garden history
The Use of Light in a Dry Landscape Garden
Sometimes I stumble upon phrases in texts about Japanese gardens. These phrases are actually common knowledge in the Japanese garden scene, yet, although it is widely spread and you can read about it in every book (or so it seems), in this one situation it always hits me as if I have never heard of […]
Exploring private gardens in Tokyo
When I first came to Japan, I had very little money and always tried to save some by walking long distances within the city. This was when I found all these different garden styles which I didn’t see during my work as a gardener in Japan. Private gardens can’t usually be visited except when the […]
[New eBook] Zuiho-in temple in Daitoku-ji Kyoto
My first trip to Kyoto was back in April 2006. On my list were many famous temples including Daitoku-ji. However, I didn’t visit the Zuiho-in sub-temple back then. In 2014 and 2015, I visited Kyoto again, also Daitoku-ji, but only for special autumn openings and Zuiho-in was not on that list. Finally, in 2019, I […]
Craving Nature but Can’t Stand the Heat – Gardens to visit in Tokyo
Summer is a living nightmare for most in Japan with temperatures only getting higher in recent years. As a professional gardener living and working in Tokyo for the past seven years, I have no choice but to leave our lovely air-conditioned office and head to whichever garden we are working on. However, the truth […]
Public Garden Tour in Kiyosumi Garden
Hi there! If you follow us on Social Media, you will know that I had my Kiyosumi garden tour on June 15. And I did it in the pouring rain! And do you know? We had a lot of fun! It seems that the weather made some people not to come and I ended up […]
[New eBook] Hasedera
Years ago I frequently visited Kamakura with its many temples. While I visited really a lot of temples, one temple listed on our website I always missed. This was Hasedera. Now that I planned to complete the eBooks for the Kamakura area I visited the temple twice and started with this garden to continue the […]
Tokyo’s Admirable Gardens
You might think, real Japanese gardens can be found within Kyoto alone. Today I want to convince you that this is not true. There are also admirable gardens in Japan’s modern capital Tokyo. If you are already on my side, please read anyhow, you will see beautiful garden pictures and might discover the one or […]
Special maintenance techniques used in Kyoto Gosho
The Kyoto Imperial Palace is a special place. A place full of tradition, elegance, beauty and national treasures. The maintenance of gardens in Kyoto is still highly rated, but even here, the Kyoto Imperial Palace is special. Today I would like to introduce two traditional techniques, which are still conducted in Kyoto Gosho today, but […]
[New eBook] The Adachi Museum of Art
Being involved in a time-consuming publishing process on Amazon, I am very happy I finally found the time to write a new eBook for Real Japanese Gardens. In July, I wrote two articles about the Adachi Museum of Art for two web magazines, so I chose our new eBook to be about the Museum’s six […]
Kobori Enshu-style gardens in Shizuoka and Aichi prefecture
Kyoto and Tokyo are well known for their density of fine Japanese gardens. What fewer people know is, that also other areas have quite a few reasonable Japanese gardens. One of these I would like to introduce today. Shizuoka Prefecture, former Tōtōmi Province (another name: Enshū) Before the daimyō system was demolished in 1871, the […]