Most Japanese gardens are enclosed by design. Sometimes this is simply due to the restricted nature of an urban environment, but more often the enclosure is used as a casing trim.

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Among the natural-style gardens, the “shinden-zukuri” garden is a crystallization of extremely ancient Japanese garden motifs. The oldest recorded garden of this type—which includes artificial hills, ponds, and streams among the garden trees—dates back to the Asuka period (c.538 to 710 AD).

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Among Japanese gardens having religious significance are those in what is known as the Joudo style. Taking its name from the Joudo Buddhist sect, this garden style was developed in the late Heian and Kamakura periods (c.1000~c.1333) and draw its symbolism from the belief in the Joudo paradise popular at the time.

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Seeing from the standpoint of designing, traditional Japanese gardens can be divided into two basic types; the gardens that have water in the form of a pond or a flowing rivulet, and the dry “rock gardens”, called “sekitei” in Japanese. In the Eastern tradition, the word for “landscape” is a combination of the characters for “mountain” and “water”, which is read sansui in Japanese.

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Following the natural rhythm

First of all, we would have to learn about Japanese concept of nature to grasp to successfully get at the spirit of the Japanese garden design, cause the essence of Japanese garden philosophy is just the concept of bringing nature and the four seasons close to them.

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Minutiae of nature

The agricultural society’s need to know when to plant, cultivate, and harvest its crops has sharpened the Japanese sensitivity to seasonal changes, heightening their awareness of the minutiae of nature—the wind in the pines and the singing of insects—and giving rise to a wide variety of arts and customs embodying this sensitivity.

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Concept of transience

The Buddhist concept of transience has been incorporated into the indigenous concept of nature as an extension of oneself. Zen teachings have given rise to the mysticism and rustic simplicity of yuugen, wabi and sabi inherent in the tea ceremony, the Japanese garden, and flower arrangements.

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