and to enjoy the scenery of the garden. People swung their boats in the lake and sang poems and held banquets to the accompaniment of music. However, this is only a standardized description, and the shape of the lake and the configuration of the buildings changed freely as the topography changed. In those days, almost all buildings, whether houses or temples, were built facing south, with a mountain behind them, and this was considered to be the ideal layout. Because of this, garden buildings were built facing south. In the northern or northeastern part of the garden, there is a water stream that flows from the opposite house into a lake in the south. The water in the lake generally flows in from the east and out from the west. The shores of the lake are made to be naturally curved and dotted with garden stones of various sizes, and wild flowers, plants and shrubs are planted in between to express the scenery of the natural world. Natural rock formations and plantings can be seen everywhere on the mountains and islands around the lake, and there are also cascading waters and streams in pursuit of creating and reproducing a natural scenery. The Joshibi Garden, which is the garden of a Buddhist temple, also appeared in this period. Since the garden described in the Buddhist Pure Land Mandala was built directly on the grounds of a Buddhist temple, there is a large lake when you enter through the south gate. In the center of the lake, there is an island and a bridge connecting it to the other side of the lake, through which the main hall can be reached. Lotus flowers are planted in the lake. The Jodo Mandala is mainly a representation of the Buddhist Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and the lotus flower is a symbol of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, so lotus flowers must have been planted in the Jodo garden. In the Heian Period, one of the incidental similarities between a bedchamber garden as a form of a mansion and a Jodo garden as a Buddhist temple was the presence of a large area of water. Period 2: Kamakura and Muromachi Periods (1185-1573) At this time, the architecture of the Bedchamber-style garden gradually became incompatible with the life of a samurai family, and was replaced by a simpler, plainer approach to martial arts or garden-making. In the Muromachi period (1373-1573), it evolved into the shugenja style. This was the germ of modern residential architecture in Japan, which ultimately originated from the buka style of the Kamakura period (1185-1373). The same is true of gardens. At the beginning of the Kamakura period, you can see the influence of the Bedchamber-style garden, which was characterized by a large area of water. However, as time went on, the water surface gradually became smaller, inner gardens between buildings appeared, and the shape of the lake became more complex, allowing people to enjoy the surrounding scenery along the lake and to look into the distance from one of the buildings. Compared with the bedchamber garden, the Kamakura-era garden was smaller in scale, creating a varied garden space in a small inner garden. Subsequently, the idea of Zen Buddhism was introduced from China, and many martial artists were converted to Zen Buddhism, for which Zen temples were built very widely. At that time, the Zen monks pursued a high level of education, but were very simple in terms of food and clothing. In the garden, there is a landscape garden that is rarely seen in the past, such as the same stone group and white sand pavement as in the paintings of the Northern Sect, in which the standing stones represent mountains, and there is a scene in which the water and the brooks are folded between the stones and flow through the valleys to the sea. There is also a white sand to show the wide sea, which is scattered with several stone groups to reflect the island and other symbols of the performance. The common feature of these works is that each person who views them can have his or her own thoughts, experiences, and understandings. The Daisen-in and Ryuanji temples in Kyoto are representative of such gardens. These gardens are called "Kusansui" because they do not use water to express the state of the landscape. Kusansui has been around since the Heian period, but in the Muromachi period, it was a garden rich in symbolism, based on the Zen view of nature and drawing on the techniques of Hokuso painting. If we compare Daisen-in and Ryōan-ji, there is a big difference between the former, which is very figurative, and the latter, which is very abstract and is also called "Kusan-sui". It cannot be said that it was a leap from Daisen-in to Ryuonji, but Ryuonji is a work that was realized by adopting the technique of bonshi, which was imported from China at that time, and synthesizing the concepts of Hokuso paintings. Period 3: Momoyama and Edo Periods (1573-1867) During the Momoyama Period, Hideyoshi unified the country and built castles in Fushimi and Momoyama, which were very luxurious in Kyoto. These castles were very luxurious in Kyoto, and in order to harmonize with them, the gardens were built with large-sized garden stones and colorful stone groups, and the style was very luxurious. This tendency continued until the beginning of the Edo period. The Sanpoin, Katsura Rikyu Shrine, and Nijo Castle Garden in Kyoto are representative of the famous gardens built during this period. Meanwhile, the tea ceremony appeared in the middle of the Muromachi period and became popular in the Momoyama period (1573-1603). The spirit of the tea ceremony is a social activity of tea culture in which the guests and hosts are in harmony and enjoy drinking tea in a natural and serene environment, with respect for nature and without ostentation. Because this spirit arose from the teachings of Zen, it was only natural that tea rooms suited to this particular environment emerged, and many of them were constructed independently in gardens. The tea ceremony was very much a natural gesture, and the tea ceremony was equipped with a variety of facilities, including dagger stones and dingbats in addition to ordinary garden paths, stone lanterns for illumination, squats for washing hands, and planting that shunned flowers and shrubs in favor of evergreen trees. In the Edo period, when the society was stabilized, there was a surge in the number of gardens. Since traveling was very popular at that time, most gardens were characterized by the famous sights of various places. The gardens of that period were generally larger in size, and the water in the gardens was made in the form of backwaters, with mountains, cascading water, brooks, flowing water, and large lawns, as well as gardens and irises, which made a great change in the gardening methods. With the growing popularity of the tea ceremony, tea rooms began to appear in the garden, the creation of tea courts has become very common, and sometimes there is a garden to create a few tea court phenomenon. In such cases, hedges and plants were generally used to separate the gardens so that people could pass from one garden to the next without realizing it. In this period, this type of garden was called a "daimyo-garden". During the Edo period (1603-1867), as society continued to stabilize and prosper, wealthy people purchased land in the countryside and built gardens. These gardens were not as wide as the daimyo gardens, but most of them were created by building mountains and streams, and Hourai Island was set up in the lake to symbolize longevity. The garden stones were also arranged in the form of seven, five, and three to express a wish, and it was popular to name the garden stones after the names of the Buddhas. The gardens after the middle of the Edo period lost the Zen flavor of the Muromachi period and the luxury of the Momoyama period, and were characterized by originality and freshness. This tendency continued until the Meiji era. After the Meiji period (1867-1988), there were many large gardens in the natural landscape style, small gardens in the pictorial style, stone gardens, and tea gardens, and among them there were kusatsu gardens, which represented the characteristics of gardens in the Meiji Taisho period. In the Showa Era, a natural style garden was created based on a new view of nature and individualization of the landscape, called a miscellaneous wood garden. In this type of garden, the traditional pruning method of gardening was changed, and a garden in which vegetation, flowers, shrubs, trees, and other plants were displayed in their natural state of growth without artificial pruning was pursued. It is certain that in the future, with the change of the times, a new view of nature may appear, and "Japanese gardens" will certainly have more different forms, as mentioned above, but in the final analysis, it is still a natural garden, which can be said to be a traditional, symbolic garden centered on the pruning of the planting form.