Japanese gardens are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden designers to suggest a natural landscape, and to express the fragility of existence as well as time's unstoppable advance. Ancient Japanese art inspired past garden designers. Water is an important feature of many gardens, as are rocks and often gravel. Despite there being many attractive Japanese flowering plants, herbaceous flowers generally play much less of a role in Japanese gardens than in the West, though seasonally flowering shrubs and trees are important, all the more dramatic because of the contrast with the usual predominant green. Evergreen plants are "the bones of the garden" in Japan. Though a natural-seeming appearance is the aim, Japanese gardeners often shape their plants, including trees, with great rigour.

1. JAPANESE LANDSCAPING

2. JAPANESE LANDSCAPING
• The idea of these unique gardens began during the Asuka period. Inspired by
Chinese landscape gardens.
• Japanese gardens first appeared on the island of Honshu.
• They are also among the few gardening styles incorporating design elements
that have remained constant for centuries, as detailed in paintings,
illustrations, and literature.
• This historical connection adds to the fascination of this appealing style, and
the visual simplicity of Japanese landscaping is further balanced by the subtle
complexity of the principles that lay beneath it.
• The earliest gardens in Japan, prior to the 9th century, were influenced by
Chinese models inspired by traveling diplomats. When the capital of
Kyoto was established in 794, gardens began to take on more local
influences and native Japanese garden aesthetics began to form.
• The main types of gardens one saw during this period were palace gardens,
villa gardens, and temple gardens.
• Many of the design elements arose from the traditional Japanese religion of
Shinto, which teaches that gods and spirits are present in the natural
landscape.
• One early Japanese garden design was the "Paradise Garden" which
featured pavilions joined together by corridors.
KYOTO GARDEN
PARADISE GARDEN

3. JAPANESE LANDSCAPING
• Then came the custom of having a large flat gravel space between the
gardens and the main hall, to be used for events or merely admiring the
garden vista. These gravel paths and courtyards are also seen around Shinto
shrines.
• By the 12th century, Chinese influence was once again seen in Zen
Buddhism, and the popular Zen garden aesthetic was born.
• Zen gardens are designed for spiritual meditation.
• Zen gardens also were known to use the principles of feng shui, also
known as Chinese geomancy, a system for aligning energy via objects in
the home and landscape to achieve harmony and balance.
• Other traditional Japanese gardens whose design elements have found their
way into Western landscaping include the pond garden, the tea garden, the
dry landscape garden, and the enclosed garden.
• the most loved element of a Japanese garden is the cherry tree blossoming
in spring: this is an annual event drawing many tourists in Washington, DC,
and in botanical gardens throughout the U.S. Cherry blossom season is a
national festival in Japan
SHINTO SHRINE
FENG SHUI PRINCIPLES

4. BASIC RULES IN DESIGN OF GARDENS
• NATURAL : that should make the garden look as if it grew by itself
• ASYMMETRY: that created the impression of it being natural.
• TRIANGLE: that is the most common shape compositions made of stone, plants, etc.
• ODD NUMBERS: it supports the effect of asymmetry.
• CONTRAST: that creates tension between the elements.
• LINES: that can create both tranquility and tension
• CURVES: that softens the effect
• OPENNESS: that indicates interaction between all elements.

5. ELEMENTS
• Water
• Rock and sand
• A shishiodoshi garden device
• Stone lanterns
• Trees
• Architecture
• Bridge
• Gate
• Fish
• fence

6. JAPANESE PAVING STYLES
• Even though the distinctive raked gravel paths and walkways of Zen
gardens are the most common paving style associated with Japanese
gardens, there are other possibilities.
• Natural stone pavers are commonly seen, and every effort is made to
have the paths look natural and harmonious within the landscape.

7. PLANTS TO INCLUDE
• Japanese maple trees are by far the most famous and recognizable part of a vibrant Japanese landscape.
• These trees come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and foliage colors, and if they work for your hardiness
zone, they are a very beautiful component of a Japanese landscape design.
• Japanese maples are very slow-growing.
• Some of these trees can grow up to thirty feet tall, while some specimens are more like shrubs and don't
get taller than three feet.
• The autumn foliage colors of Japanese maples include burgundy, bright red, deep orange, pink and
yellow-green. Color is important in feng shui and red is significant in Japanese culture, symbolizing
energy, vitality, and power. If you can't have a Japanese maple in your garden, consider another shrub with
bright autumn foliage such as ninebark, amsonia, or burning bush.
• Moss is also commonly seen in Japanese gardens, especially clinging to rocks and stones. Indeed, in Japan, a
proper garden design is thought to be incomplete without moss. Moss can be picky about its growing
conditions (it likes moist, misty air to thrive) so be aware this design element may need extra attention.
• Other plants to include are peonies (both herbaceous and itoh), flowering quince ('Cameo' has beautiful
pale peach flowers), anemones, rhododendrons, small evergreens, ornamental cherry trees, trees with
showy spring blossoms such as flowering almond or redbud, camellias, and azaleas. Peach trees are also well-

9. ROCKS
• Rocks and stone features are a very important component in Japanese
landscaping design.
• In traditional Japanese gardens, stones were often used to symbolize
animals or figures from mythology, such as tigers or dragons, and
chosen for their appropriate shape and size to create such designs.
• The rocks are like the coordinates of a garden project.
• Rocks and water also symbolize yin and yang, the hard rock and soft
water complement each other, and water, though soft, can wear away
rock.
• Variation in rock sizes offer greater contrast & interest resulting in the
more dynamic arrangement of rocks.
• Rocks are traditionally classified as tall vertical, low vertical, arching,
reclining, or flat.

