Japanese Garden Design

by Marc P. Keane, Haruzo Ohashi (Photographer)

This book, filled with gorgeous photographs, explains the theory, history, and intricacies of Japanese gardening.The creation of a Japanese garden combines respect for nature with adherence to simple principles of aesthetics and structure. In Japanese Garden Design, landscape architect Marc Peter Keane presents the history and development of the classical metaphors that underlie all Japanese gardens. Keane describes the influences of Confucian, Shinto and Buddhist principles that have linked poetry and philosophy to the tangible metaphor of the garden in Japanese culture. Creative inspiration is found in the prehistoric origin of Japanese concepts of nature; the gardens of Heian aristocrats; the world-renowned Zen garden, or rock garden; the tea garden; courtyard garden; and stroll garden.Detailed explanations of basic design concepts identify and interpret the symbolism of various garden forms and demonstrate these principles in use today in Japanese landscape architecture. Topics Design Principles Design Techniques Design Elements Godspirit in Nature Poetry in Paradise The Art of Emptiness Spiritual Passage Private Niches A Collector's Park

Genres: Japan, Gardening, Nonfiction, Design, Japanese Literature, Architecture, Horticulture

350 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 15, 1996

Reviews

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like other readers, I was surprised by the amount of history in this book, and ultimately, impressed. It wasn't quite what I was looking for (I picked it up looking for garden design ideas), but the illustrations and photographs are lovely and the historical and philosophical background deeply comprehensive. I'll likely pick up Keane's "Japanese Garden Notes: a Visual Guide to Elements and Design" for more straightforward garden inspo.

[Will G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not the book if you're looking for tons of Japanese Garden images or if you want to just enjoy a light treatise on the subject. I was looking for those and even in the chapters, I already sensed that I probably won't find it here.

But what you will get from this book, that is, if you stick to it until the end, is a new sense, a deeper sense of understanding (and for me, appreciation) of what makes a garden a Japanese Garden, and it's not what you currently think, probably.

I can sense the passion for the subject from the way the author narrated the chapters, taking us deep into the history, concepts, ideologies, symbolisms that translate into what we commonly know as a Japanese Garden. And even though at times it can be a bit involved and dry, in the end, the nuggets of new knowledge that I got from this book is worth the time I spent with it.

Also, I am a sketcher, and I love the sketches of garden scenes in this book.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as lavishly illustrated as I would like, but I did like the focus on history, starting with Japan's geology (!). I learned a lot about Japanese history in this actually, though the connection to the various stages of development of the Japanese garden is already getting a bit muddled in my memory. As mentioned, I would have really liked more pictures. Good for background knowledge, but not necessarily for inspiration.

(Actually, for the above I would have given 5*, but my e-book version borrowed from the library had a bunch of OCR errors. Mostly this was okay but there were some in the Japanese words that would have been hard for anyone without a grasp of Japanese to pick up. I also hated that some of the text was embedded in pictures when they could have been their own separate section in the main text. They were incredibly hard to read.)

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice overview of the history of gardening in Japan as well as the principles, practices and elements of Japanese style . Not a hands-on guide but helpful in understanding the evolution of the unique Eastern feel of garden spaces.

[Christopherseelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I balked at so much historical context when I first perused the contents, but when I actually read the book I found the historical context to be the most engaging chapters.

[Karen Holt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical and design details on Japanese gardens. Excellent for considering how to design and appreciating existing gardens.

[Richard T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great fundamentals of Japanese garden design. Wish there were more colour photos

[Cbphoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well researched and goes into detail about the history of how Japanese gardens started. Be aware, it is not focused on helping you design a Japanese garden for yourself, though that is covered briefly at the end.

[Rexcrisanto Delson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for serious Japanese garden enthusiasts. Marc does a wonderful job harmonizing history and the gardens as we know of them today.

[Trudy]

Only on p.12 but the history of gardens is fascinating. Never finished really. Wish I could delete