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Introduction:The Nature of a Garden

10

Beauty, Power and

Terror 20

The Way, the Body and

the Mind 30

Expanded Understanding

60

Negotiationand

Reflection80

Zen Challenge:

The Unenterable

Garden 100

Time, Space and the Dry

Garden120

Inner Space: The Courtyard

Garden 210

Death, Tea and the

Garden210

The Poetry of

Plants210

Essays by :

Tadao Ando 10

Tan Twan Eng 10

Tatsuo Miyajima110

Marcus du Sautoy 110

John Pawson210

Anish Kapoor210

Lee Ufan 210

Map of Japan10

Plants of Japan10

Glossary10

Chronology of Architectural

Periods10

Index10

4 5↑ Tōin Teien (East Palace Garden)

6 7

Stepping into the Japanese garden is like entering a place of worship – a temple, a church or a cathedral – we are immediately immersed in the context of the garden space. From the outset, the garden assumes an influence on the way in which we behave. No object, no placement or action is futile, because, in the spirit of the teaching of the Buddhist wheel of the dharma, ‘One act, however small, includes all acts’. The Japanese garden-maker sets out to provide the visitor with the opportunity for a genuine transformation in the way in which we exist in relation to the outside world.

Unlike the expansive lawns of Western garden design on which we freely play and picnic, the Japanese garden deliberately determines how we experience it, carefully directing the way in which we use and navigate its space. While some gardens are designed to be viewed from a distance and forbid entry (see chapter XX), those that can be entered rely on the garden path (roji) to set down this experience. As the tune carries us through a piece of music, the path leads us on a journey through the garden. At the temple of Jikkō-in in Kyoto, the stepping stone path over a water pool incorporates an arrow that points the way. The clearly defined path of the tea garden (itself called roji, see chapter 10) is similarly directive, while the wider, meandering path of the ‘stroll’ garden (kaiyu-shiki-teien) – a type of garden which rose to prominence during the Edo Period (1600–1854) – guides the visitor along a route that most commonly leads clockwise around a pond or a lake with such purpose that American architect Frank Lloyd Wright referred to it as the ‘go-round style’ of garden.

The path is the most powerful design device used by the garden-maker to set out both a physical journey and a poetic way of seeing. We are expected to follow the path without straying from it, for the path strictly determines what is revealed, and how, and when. Our journey [along the path] is punctuated by elements such as gateways, bridges, lanterns, fences and wash basins, which all serve to define specific moments of the garden experience. The Japanese garden is not passive but active and directive, even chronological, like the words of a poem set down in order – a carefully crafted means to gain a particular understanding. Assuming the role of choreographer, the Japanese garden-maker carefully guides us towards a particular understanding, which might be religious, poetic or literary. Our experience is gradually extended and built upon, meticulously paced to reveal a passage that purposefully coincides with both space and time. Proximity between space and time is also present in traditional Japanese theatre, called kabuki, in which the term michiyuki is used to describe a ‘journey scene’, translating as ‘road travel literature’. In the garden, too, we move through space and time on our own poetic garden journey.

On entering the Japanese garden, we might be required to replace our shoes with garden slippers – a deed that must be tidily carried out with respect for the surrounding space. This act serves to remind us to engage the body, to formally order ourselves; it is the first step in drawing the mind and body together in preparation for entering the garden space, for the garden is a practice in a way of being. To walk carefully along the garden path requires focus and attention; as the Zen saying reminds us, ‘Look where you’re going! Watch where you step!’ The path determines not simply that we walk but how we walk; what matters is the mind with which we walk. The garden path dictates a similar obeisance as that at Buddhist temples, where pilgrims and monks bow in prayer and gratitude while walking clockwise around the stupa, a dome-shaped architecture that houses the sacred relics of a saint or even of the Buddha himself. The intended effect

of the garden path is rooted in performative religious practice, and like the temple, the garden is an aid towards wholeheartedness. As the Zen saying advocates: ‘Leave your self at the garden gate’, for in the garden the path is designed to draw us towards self-illumination, towards the heart of contemplation, into the Garden Way.

Japanese culture embraces a multitude of ‘ways’. These dedicated, sustained life-practices are known as shugyo and they may involve the practice of an art or religious pursuit. They include the Buddha Way, the Buddhist Noble Path, the Middle Way, the Tao (‘way’ or ‘path’), Shinto (the Path of the Gods), Chado (the Way of Tea), even Judo (the Gentle Way). With cultivation, these practices may prove transformative in their ability to enable a greater understanding. In Buddhist practice, it is the ‘way-seeking mind’ of zazen (seated meditation) that must be cultivated. The garden too requires the mind of zazen – the garden is so closely connected to the Japanese temple because it appeals to this very mind. The garden is the first stage of meditation and the way in which we come to the garden matters: our method, our principle and our doctrine all make a difference. By behaving in the right way with right mind, it is possible to participate in the Garden Way, to become uplifted above ordinary thoughts and to reach the Buddhist goal of ‘beyond mind’.

