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Chishaku-in Garden,
Kyooto (sec. XVII). |
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The traditional
Japanese garden
can be
subdivided in
four main
typologies which
further branch
into other minor
typologies. The
four main
typologies are:
the shinden-zukuri
style Garden (developed
during the
IX-XII centuries),
the Jōdo Garden
(XI-XII), the |
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karesansui (starting
from the XIV
century) and the
Tea Garden,
called roji (introduced
in the XVI
century).
Each of these
styles came from
and was
developed in
unique social
contexts: for
example the
shinden-zukuri
and the Jōdo
gardens, almost
contemporaneous,
flourished in a
rich and
thriving
dynastic age (Heian).
Moreover, in the
case of the Jōdo
Garden there was
considerable
influence of a
religious
current,
mappō-shisō ,
which encouraged
zealotry aimed
to salvation
after death.
The other two
typologies,
instead, have
been
considerably influenced by
zen, whose
practice
encourages man
to undergo a
deep inner
search aimed to
the removal of
the illusory ego
from the heart,
and therefore
from one’s
actions, to
finally identify
with the
Universal Man
and everything
surrounding him.
Through a simple
lifestyle man
can welcome the
entire natural
phenomenon and
the other living
or apparently
nonliving beings,
and receive a
guest with real
cordiality.
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Nowadays the
most considered
reference models
in the creation
of a Japanese
garden are
linked to these
two last
typologies,
thanks to the
fact that the
culture, ideas
and lifestyles
which generated
and developed
them are still
relatively alive
in contemporary
Japan.
Nevertheless,
the importance
of |
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Kooto-in Garden, Daitoku-ji, Kyooto, founded by Hosokawa Sansai, a famous samurai and Tea Master( XVII century). |
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the Gardens
in the
shinden-zukuri
and
Jōdo typologies should
not be underestimated,
especially for a
creative and pragmatic
ability which was able
to place the garden in a
continuous dialogue with
the surrounding
landscape and nature.
Even before the
establishment of zen,
the Japanese garden was
conceived to reflect the
Great Nature (San Sen Sou Moku or “Mountains,
Rivers, Grass, and Trees”)
in a flexible way,
through strategies
enacted by the garden
itself, which to this
purpose arranged itself
to host, go through and
reproduce nature.
We can find confirmation
of this in the
primordial gardens, at
the dawn of Japanese
history, where rocks,
trees and islands, both
natural and artificial,
were considered the Gods’
dwellings; in the
garden-landscape planned
according to the popular
beliefs linked to the
Shugendō (starting from
the VIII century), where
the whole mountain was
transformed in a garden
to facilitate the
ascetic practice of this
cult’s adepts; in the
gardens created in the
nobility’s wide estates,
inspired by famous and
imaginary landscapes (a
fact witnessed also in
the Sakuteiki, a book
written at the beginning
of the XII century,
which refers to the
ideas and techniques
related to those same
typologies).
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Giardino del Tè nello
Zuihoo-in, Daitoku-ji, Kyooto. |
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Starting from the XIV
century zen enriched the
Japanese garden with the
capacity to grasp the
core of things, allowing
the garden the use of
new strategies which
could concentrate and
transform the Great
Nature within its
symbolic borders. As a
matter of fact, the zen gardens could reflect
the landscape and the
Universe in an abstract
manner and developed in
a more limited area,
satisfying also new
social and economical
necessities.The Japanese
garden’s ability to
reflect the Great Nature
shares its roots with
other traditional
Japanese arts: from the
knightly to the painting
arts, from the literary
to the ceremonial ones. |
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They consider the man
and his methods of
expression not for his
ego and its
manifestations, but as
an uninterrupted process
developing harmoniously
in accordance with the
principles governing the
Great Nature, the
Universe.
The Japanese Garden is
part of this vast
artistic Tradition, and
therefore it deserves to
be still deeply
contemplated in the
contemporary world,
whose environment
challenges can be faced
only by a radical
rethinking of the
man-nature relationship.
Our book, San Sen Sou
Moku, wants to be an
invitation for the
Italian readers to look
at the Japanese garden
as a mirror of the
Universe, and to make a
wonderful garden of the
Universe |
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By:
Sachimine Masui and
Beatrice Testini,
San Sen Sou Moku Il
giardino giapponese
nella tradizione
e nel mondo
contemporaneo
(The Japanese Garden
in the Tradition and in
the Contemporary World)
Casadei Libri, Padova
2007
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