Book Description

The flowering of Far Eastern culture and philosophy as seen through the remarkable gardens they gave rise to. This classic work was one of the first to reveal the full meaning and symbolism of the gardens of China and Japan, and to treat them as serious works of art and material culture, rather than as quaint and pretty plantings. In spirit, the art of these gardens is akin to landscape painting; in form it is close to sculpture. Yet it is really quite different, a unique art based upon the choice and arrangement of natural materials in the creation of a scene that has the power to transform and inspire the viewer and gardener. Loraine E. Kuck begins her study with the naturalistic gardens of early China, progressing on to the gardens of Japan. She relates the development of gardens to the personalities who made them, to the historical background, to Eastern religion and philosophy, to the political events which shaped the culture of each period, to the arts in general and to painting, architecture and the tea ceremony in particular. Above all, her account brings alive a world in which mosses hold the warm promise of spring and hope in their velvet depths; in which the juxtaposition of pools and rocks invite meditation; where sunny slopes convey the calm of centuries and in which flowering cherry trees are viewed by moonlight, with tall lanterns throwing soft light on masses of flowers seen against the starry darkness of the sky. The work includes chapters on Heian gardens, the gardens of the Fujiwara period, the princely gardens of Tokugawa times and Zen landscapes, along with sixty-four pages of illustrations, including many rare photographs. Practical and inspirational, no other work so perfectly captures the spirituality, beauty and complex simplicity of these gardens that link heaven and earth.