The rhythm of the Garden Way requires mindful abandon; it requires the wholehearted mind of one who enters the deep forest with no thought of return. The garden path requires not simply our footsteps but an entire way of being; ‘Do not follow in the footsteps of the ancients; seek what they sought!’, declared the hermit monk and poet Matsuo Bashō. To walk in the right way brings history and humility: be humble and you remain entire. It is through the practice of the dharma (‘The Way of the Awakened One’) that the Buddha made it possible for others to share his Enlightened path: ‘Do what I do, see what I am, and you in time will be what I am’. He taught that by following the dharma, all sentient being can achieve an awakening. The Bodhisattva (Kannon) is the form of the latent, immanent Buddha – the Buddha to-be, the Buddha potential – and it is worshipped with great reverence in Japan. By giving into the Garden Way of the Buddhist garden, it is possible for each visitor to follow the path, both physically and whole-heartedly.

Along the path, the garden-maker playfully toys with different styles and forms of paving to produce a path that is deliberately complicated to navigate, requiring the thoughtful guidance of the body. Amongst the many arrangements of paving stones are the straight-line formation (chokuuchi); the two-stone set (niren'uchi); the three-stone set (sanren'uchi); the seven-five-three pattern (shichi-go-san); the zig-zag patterns (shisankuzushi, chidorigake) and the ‘flying geese’ (gan’uchi), or the ‘fallen-leaves’ arrangement (konohauchi). Individually laid stepping stones may be ‘flying stones’, ‘skipping stones’ (tobi-ishi) or ‘guiding stones’ (nori-no-ishi). When the path changes its form or becomes unsteady, we are forced to slow and look down at our feet to establish the shape and size of the paving stones. At intervals the uneven path is punctuated by a large, smooth, flat, geometrical stone – broadly called a 'trump stone' or ‘special purpose stone’ (yaku-ishi) – which is used to provide the visitor with reassurance, to allow us time to re-find our footing. Once steady, we have the opportunity to look up and rediscover the garden before us in a view perfectly calculated by the garden-maker for our appreciation in this way. Drawing on our active participation, the path guides us to be simultaneously attentive to

The Way, the Body and the Mind The Way, the Body and the Mind

The Way, the Body and

the Mind

Buddhapada or the Footprints of Buddha, usually depicting a dharmachakra (Dharma Wheel) at the centre of the sole, carved limestone, XX century

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Yasuhiro Ishimoto Stepping-stones from the Imperial Carriage Stop to the Gepparo, Katsura Imperial Villa, 1954, gelatine silver print, 22 x 11 cm (8 11/16 x 11 1/16 in)

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Pilgrims circumambulating the Dhamek Stupa in Sarnath, Varanasi, India

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76

8 9↑ Tenjuan ↑ Tenjuan

10 11

→ Kairaku-en (A Garden To Be Enjoyed Together) 偕楽園

Mito, Edo Period, 1841/42 Tokugawa Nariaki

Kairaku-en, or ‘garden for everyone’s pleasure’, is one of Japan’s few gardens that was designed from its inception to be open to the public, rather than reserved for private use. Nationally designated as one of the ‘Three Great Gardens of Japan’, its visionary creator, Tokugawa Nariaki (lord of Mito domain), later played a significant role in the overthrow of Japan’s shogunate and the country’s subsequent move towards modernity. His grand ambition and magnanimity is reflected in Kairaku-en. The garden places particular emphasis on spring flowers, which burst with colour against a brown backdrop of yellow winter lawn. In late February and March, over 3,000 plum trees of over a hundred different varieties flower with white, pink, red and purple blossoms.

Kairaku-en (A Garden To Be Enjoyed Together)

12 13↑ Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion)

14 15

↑ →

Sanzen-in (Temple of Rebirth in Paradise)

Sanzen-in (Temple of Rebirth in Paradise) 三千院

Kyoto, Kyoto 782–806 (temple), gardens 1615–1867, Edo Period Saichō and Kanamori Shigechika

Sanzen-in was founded by monk Saicho, who travelled with Kobo Daishi (Kukai) to China, returning in 804 with the Tendai teachings, the latter with the Shingon teachings. Situated in the village of Ohara, in the north of Kyoto, the Temple of Rebirth in Paradise is surrounded by ancient forests (‘mori’) a word which relates to the verb ‘moru’, meaning ‘to protect’. The broad trunks of ancient cryptomeria trees punctuate the temple gardens like architectural pillars, supporting a vast tree canopy above that shades the mossy ground. One area of the garden is planted with hydrangeas, while the enclosed garden of the temple confuses scale with its tightly clipped shrubs and miniature pagoda set into the distance, which appears, perhaps, as a fully scaled building.

