Japanese gardens have strongly influenced the design of many American gardens.
Within recent years, this trend has made rapid gains on the West Coast and is gradually moving eastward. The degree of influence varies considerably.
The Authenticity Question
There are perfect replicas of Japanese gardens where every detail is authentic. Usually, these gardens are designed, executed, and maintained under the direction of Japanese landscape gardeners or architects.
But it is not necessary, nor is it always desirable, to adhere strictly to authentic Japanese design.
More often, in America, a small part of the garden shows the Japanese influence. Indeed, it is in this way that Japanese art can contribute the most to American gardens.
Principles of Japanese Garden Design
Through a careful study of the principles used in the design of Japanese gardens, one gradually absorbs many concepts that can be applied or adapted in one way or another to American gardens.
Among these principles, many of which are clearly illustrated by Tatsuo Ishimoto in his article on page 19, are the fusion of garden and home, the careful design of every bit of available space, proper selection of plants to create the desired effect and feeling, neatness, privacy, naturalism, asymmetry, and functionalism.
As is true in interpreting, adapting, or copying any art form, there is a danger of achieving a result that is no longer art but a conglomeration without feeling or design. This the gardener must avoid.
The Real Essence of Japanese Gardens
In his book Japanese Gardens for Today (recently published by Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland, Vermont), David Engel says, “The problem is that, even with only superficial contact with Japanese gardens, the outsider is bound to form an opinion of garden art in Japan.
The average traveler, unfortunately, sees nothing but the external decorative elements.
He has not had the chance to see either simple, well-designed, modern home gardens or very old ones made in the earlier and more creative periods of Japanese garden art.
Diverted by exotic and romantic elements, most visitors to Japan have missed the real point of a Japanese garden.
It surely is not merely a matter of using rocks, pebbles, unpainted wood surfaces, Japanese maples, twisted pines, rocky pools, waterfalls, garden rills, bridges, pagodas, stone lanterns, or Buddhas.
The elements of the Japanese garden are not just dramatic garden props used for easy upkeep and unique effects. If it were so, the garden would be merely a clutter of things, sterile, insincere, false.
Above all, a good garden has naturalness, strength, simplicity, humor, and human warmth. Its elements are arranged to convey the feeling of the partnership of nature and art.
In effect, the symbolism is that of man and nature in a pact of friendship, sealing it, as it were, with a hearty handshake.
The Attraction of Japanese Gardens
“You do not have to be a lover of Japanese culture to be able to grasp some strong validity in its garden art. From the standpoint of pure design, it is logical and honest.
But, more than that, its bonds are stronger, and its roots deeper than any we have known heretofore in the realm of garden art.
They are ties of an ineffable spirituality, which can be felt at all levels of perception. And this forms what may be the real attraction of Japanese gardens at this critical juncture of Western cultural growth.”
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