The Japanese garden

Abstract

An in-depth exploration spanning 800 years of the art, essence, and enduring impact of the Japanese garden. The most comprehensive exploration of the art of the Japanese garden published to date, this book covers more than eight centuries of the history of this important genre. Author and garden designer Sophie Walker brings fresh insight to this subject, exploring the Japanese garden in detail through a series of essays and with 100 featured gardens, ranging from ancient Shinto shrines to imperial gardens and contemporary Zen designs. Leading artists, architects, and other cultural practitioners offer personal perspectives in newly commissioned essays.

Contents

Introduction : The nature of the garden -- Beauty, terror and power -- The way, body and mind -- The gardens of Kyoto / Lee Ufan -- Expanded understanding -- Duality and reflection -- Even the moon borrows its light from the sun / Tan Twan Eng -- Mitate : a leap of imagination / Tatsuo Miyajima -- The hidden, implied and imagined -- The geometry of nature / Marcus du Sautoy -- Zen challenge : the unenterable garden -- Time, space and the dry garden -- Limitless space / John Pawson -- Void, silence and transition / Anish Kapoor -- Death, tea and the garden -- Inner space : the courtyard garden -- The poetry of plants -- Architecture of the garden / Tadao Andō -- Plants of Japan -- Periods of Japanese history -- Map of Japan.