Zen Garden Design


Book Description

Zen Buddhist priest Shunmyo Masuno understands that today's busy world leaves little time or space for self-reflection, but that a garden--even in the most urban of spaces--can provide some respite. In his words, "The garden is a special spiritual place where the mind dwells." With this in mind, Masuno has designed scores of spectacular Japanese gardens and landscapes with the aim of helping people achieve a balanced life in the 21st century. This book explores Masuno's design process and ideas, which are integral to his daily Zen training and teachings. It features 15 unique gardens and contemplative landscapes completed in six countries over as many years--all thoughtfully described and documented in full-color photos and drawings. Readers will also find insights on Masuno's philosophy of garden design and a conversation between the designer and famed architect Terunobu Fujimori. Zen Garden Design provides an in-depth examination of Masuno's gardens and landscapes--not just as beautiful spaces, but as places for meditation and contemplation.




Japanese Garden Design


Book Description

This book, filled with gorgeous photographs, explains the theory, history, and intricacies of Japanese gardening. The creation of a Japanese garden combines respect for nature with adherence to simple principles of aesthetics and structure. In Japanese Garden Design, landscape architect Marc Peter Keane presents the history and development of the classical metaphors that underlie all Japanese gardens. Keane describes the influences of Confucian, Shinto and Buddhist principles that have linked poetry and philosophy to the tangible metaphor of the garden in Japanese culture. Creative inspiration is found in the prehistoric origin of Japanese concepts of nature; the gardens of Heian aristocrats; the world-renowned Zen garden, or rock garden; the tea garden; courtyard garden; and stroll garden. Detailed explanations of basic design concepts identify and interpret the symbolism of various garden forms and demonstrate these principles in use today in Japanese landscape architecture. Topics include: Design Principles Design Techniques Design Elements Godspirit in Nature Poetry in Paradise The Art of Emptiness Spiritual Passage Private Niches A Collector's Park




Zen Gardens


Book Description

ING_08 Review quote




The Japanese Garden


Book Description

An in-depth exploration spanning 800 years of the art, essence, and enduring impact of the Japanese garden. The most comprehensive exploration of the art of the Japanese garden published to date, this book covers more than eight centuries of the history of this important genre. Author and garden designer Sophie Walker brings fresh insight to this subject, exploring the Japanese garden in detail through a series of essays and with 100 featured gardens, ranging from ancient Shinto shrines to imperial gardens and contemporary Zen designs. Leading artists, architects, and other cultural practitioners offer personal perspectives in newly commissioned essays.




The Zen of CSS Design


Book Description




Authentic Japanese Gardens


Book Description

Discover how to recreate Japanese garden design and detail in either urban or country settings, with practical advice and stunning color photography.




Zen Gardening


Book Description

Reflects the increasing interest in Eastern philosophies on the creation of natural balance in the garden; Provides detailed practical examples showing how to imbue your garden with the elements of harmony and peace; Gardens inspired by Zen are the ideal antidote to today's busy lifestyle - an oasis of calm and tranquillity - and require very little maintenance; Zen gardens are for contemplation, reflecting the beauty of nature and the aesthetic sense of the gardener. Originally created in Japanese monasteries around the twelfth century, their beauty comes from their simplicity and the precise arrangement of rocks, gravel, water and plants. Using as few or as many plants as required, Zen gardens also provide an eco-friendly alternative to the old-fashioned lawn, often requiring little or no water. For those with a limited area, Zen gardens create the illusion of space and freedom. Zen Gardening simplifies the principles of this art and reveals the meaning of the different elements, putting every aspect of creating a Zen garden at the hands of today's gardeners. Zen gardening need not mean ripping up your garden and starting from scratch. Nor need it involve replacing your lawn with




Inside Your Japanese Garden


Book Description

Learn how to create a tranquil outdoor space at home with this practical and inspiring guide! With instructive drawings and step-by-step techniques, Inside Your Japanese Garden walks you through designing and creating your very own Japanese garden. From small projects like benches and gates, to larger undertakings like bridges and mud walls, this book provides a wide variety of ways to enhance the space around your home, no matter the size. Instructions on how to work with stone, mud and bamboo--as well as a catalogue of the 94 plant varieties used in the gardens shown in the book--round out this complete guide. This book also features 20 gardens that author Sadao Yasumoro has designed and built in Japan, and some--like those at Visvim shop in Tokyo and at Yushima Tenjin in Tokyo--are open to the public. From small tsuboniwa courtyard gardens to a large backyard stroll garden with water features, stairs and walls, these real-life inspirations will help spark your own garden plan. These inspirational garden projects include: Tea Garden for an Urban Farmhouse featuring a clay wall with a split-bamboo frame and a stone base The Landslide That Became a Garden with a terraced slope, trees, bushes, long grasses and moss A Buddha's Mountain Retreat of Moss and Stone with vertical-split bamboo and brushwood fencing Paradise in an Urban Jungle with a pond, Japanese-style bridge, and stone lanterns Each garden is beautifully photographed by Hironori Tomino and many have diagrams and drawings to show the essential elements used in the planning and construction.




Serene Gardens


Book Description

No Marketing Blurb




Zen Landscapes


Book Description

The essential elements of a dry Japanese garden are few: rocks, gravel, moss. Simultaneously a sensual matrix, a symbolic form, and a memory theater, these gardens exhibit beautiful miniaturization and precise craftsmanship. But their apparent minimalism belies a true complexity. In Zen Landscapes, Allen S. Weiss takes readers on an exciting journey through these exquisite sites, explaining how Japanese gardens must be approached according to the play of scale, surroundings, and seasons, as well as in relation to other arts—revealing them as living landscapes rather than abstract designs. Weiss shows that these gardens are inspired by the Zen aesthetics of the tea ceremony, manifested in poetry, painting, calligraphy, architecture, cuisine, and ceramics. Japanese art favors suggestion and allusion, valuing the threshold between the distinct and the inchoate, between figuration and abstraction, and he argues that ceramics play a crucial role here, relating as much to the site-specificity of landscape as to the ritualized codes of the tea ceremony and the everyday gestures of the culinary table. With more than one hundred stunning color photographs, Zen Landscapes is the first in-depth study in the West to examine the correspondences between gardens and ceramics. A fascinating look at landscape art and its relation to the customs and craftsmanship of the Japanese arts, it will appeal to readers interested in landscape design and Japan’s art and culture.