TYPES OF JAPANESE GARDENS.   Term Paper ID:29177 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Historical, philosophical and aesthetic development. Purpose of garden to provide a space where a person can reach a state of awareness in harmony with nature. Rules for making gardens. Relation of Japanese gardens to Shinto religion. Zen Buddhism and development of Zen gardens; application of Zen principles. Uses of stones, water, bridges, plants, flowers. Paper Introduction: The islands of Japan were populated by waves of immigrants, and they formulated the Shinto religion as a code of good conduct between humans and nature (Borja, 1999). Certain trees, rocks, and waterfalls were regarded as the home of the spirits, the kami, and were famous for the sacred essence emanating from them: they were the site of pilgrimages, where the human met the divine. From the seventh century on, the Japanese aristocracy adopted the Chinese model of the celestial home of Buddha, and their gardens were designed with a lake and a mountain in the middle, connected by an arched bridge to the shore. The style later became more relaxed as the Japanese found it too rigid (Borja, 1999). In accordance with Buddhism teaching, the gardens reflected the rhythm of the seasons, the feeling of transience, and the order of the cosmos. The style of gardens becam Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. It was based on the Chinese principles of cosmology used to designgardens, which was adopted by the Japanese. The rules were gathered together at the end of the 12th century by themonk Yoshitsune Gokyohoko in The Sakuteiki, a treatise on Japanese gardens. In the dry gardens, walls usually provide the frames, but ingardens which open onto natural settings, bushes and plants can be trimmedto provide a framework for a particular view. (1983). Washington, DC: StarwoodPublishing. Theywere built by skilled groups of craftsmen known as senzui kawaramono andthe new karesensui style of garden became popular. It consists of15 stones arranged in five groups of two, three and five, spread out infront of the wall of the building over a flat, sandy, rectangular area of215 square feet. The process ofmaking a Zen garden is one of enlightenment. Gravel serves several purposes in a Zen garden (Bibb, 1991). Stone lanterns were introduced to Zen gardens as aestheticelements and to indicate the presence of humans in the garden. Borja, E. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha International. In meditation gardens, black glazedpaving tiles edged with a gutter taking water from the roof run alongsidethe passageway and provide a walkway at garden level. The tea ceremony, as taught by Sen no Rikyu emphasized a quiescentspirituality and led to the development of tea gardens (Borja, 1999).Rikyu sought the ideal for a tea garden in the desolate tranquillity of amountain trail. Zen gardens use stones as artistic features (Borja, 1999). This type of paving is geometric, structured, andornamental and is called shiki-ishi. It can be used to line a pathway, or be placed aroundthe base of trees to keep weeds from spreading. These can be assimple as bowls placed in the garden to collect rain water, or can be moreelaborate stone structures. In Zen gardens, paving stones are used outside the boundary of thebuilding and garden, but may also be used as purely artistic elements ingravel or mossy areas to emphasize an important arrangement of stones(Borja, 1999). The area between the main buildings and the pond was coveredwith white sand and used for formal ceremonies. The style of gardens became inseparable from religious thought,and this led to the Zen approach to gardens. Theoriginal placement must be respected, and each stone must be positioned inthe garden as it was originally found. The absence ofvegetation contributes to the illusion of an immense landscape, suggestinga distant view of a group of islands in an ocean - the Taoist vision of theuniverse. Plants are used in Zen gardens where maximum effect can be achievedwith great economy (Borja, 1999). Sand and gravel gardens create an air ofserenity. The stone garden was apurely abstract form. In modern Japanese gardens, groupings of rocks are a distinguishingfeature and provide a basis for its framework (Japan, 1999). The stones can be used as metaphors and symbols,with their strong powers of suggestion. It is bordered on the south and west by a low cob wall.The stones occupy only a very small space in the garden despite theirmodest size. Zen gardens. Schulz,(Eds.) Japan: Profile of a nation. Flowers are never usedfor borders, and a severe discipline governs the use of flowers (Tierney,2 2). Sand can be used to give the illusionof space and expansiveness in a small garden, or cover a large space torepresent a variety of concepts. Water should enter the garden from the north-northeast, pass around the house, and leave in the southwest, according toThe Sakuteiki. The Japanese avoid using ostentatious stonesbecause the Shinto culture associates the spirits of ancestors and deitieswith perfect manifestations of nature. Stones represent mountains when theyare used alone, and their scale must be in keeping with that of the gardenas a whole. The gardens went along withthe developments in religious thought, and the gardens became more refinedand timeless, almost an abstract representation of nature. This means removing distractions, orclarifying their shape and texture through pruning. This is called "borrowedlandscape." Rocks come from the Shinto tradition, where they are believed to housethe spirits (Borj, 1999). Thelanterns are not there primarily to light the garden, but to mark out aspace or balance a composition. In accordance with Buddhism teaching, the gardens reflectedthe rhythm of the seasons, the feeling of transience, and the order of thecosmos. K. Davidson, A. TheZen monks celebrated them in