Sanzen-in (Temple of Rebirth in Paradise)

16 17↑ Daisen-in (Great Hermit Temple) ↑ Daisen-in (Great Hermit Temple)

18 19↑ Tawaraya Ryokan

20 21↑ Katsura Rikyū (Katsura Imperial Villa) ↑ Katsura Rikyū (Katsura Imperial Villa)

↑

22 23↑ Shisen-dō

24 25

↑ → Adachi Museum Garden 足立美術館庭園

Yasugi 1970, Shōwa Period Adachi Zenkō

The founder of this garden-museum complex, Adachi Zenko, believed that the garden could be composed as a ‘living painting’, as great as any work of art. The gardens are assembled, composed and layered as a complex ink painting. Adachi’s gardens are immensely impressive, at once con-fusing scale and content, such that a relatively small niwaki-pruned pine takes on stature as a wild, ancient pine. The gently curving hills take on the status of vast landscapes. The garden is composed of six distinct areas: in addition to the main, dry landscape garden and the pond garden with its bridge, there is a moss garden, tea garden, a white gravel and pine garden, and a waterfall garden, the latter two dedicated to the artist Yokoyama Taikan. the ‘right mind’ that Zen seeks.

Adachi Museum Garden Adachi Museum Garden

26 27

↑ ↗

Honpukuji Mizumidō (The Water Temple)

Honpukuji Mizumidō (The Water Temple) 本福寺水御堂

Shingon Buddhism Awaji 1991, Heisei Period Tadao Andō An incision through the heart of a lotus pond leads down a staircase to the temple interior beneath. ‘I don't believe architecture has to speak too much. It should remain silent and let nature in the guise of sunlight and wind speak’, says Andō Tadao, whose water temple is an altar to the lotus, a reflector of the sky. The lotus is symbolic of the unseen essence of Bud-dha; growing from the murky depths, its stem rises, its single bud preg-nant with the flower wrapped within. As it warms to the sun, the flower unfolds, betraying no trace of the dirt from where it has come.

Honpukuji Mizumidō (The Water Temple)

28 29

N A N D I N A D O M E S T I C SEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

S T A C H Y U R U S P R A E C O XEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

A U C U B A J A P O N I C AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

A R D I S I A C R E N A T AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

H A M A M E L I S J A P O N I C AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

P H O T I N I A G L A B R AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

P I E R I S J A P O N I C AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

R H O D O D E N D R O N D I L A T A T U MEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

L A G E R S T R O E M I A I N D I C AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

Trees and Shrubs

C L E R O D E N D R U M T R I C H O T O M U MEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

H Y D R A N G E A M A C R O P H Y L L A V A R . M A C R O -P H Y L L AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

S A S AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

S P I R A E A C A N T O N I E N S I SEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

H Y D R A N G E A M A C R O P H Y L L A F. N O R M A L I SEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

B A M B U S E A EEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

H I B I S C U S S Y R I A C U SEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

H Y D R A N G E A I N V O L U C R A T AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

C Y C A S R E V O L U T AEnglish NameJapanese TransliterationJapanese name in KanjiCategory

Trees and Shrubs

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32 33

↑ . →› Fushimi 天天天 Nanzen-ji Complex, Zen-shu sect of Rinzai Zen Buddhism Higashiyama, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 1336 (destroyed by fire in 1447, rebuilt 1577)

In this small sub-temple garden, a path of geometrically shaped stepping stones leads through a dry raked karesansui garden, through a gate and down towards a carp (koi) pond. The route of the garden passes over a geometric bridge made up of wooden planks that offer a zig-zag route, past a waterfall and to a second bridge of stone stepping stones, while the backdrop is dominated by the vertical stems of blue bamboo. Towards the end of the route is the original entrance to the garden, where a large, natural stone water basin sits beneath a leaning pine tree, which has been carefully trained to grow at an acute right angle – a humorous pointer to

Fushimi Fushimi

28 29

← ↑

Komyo-in

Komyo-in 天天天 Nanzen-ji Complex, Zen-shu sect of Rinzai Zen Buddhism Higashiyama, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 1336 (destroyed by fire in 1447, rebuilt 1577)

In this small sub-temple garden, a path of geometrically shaped stepping stones leads through a dry raked karesansui garden, through a gate and down towards a carp (koi) pond. The route of the garden passes over a geometric bridge made up of wooden planks that offer a zig-zag route, past a waterfall and to a second bridge of stone stepping stones, while the backdrop is dominated by the vertical stems of blue bamboo. Towards the end of the route is the original entrance to the garden, where a large, natural stone water basin sits beneath a leaning pine tree, which has been carefully trained to grow at an acute right angle – a humorous pointer to

