Pines in Japanese gardens are pruned twice a year. In my company in Germany, where we hadn’t so much time, we only did all the tasks together once in early summer, which is possible too, but not desirable. Here in Japan, my first company did both, Midoritsumi in early summer, and...Continue Reading
Today I would like to talk about the Ryūmonbaku style waterfalls. Do you know these falls where a stone represents a carp jumping up a fall to become a dragon? The tale goes, that only a strong carp can manage to swim up a river with strong current and pass...Continue Reading
I won’t show “bad example” pictures and link to bad articles here! If you search via Google, I am sure you will find a lot by yourself. When I see links promising me to teach me how to built a Japanese garden in only a few steps, I just can’t...Continue Reading
Although Hydrangea’s season is almost over, I would like to highlight this flower in a blog. In Japan, Hydrangea is closely connected to the rainy season in June because it flowers at this particular time of the year. But don’t fear that you can only enjoy the bright colors in...Continue Reading
On a weekend day in early March, I visited the Nezu Museum in Tokyo’s Aoyama area. I am not a great fan of museums. I never was. While I have no problem with paying 500 Yen for visiting a garden, I have with paying 1000 Yen and know I will...Continue Reading
The Kamakura and Muromachi eras hold the answer to my third question of dry landscape gardens – is there more to their compositions than the restraint and unnaturalness that they project? The effect upon these karesansui (“withered mountain-water”) gardens from the practice of meditation from Zen Buddhism was profound. They...Continue Reading
The first thing that must be appreciated when referring to the ‘traditional Japanese garden’ is that this spans a great history of many different eras, possibly to the origins of tangible culture upon this island. Thus, the history of gardens incorporates many evolutionary forms from their simplistic beginnings. In extremely...Continue Reading
I would like to leave with the following short series of posts about the history of traditional Japanese gardens. During my time at RJG, I delved into their realms to begin understanding the complex reasons and methods behind their creation and composition. To begin this series, I would like to...Continue Reading
Recently I ventured around Tokyo in search of a relatively new style of garden. I wanted to explore the differences that have taken place between the creation of traditional Japanese gardens and contemporary ones. The Japanese have a reputation for being creative, not least in the garden – so what...Continue Reading
I found this solution when I worked outside last week. Of course this is no professional solution but a nice trick until the plants will have rooted well. Those little things I love in Japan. The people here always find an easy solution for everything and you can get a...Continue Reading