all their forms, particularly in the drygarden (karesansui), where they are suggested by arrangements of stones.The gravel of a dry garden can represent a pool. The noise made by the water must be discernible and harmonious,and in keeping with the whole. Zen stresses humility,purity, and simplicity, and finding the path to enlightenment through themenial, the ordinary, and the small (Bibb, 1991). Shinto purification rites mandated water in Shinto gardens, andBuddhist imagery has innumerable references to oceans, lakes and ponds,which influenced the design of Zen gardens (Bibb, 1991). They can represent the three majorthemes of a Zen garden - the lake, the mountain, and the islands. Taoism Buddhism gave rise to several types of gardens depictingparadise (Borja, 1999). With the rise of the cult of Buddha Amida in the 1 th century, theshinden style garden, modeled on the image of the Pure Land as described inthe scripture and religious tracts, was developed. The reflective propertiesof white sand or gravel draw light into a garden, and can also absorbdarkness on a cloudy day. The Fudo stone is often placed by the waterfall,guarding its source and watching over the water (Davidson, 1983). The absence of detail and lack of ornamentation allow theobserver to escape from reality into a state of awareness throughmeditation. Zen Buddhism was an outgrowth of the Dhyana school, which developed inIndia, spread to China during the sixth century and became the Ch'an sect(pronounced Zen in Japanese) (Davidson, 1983). Gardens of sand androck, with no water, developed under the influence of Zen Buddhism, alongwith shoin-style architecture, Chinese ink painting, potted dwarf trees,and tray landscapes. There are rules about the use of stones, the most important being thatthey must not be used in a different way from their natural position. The gardener needsto listen and hear these directions, because a stone improperly placedchange the whole balance of the garden. The Taoist tradition imagined paradise as a groupof island mountains floating on the ocean (sansui, meaning mountains andwater), inaccessible to humans and inhabited by immortal beings. The most famous garden from this time is the garden of theKatsura Detached palace in Kyoto. The tea garden adds stepping stones, stone lanterns,groves of trees, stone washbasins, and simple gazebos for guests beingserved tea (machiai). Tierney, L. Gardens. The path in a Zen garden is not only a functional entry into thegarden, but also a philosophical path separating the viewer from theeveryday world (Tierney, 2 2). In smaller gardens, groups of stones may be placed torepresent an archipelago. Tea drinking was introduced to Japan by the Zenpriests who drank slightly bitter green tea to help them stay awake duringtheir long hours of meditation (Davidson, 1983). There are two types of surfaces in Zen gardens: the soil, covered withgravel, moss, or herbs, and the pool (Borja, 1999). Wakayama, S. The Ryoan-ji garden in Kyoto, attributed toSoami (late 15th/early 16th century) is an example of this. London, UK: Ward Lock. (1999). This use of emptinesswith niwa - the gravel surface surrounding a Shinto shrine or the space setaside for ritual ceremonies in front of the temple walls - emphasizes thepower of the stone composition and highlights it. In 794, the capital had moved fromNara to Kyoto. Bridges, because they cross purifying water, are used in Zen gardensas a symbol of a passage between two worlds (Borja, 1999). The outline of the stones reinforces the nosuji of the site.The stones have to be anchored in the soil to represent the sturdiness ofmountains. Inpractical terms, it provides excellent drainage, and helps keep the feetfrom getting muddy. This gives the impression of vastness. One of the most positive and dynamic aesthetic features of a Zengarden is the combination of three erect stones of different sizesrepresent the three bodies of Buddha (transformation, bliss and law), orsanzonseki, or the more abstract concept of heaven, earth, and man (Borja,1999; Davidson, 1983). After being totallyassimilated with Chinese culture and philosophy, it spread to Korea, andthen, during the 12th century, it spread to Japan. Certain trees, rocks, and waterfalls were regardedas the home of the spirits, the kami, and were famous for the sacredessence emanating from them: they were the site of pilgrimages, where thehuman met the divine. Framing is important in Japanese gardens since the abandonment of thestrict shinden architecture in favor of the asymmetrical style (Borja,1999). They did this by representing things in abstract form,and by representing the vastness of nature and life in a limited space. First, the appropriate sitemust be chosen.Then it is necessary to absorb the spirit of the place to understand itssubjective and objective structure (tayori), and enables its poetic emotionto be expressed (fusui). This madethe Japanese believe that Japan was this archipelago, and that Shintoismmeant that the islands were the home of the gods. From these channels, narrow streams weremade to pass water to the gardens of the shinden-zukuri mansions. At thepeak of the Zen period, gardens contained nothing but stones freed from anyreligious, symbolic, or metaphorical associations. The ancestorsof the modern Japanese referred to places surrounded by natural rocks asamatsu iwasak, meaning "heavenly barrier" or amatsu iwakura, meaning"heavenly seat." Dense clusters of trees were thought to be dwellingplaces of the gods, and were called himorogi, meaning "divine hedge." Thestreams and moats that enclosed sacred grounds were called mizugaki,meaning "water fences." The first gardens, in the mountains of Yamato, imitated ocean scenes,and had large ponds with wild "sea shores" and they were dotted withislands (Japan, 1999). The garden is made up of several teagardens. The priests were trying to present through