Explanations
The manifold interpretations of Ryoan-ji – an excerpt
虎の子渡し – Tiger family crossing a river 碧巌録に示された臥龍 – Sleeping dragon 星座カシオペヤ – The constellation Cassiopeia 心の字 – Heart character 京都盆地を囲む五山 – Five mountains surrounding Kyoto 光の反射板 – Reflecting of Light 満月を巡る – The moon phases around the full moon Today I want to dig deeper into the manifold interpretations of Ryoan-jis zen garden. Surely, […]
The Hōjō in the Japanese temple
Like so much which is connected to Buddhism, the Hōjō also came to Japan from China. However, it was already early modified to the Japanese style. The term „hōjō“ 方丈 comes from 方 for square and 丈, a measurement unit. The basic size of jō is a little more that 3m, making a traditional hōjō a bit larger than 9 sqm. […]
Bridges in the Japanese garden
Bridges are an element in the Japanese garden, that is often neglected in the literature. After the main elements, water, rocks, and plants, the stone lanterns follow as the next most often mentioned element. Or so it seems. Today, I would like to put the focus on bridges. What types exist, and how they are […]
Building ponds in the Japanese gardens
The way how ponds were built in Japan changed massively over time. In this article I want to introduce the ancient way and the more recent methods. Let’s begin when rich people wanted to build private gardens in the outskirts of Kyoto in as early as the Heian period (794-1185). There were still no electric […]
Japanese plums and Sugawara no Michizane
If one puts efforts into studying, the plum trees will bloom. When searching for the origin of this quote, you will surely find the name Sugawara no Michizane or Tenman-Tenjin. Sugawara no Michizane was a Heian period noble (794 – 1185) and excellent poet. His father and grandfather were both scholars and Sugawara no […]
Pine pruning – Sukashi, Niban me, Ha mushiri, Mekiri, Mitsubushi
A lot of words connected to pine pruning we want to explore today! While midoritsumi みどり摘み and momiage 揉み上げ are already well known when it comes to pine pruning, there is still so much more to explore, even beyond the terms I will explain today. All techniques and examples I am showing, are applying either for Pinus […]
Ponds in the Japanese Garden
Water is one of the three important elements in the Japanese garden. Today we want to explore how water is integrated into the garden design in form of ponds. Ponds in the Japanese garden differ, depending on the type of the garden, in size and shape. History of ponds in Japanese gardens We have a […]
Stone Lanterns in the Japanese garden
The next garden element on my list is the stone lantern. Everyone knows the beautiful withered lanterns made of natural or hewn rocks. Today I want to talk about their origin and use in the Japanese garden. Origin Lanterns weren‘t always a garden element. They were invented in a religious context during the Tang Dynasty […]
Chozubachi – Hachimae – Tsukubai: Water basins
The next garden element on my list is the water basin! I guess, the best-known examples for these water basins are the ones in front of Japanese shrines but also the ones in Japanese tea gardens. Both are meant to symbolically purify oneself before entering a special place. To fulfill this, we are washing our […]
Treasure Ship – 宝船 ・ Ship Stone – 船石 explained
What I always tried to find out was the relationship between the Treasure Ship (takarabune) with the Seven Lucky Gods (shichifukujin), and the Ship Stone (funaishi). Now that I stuck at home, I have time to investigate! Let’s start with a more or less short explanation of these three: Treasure Ship – takarabune – 宝船 This […]