日本庭園
Works in the Garden in June
Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year. I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this. Here is part 6, in which I talk about the works in June. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, […]
Understanding the Wabi-sabi
Japanese people tend to state that foreigners can’t understand the concept of wabi-sabi. But is this really true? Or is it one of these myths Japanese like so much hearing and spreading about their country and culture like that one about other countries don’t have four distinctive seasons? When I came to Japan as a […]
Works in the Garden in May
Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year. I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this. This is part 5, in which I talk about the works in May. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, […]
Garden Element: The Torii 鳥居
After seeing friends, who reside in Japan, accused of cultural appropriation when wearing kimono by non-Japanese, I wanted to question the torii as a design element in the garden outside of Japan. Is using them cultural appropriation? Starting my research, I asked our mostly non-Japanese followers on Facebook: do you think it is ok to […]
Works in the Garden in April
Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year. I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this. This is part 4, in which I talk about the works in April. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, […]
Works in the Garden in March
Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year. I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this. This is part 3 about the works in March. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, […]
Ryūmonbaku – Dragon Gate Falls
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 the dragon gate on top […]
[New eBook] The Teahouses of the Tokyo National Museum
Finally I finished the last book in our “Gardens in Tokyo” series! I am very happy and also a little bit proud. The last book features the secret garden of the Tokyo National Museum, which is only open for the public in spring and autumn. I visited the garden three times, twice in autumn and […]
Works in the garden in February
Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year. I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this. This is part 2 about the works in February. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Because the […]
Ginkgo biloba – イチョウ – 銀杏
Today I would like to introduce a tree, which can be seen everywhere in Japan. This blog was a request by one of our readers. Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair tree, Ginkgo tree) Japanese name: Ichou Kanji: 銀杏, 公孫樹, 鴨腳樹 Etymology: The Kanji were adopted by Japanese from China. Engelbert Kaempfer, who collected illustrations from Japan’s flora […]