JAPANESE GARDENS - timeless oasis

A Japanese Garden (Koen) is homage to nature as well as each season of the year and has always been conceived as a representation of a natural setting. . A timeless oasis that symbolizes both aesthetic as the spirit of Zen that has to be experienced on site, no picture or story can replace this total experience for your senses.  Read more below...

 

In Japanese culture, garden-making is a high art and its history goes back to the Asuka period in the 7th century.  The first gardens during this period were inspired by China, but gradually developed Japanese themselves a profound aesthetic principle. The gardens of the Emperors and nobles were designed for recreation and aesthetic pleasure, while the gardens of Buddhist temples were designed for contemplation and meditation.

Traditional Japanese gardens can be categorized into three main types: Tsukiyama Gardens (hill and pond gardens), Karesansui Gardens (dry landscape gardens) and Chaniwa Gardens (tea gardens). All in a Japanese garden is carefully planned, since the main purpose is to create an experience which displays the beauty of nature in the best possible way.

Japanese gardens reproduce scenes of mountains, lakes and waterfalls to alert a sense of wonder and stimulate you mentally and metaphysically, releasing your mind from the complexity of daily life. 

In Japanese culture, garden-making is an art of the highest standard and its history goes back to the Asuka period in the 7th century.  The first gardens during this period were inspired by China, but gradually developed Japanese themselves a profound aesthetic principle

"Western gardens are typically optimized for visual appeal while Japanese gardens are modeled with spiritual and philosophical ideas in mind.”;   Iwatsuki, Zennoske, and Tsutomu Kodama in Economic Botany, Vol. 15, 1961.

Japan's official Three Great Gardens, best traditional landscape gardens are  Okayama Korakuen,  Kenrokuen in Kanazawa and Kairakuen in Mito.  But every Japanese garden has its own personality and soul, why you always have to give you time to visit a garden close to you.

Leif Almo
Hon. Consul General of Japan