A Japanese Touch for Your Garden: Revised and Expanded Edition

by Kiyoshi Seike, Masanobu Kudo, David H. Engel

A Japanese Touch for Your Garden is a concise introduction to the practical aspects of making a Japanese garden. Whether it's a spacious suburban lot, an office courtyard, or a tiny, inner-city backyard, here are hundreds of creative but time-honored ways to make maximum use of the available space.
Readers will learn how to lay stones and pathways and how to create intriguing sand patterns like the ones in Zen temple gardens. They will learn about Japanese lanterns, miniature pagodas, water basins, gates, and walls, and will be shown--step-by-step--how to make a bamboo lattice fence. Notes on the care of bamboo, moss, and grass are provided as are names of native North American plants and trees that can be substituted for conventional Japanese varieties. Schematic layout plans, detailed how-to explanations, and over 150 color photographs of Japanese gardens, old and new, offer ideas for endless variations. In this revised edition, all the photographs have been replaced with new ones, and the number of color pages has doubled, making the book much more attractive.
Thoroughly up-to-date in its approach and based on the principle that a garden must satisfy the gardener, not a set of inflexible guidelines, this book encourages readers to choose freely from the wide range of traditional Japanese design elements that suit individual needs and tastes. Whether one lives in the country, city, or somewhere in between, he or she will discover numerous ways to transform--simply, inexpensively, and with ones own two hands--that back porch, corridor, or yard into an intimate, tranquil oasis, that will reward all the planning and work with a rich and ever-changing beauty.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Japan, Reference, Horticulture, Japanese Literature, Plants

96 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read several Japanese garden design books (more along the architectural design lines as opposed to the "which plant to plant" sort of thing) over a couple of weeks - in comparison to those (and in its own right), this work was surprisingly thorough. I enjoyed the historical explanations for the various elements of the traditional Japanese gardens that have been built over the past few centuries. The pictures included in the work were excellent and very helpful as aides to the text.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stone, water, path, plants. This beautifully photographed book highlights courtyard, stone, temple, and water gardens, then deconstructs them to the elemental parts. Great details like tying techniques for fences, and arrangement methods for focus objects. The problem is that, despite the title, these gardens are ALL IN Japanese, not really “a touch.” Still a great reference. Recommended.

[Lilly Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are far too many things I would now like - a. A garden, b. A shishi odashi, c. A Japanese maple, d. A stone Buddha and e. A yukimi-gata lantern ...

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well illustrated manual detailing some DIY basics of Japanese gardens. You could get a good start on creating one based on this text. Its main shortcoming is that it's only 80 pages!

[KJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspired greatly now.

[Ruhegeist · Rating 3 out of 5]

good beginning into to japanese gardens and how to add a touch to your own garden

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource with lots of color photos and explanatory text.

[Hrant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice images.