Zen Gardens
The art of creating a Japanese garden is a cultural phenomenon that influenced modern design far beyond Japan
(Translation from Russian)
This is a pleasant-to-the-touch edition of a series of those that I want to give myself. A serious, but not tiring, study of more than 800 years of theory and practice of Japanese gardening is entwined with a thoughtful design.
Under the green textile cover hides a detailed interpretation of the philosophy, history, design and concept of this Asian art. What is more important - this book is more responsible for the question "why", and not "how." From the most ancient text about the garden philosophy, published in the XI century, we learn that the Japanese garden always balanced between the earthly and the heavenly, natural and man-made.
Duality and reflection - its main characteristics. Footpaths, bridges, ponds, arches - each element is symbolic and has a certain meaning. The garden is always changeable, it is impossible to see it the same twice.
The content is divided into different typologies: imperial and Buddhist temple gardens, rock gardens, jinja (shrines), tea and courtyard gardens. There are even gardens in which there is no entrance - they are supposed to be admired from afar. Stunning photographs alternate with author's essays by Tadao Ando, John Pawson and Anish Kapoor. Practicing gardeners will be interested in the photographic list of plants traditionally used in Japanese gardens.