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).
While no perfect examples of this type of garden exist today, the kaiyuu gardens created for the feudal lords during Edo period (c.1603 to 1868 AD) are also representative of this naturalist school. These kaiyuu gardens, build both in their home fiefs and at their residences in Edo (ancient Tokyo), often used exquisite stones and trees to create miniature reproductions of famous scene
Kairakuen garden in Mito, Kenrokuen garden in Kanazawa, and Kourakuen garden in Okayama—called Japan’s three best gardens—are of this type.