these gardens thetruths, confusions, problems, and joys that man encounters on the path toZen enlightenment. Several rivers converged there and channels were dug tocarry water through the city. The style later became more relaxed as the Japanese found it too rigid(Borja, 1999). It is used around washbasins and gutters to help drainage. Water can also be brought into the gardenin purification stones, chozubaci, meaning hand basin. From the seventh century on, the Japanesearistocracy adopted the Chinese model of the celestial home of Buddha, andtheir gardens were designed with a lake and a mountain in the middle,connected by an arched bridge to the shore. The nature of Japanese garden art.http://www.niwa.org/Nature.html A stone found in the underbrushcannot be placed in the sun or it would lose its beauty and character.Stones are said to have six faces, each with its own name (Bibb, 1991).The stone is also said to have a mind, the ishigokoro, which gives thegardener the directions on where it should be placed. Arrangements of stonesare influenced by the monochrome paintings from the Sung period, and aremeant to express a poetic atmosphere. Omura, H. Suzuki, & M. Pines are oftenused because they are evergreens and add to the timelessness of the Zengarden. It can represent oceans, ponds, orstreams, and can be raked into various patterns. Springs and streamsfollow the same principles, and the sound fo water is important in a Zengarden. The three dimensional picture encourages the viewer to lookinto their original nature and feel in harmony with the universe as awhole. Los Angels, CA: J.P. In a move away from symmetry, houses and monasteries began to be builtin complex, irregular design which often left only small, enclosed placesfor gardens (Borja, 1999). It is placed on the northeast-southwest diagonal, the path adopted by evil spirits, and it functions totrap the evil spirits and force them to the ground (Borja, 1999). With thehelp of the stones facing west and south, the spirits are removed from boththe garden and the house. (1999) In K. Often a group of stones of different sizes is used to representa mountain. (2 2). It reveals inner resourcesand transforms the body, feeds the mind, and contributes to a new awarenessof self. Theywill determine the main outlines of the garden's structure and allow thegarden to be incorporated into the site. To the Zen priests, the gardens were not an end in themselves, butwere designed to trigger contemplation and meditation, and were not seen asgardens as such, but rather as spaces filled in a certain way (Davidson,1983). Waterfalls became a part of gardens in the Zen period. Theponds were large enough for boating, and had tsuridono erected jutting outover the water and connected by roofed corridors to the other structures ofthe mansion. The art of Zen gardens. The garden in Japan is primarily intended to provide a space where aperson can reach a state of awareness that is in harmony with the forces ofnature through activity and meditation (Borja, 1999). The Buddhist tradition of marking the seasons is not as distinctin the Zen gardens, where there is a timeless character. The impact of themeditative approach it brought to Buddhism can be seen in the effect it hadon the design of gardens. The Zen principles relating to the making of a Zen garden are:fukinsei - asymmetry or dissymmetry; kanso - simplicity; koko - austerity,maturity, bare essentials, venerable; shizen - naturalness, absence ofpretense; yugen - profound subtlety, suggestion rather than revelation;datsuzoku - unworldliness, transcendence of the conventional; and seijaku -quiet and calm (Tierney, 2 2). The lines of force of the landscape along whichenergies flow (nosuji, nerves and tendons) must also be considered. The islands of Japan were populated by waves of immigrants, and theyformulated the Shinto religion as a code of good conduct between humans andnature (Borja, 1999). The tallest stone represents the Buddhist deityFudo (the immoveable) (Davidson, 1983). References Bibb, E, (1991). Tarcher. The Muromachi period,from 1333 to 1568, is known as the golden age of Japanese gardens. The stones are placed with carefulirregularity, and bends in the path, or larger stones, are stopping pointsfor views, representing meditative pauses in the personal experience ofcontacting the universe through the experience of the garden. In a Zen garden,the size and outline of the pool will reflect the scale and form of thewhole (Borja, 1999). From the beginning, these gardens had religiousmeaning in that they represented the heart of the Buddhist universe and itsdeities in a physical form and were designed to guide a student towardunderstanding and discovering the truth about who he really is. During the Edo period from 16 to 1868, a synthesis of garden formstook place. To avoid the risk of negativeelements in the garden, the Japanese use only perfect stones. In the Japanese garden. The making of a Japanese garden is a complicated process (Borj, 1999). The use ofbridges is linked to the search for a change in orientation, or a slowingdown of progress, and guiding the visitor towards a certain detail or pointof view. Kobori Enshu was a famousgarden designer of this period, and a fine example of his work can be seenin the gardens of the Sento Palace in Kyoto. In Shinto and Buddhist tradition, trees can capture beneficialheavenly flows. It was during this period that Buddhism wastransmitted to Japan and immigrants from Paekche contributed continentalinfluences to the Japanese gardens. In Zen gardens, trees are heavily pruned and shaped togive them artistic dimension in keeping with the style and scale of thegarden. It is an example of kaiyu, meaning "many pleasures," style, whichbecame fully established by the mid-Edo period. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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