10. ROCKS
• generally bright colors are avoided. Color of rocks generally varies from
grey to black, and from yellow to brick red on other hand.
• Rocks are often used to represent islands and mountains, so conical or
dome shaped rough volcanic rocks would be the obvious choice.
• (kansai)Hard metamorphic rocks are usually placed by waterfalls or
streams.
• A jagged textured rock gives feeling of timelessness and dignity.
• Smooth rocks like water worn stones or glacial boulders convey the
feeling of antiquity especially when combined in an interesting shape are
used around lakes or as stepping stones.

11. GARDEN DECOR
• In Zen gardens, decorative items or statuary related to the spiritual
practice of Zen Buddhism may be included in a garden as a focus for
meditation.
• But even people who do not practice Zen Buddhism as a religion may
enjoy a Zen garden for its sense of peace and visual harmony.
• Statues of Buddha, Kuan Yin, or other Japanese cultural symbols such as
dragons or pagodas can be added for an authentic touch.

12. WATER FEATURES
• The pond garden is one of the most popular traditional Japanese garden
designs, using a naturally occurring or man-made pond as its focal point.
• Most water features seen in Japanese gardens are natural or functional
rather than merely decorative, and the pond in a pond garden may hold fish
(as with a koi pond) or have water lilies as a food source for pollinators and
amphibians.
• But water features are also intended to be sources of beauty and
contemplation.
• Small bridges are featured in Japanese garden designs also and are a deeply
symbolic structure, representing the connection between humanity and
nature, as well as the journey into the afterlife.
• Water is used not just for its visual quality, but also for its sound.
• the Japanese have learnt to exploit the sound of water in all its various form. it
varies from powerful waterfall to water falling into a water basin, creating
different emotions.
• Bridges must appear to fit naturally and seamlessly into their setting so as to
perpetuate harmony in the landscape. Materials can vary widely, from natural
stone to wood painted with red lacquer.
• A waterfall is more suitable to stimulate both visual and acoustic senses
and a lake or a pond is to create a more formal and calm.

13. FENCING
• Traditional Japanese gardens have unique styles of fencing that are often
handmade, using special knot tying and other techniques, from natural
materials such as bamboo or grasses.
• You can achieve a similar look by using pre-made bamboo or willow
fencing. As with bridges over water features, sometimes one sees
fencing in Japanese gardens painted red, a color associated with good
fortune.

14. RYOANJI GARDEN KYOTO
• Ryöanji (Peaceful Dragon Temple) is a Zen temple and World Heritage Site in
northwest Kyoto, Japan.
• Best known for its Zen garden, simple gravel-and-rock arrangement that inspires
peace and contemplation.
• It is considered one of the finest surviving examples of Kare Sansui (dry
landscape).
• The garden measures thirty by seventy-eight feet. To the east, a low wall surrounds
the garden.
• On its north side the long veranda where the visitors experience the garden is
located
• on the southern and western side, a wall-topped with thatched roof tile edges
the garden.
• The Zen garden itself is comprised of fifteen stones, arranged in five groups, placed
on of raked sand.

15. RYOANJI GARDEN KYOTO
• Fifteen rocks of different sizes are carefully arranged in groups amidst
the raked pebbles covering a 250 square-meter rectangle of ground.
• The stones are carefully arranged so that one can only see no more
than fourteen of the fifteen at once from any angle.
• Many different theories on the garden’s meaning have been suggested—
some say it represents islands floating on an ocean, or a mother tiger
carrying cubs over the sea, while others say it symbolizes the
Japanese aesthetic concept of wabi (refined austerity)
and sabi (subdued taste), or the fundamental ideal of Zen
philosophy.
• A more recent theory argues that it is an expression of a pure form of
abstract composition meant to incite meditation.

16. (A) Examples of textures preferred by Japanese gardeners. (B1) Odd numbered groupings of stones
usually result in odd-numbered visual junctions, which disappear (B3) among distractors, whereas
even arrangements (B2) lead to even junctions that are more salient (B4). Patterns with many even
junctions (B5) result in competing figures. A base stone (white circle) (C1) strengthens visual grouping
within the cluster (C2). Deliberate alignment (C3) creates an unnatural looking closed figure. Without a
base stone the composition visually appears as two separate groups (C4). (D1, D2) Images after Bahnsen
(1928) demonstrate how bilateral symmetry dictates to figure-ground perception. (D3) Inducing bilateral
symmetry in one rock cluster causes it to 'pop out' in the Ryoanji design. (D4) Local bilateral symmetry
weakens grouping between clusters. (D5) More subtle effects of similarity and proximity are dominated by
artificially induced global bilateral symmetry.