Komyo-in

the garden-maker for our appreciation in this way. Drawing on active par-ticipation, the path guides us to be simultaneously attentive to the garden space, while becoming ever more aware of our own bodies. In time, with right mind, the garden becomes second nature. The path also squeezes the visitor, unsuspecting, through undersized gateways and into new thresholds, as it guides us over stepping-stones and bridges, filling our world with floating objects and watery reflections. The garden experience is transformed into a physical and mindful engage-ment with the surrounding space, and the gateway is perhaps the most significant symbolic obstacle along the way. As well as declaring the gar-den’s entrance, like that at Jizō-in Temple, inside the garden subsequent gateways are often placed at intervals along the path, declaring a series of thresholds that signify a deepening of garden space. The gateway is an ancient Asian symbol of the sacred, the point beyond which the ordinary is birthed into the realm of the revered, even the infinite. Metaphorically, we pass through the garden gate from a state of non-understanding into understanding, from sleep and ignorance to awakening; it is the gateway that offers us the possibility of such passage, and it is in what we make of it that meaning arises.

In Japan, the symbolism of the gateway traces its roots in both indigenous Shinto and Buddhism. Symbolic Shinto gateways, called torii, can be seen across Japan’s landscape – their bright vermillion colour a declaration of their divine presence, a symbolic marker of the gateway between our world (zokkai) and the World of the Gods (shiniki), said to ward off evil spirits and protect against calamity. The symbolism of the torii is the archetype upon which Japanese garden space is based. It is no coincidence that the Japa-nese garden exploits the 'framed-view' so well (see Chapter XX); Japanese understanding of sacred space – and therefore garden space – relies on a deep and profound appreciation of passage, of threshold and the ‘beyond’.

At the great Shinto shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha in southern Kyoto, the gateway and the path come together in what can be hailed as a blueprint for later Japanese gardens. Since the shrine was established some 1,200 years ago, devotees have erected some tens of thousands of torii, sacred gateless gates as offerings to Inari, the Shinto deity associated with agri-culture and the rice harvest, symbolizing fertility and prosperity. Fashioned from the trunks of trees that grow in the surrounding forest, the torii have been raised so closely together that they form a physical tunnel, which guides pilgrims through the forest towards the inner shrine. Together they form a continuous, extended threshold that offers a pilgrimage between profane and sacred space. It is this metaphysical journey that has been consciously or unconsciously adopted by Japan’s garden-makers, whose interest lies in the garden’s potential for transformation through the expe-rience of passage.

At first the geometry of the torii at Fushimi Inari Taisha is rectilinear accord-ing to the individual gate, and the view through the many gates produces the shape of a perfect square in the distance. As mounting torii reveal and hide the forest beyond, however, other curious geometries emerge. At a certain point, the torii tunnel splits into two dual paths that run parallel to one another, and an extraordinary phenomena occurs: the straight vertical stems of the torii seem to morph together, transforming their rectilinear geometry into a single curving continuation, a roofed tunnel which winds its way through the dark forest, producing an even more deeply religious

Yves Klein in front of Torii gate, Kyoto, 1950s

•

Christo Drawing for The Gates (Project for Central Park, New York City), 2005, pencil, enamel paint, wax crayon, map, fabric sample and tape, 35.5 x 28 cm (14 x 11 in)

•

Yasuhiro IshimotoPath and gateway at Katsura Imperial Villa, 1954, gelatine silver print, 22 x 11 cm (8 11/16 x 11 1/16 in)

•

The Way, the Body and the Mind The Way, the Body and the Mind 1312

14 15Kennin-ji

← ↑

11 12

Funda-in 天天天 Nanzen-ji Complex, Zen-shu sect of Rinzai Zen Buddhism Higashiyama, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture 1336 (destroyed by fire in 1447, rebuilt 1577)

In this small sub-temple garden, a path of geometrically shaped stepping stones leads through a dry raked karesansui garden, through a gate and down towards a carp (koi) pond. The route of the garden passes over a geometric bridge made up of wooden planks that offer a zig-zag route, past a waterfall and to a second bridge of stone stepping stones, while the backdrop is dominated by the vertical stems of blue bamboo. Towards the end of the route is the original entrance to the garden, where a large, natural stone water basin sits beneath a leaning pine tree, which has been carefully trained to grow at an acute right angle – a humorous pointer to

Funda-in Funda-in

26 27Ikkai

Binding: HardbackFormat: 270 x 205 mmExtent: 304 ppNumber of images: 300 col and b/w illustrationsWord count: 60,000ISBN: 978 0 7148 7477 7

Written by Sophie Walker, with additional essays by Tadao Andō, Tan Twan Eng, Anish Kapoor, John Pawson, Marcus du Sautoy, Tatsuo Miyajima and Lee Ufan.

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