Japanese Zen Gardens

Author(s): Yoko Kawaguchi

Gardening

The austere, enigmatic rock gardens of Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital, have never ceased to fascinate garden lovers. Weather---beaten rocks set in an expanse of white sand raked into geometric patterns challenge the idea of a garden as a space chiefly dedicated to the cultivation and appreciation of plants. How did the taste for this kind of garden arise? What do the stones represent? Why aren't there more flowers?This book sets out to answer questions such as these. It explores the Zen characteristics of these gardens, and discusses the impact Zen Buddhism has had on the Japanese way of looking at the natural world. This book also shows how key traditional concepts, such as that of using the confined space of a garden to create a landscape in miniature, were reinterpreted in Zen temple gardens. It explores how they make use of traditional imagery, such as those of mountain and sea, and how they reflect that acute sensitivity to the passage of time and the changing of the seasons which characterizes so many other Japanese garden styles. Yoko Kawaguchi's thoughtful and learned book illustrated with commissioned photography by Alex Ramsay, this book covers important examples of Japanese Zen temple gardens from the fourteenth century through to the twentieth century. It appeals to readers who are interested in gardens, garden design and garden history, as well as in Zen Buddhism and Zen aesthetics. It also serves as a useful reference book for travellers planning a trip to Japan to visit the country's temples.

$32.99 AUD

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Product Information

Alex Ramsay is well known as an award-winning photographer of architecture, gardens and landscapes. His work has appeared in leading magazines worldwide and illustrates many books including Helena Attlee's Italian Gardens: A Cultural History and Gardens of Wales. To visit Alex Ramsay's website click here YOKO KAWAGUCHI was born in Tokyo and educated in the United States, Canada and Japan. She has lived in the UK for the last twenty years. The author of Serene Gardens: Creating Japanese Design and Detail in the Western Garden, she lectures on Japanese garden history, and has appeared on BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour and the BBC World Service.

General Fields

  • : 9780711238718
  • : Quarto Publishing Group UK
  • : Frances Lincoln Publishers Ltd
  • : 1.05233
  • : May 2017
  • : 222mm X 222mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : May 2017
  • : July 2020
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Yoko Kawaguchi
  • : Hardback
  • : 617
  • : en
  • : 712.60952
  • : 208