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 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. 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 the Zen characteristics of these gardens, and discusses the impact Zen Buddhism has had on the Japanese way of looking at the natural world. 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. Weather-â?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. The austere, enigmatic rock gardens of Kyoto, Japan’s ancient capital, have never ceased to fascinate garden lovers. Japan's iconic zen gardens are revealed in Alex Ramsay's specially commissioned photographs and their history and meaning is explored in Yoko Kawaguchi's learned text.

The austere, enigmatic rock gardens of Kyoto, Japan’s a 'Beautifully illustrated, packed with fascinating insights' Robin Lane Fox in the Financial TimesĪ new handbook-sized edition of Japanese Zen Gardens. 'Beautifully illustrated, packed with fascinating insights' Robin Lane Fox in the Financial Times A new handbook-sized edition of Japanese Zen Gardens.

Japanese zen garden