Japanese Gardening

Japanese gardens, that is, gardens in traditional Japanese style, can be found at private homes, in neighborhood or city parks, and at historical landmarks such as Buddhist temples and old castles.

Japanese gardening is a cultural form of gardening that’s meant to create a scene that mimics nature as far as possible by using trees, bushes, rocks, sand, artificial hills, ponds, and flowing water as art-forms. The Zen and Shinto traditions are both a big part of Japanese gardening and, because of this; the gardens have a thoughtful and reflective state of mind. Japanese gardening is Greater unlike the Western style and many would say it’s far more meditational and human soothing.

In Japanese gardening there are three primary methods for scene. The first of these is reduced scale. Reduced scale is the art of taking a real scene from nature, mountains, rivers, trees, and all, and reproducing it on a smaller scale. Symbolic representation involves generalization and abstraction. A good example of this would be using white sand to advise the ocean. Adopted views refers to artists that would use something like a sea a forest as a background, but it would end up becoming an important part of the scene.

There are basically two forms of Japanese gardening: tsukiyami, which is a hill garden and mainly composed of hills and ponds. The other is hiraniwa, which is basically the exact opposite of tsukiyami: a flat garden without any hills or ponds.

The primary components used in Japanese gardening include rocks, gravel, water, moss, stones, fences, and hedges. Rocks are most often used as centerpieces and add a presence of spirituality to the garden. According to the Shinto tradition rocks be the spirits of nature. Gravel is used for a kind of specifying surface and is used to imitate the flow of water when arranged properly. Stones are used to make a boundary and are carven into the form of lanterns. Water, whether it be in the form of a pond, stream, or waterfall, is an essential part of a Japanese garden. It may be in the real form of water or portrayed by gravel, but no matter what form water is in, it is crucial to a Japanese gardens balance.

There are various forms and types of plants that are signature of Japanese gardening, the important one being Bonsai. Bonsai is the art of training everyday, average plants, such as Pine, Cypress, Holly, Cedar, Cherry, Maple, and Beech, to look like large, old trees just in miniature form. These trees range from five centimeters to one meter and are kept small by pruning, re-potting, pinching of growth, and wiring the branches.

Japanese gardening is a tradition that has crossed the Muso Soseki, poet, said “Gardens are a root of transformation”. A Japanese garden is certain to give rise several different feelings and is definitely a transforming experience.