Discussions about Gardening Craft of Japanese Gardens and Implications for China

Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China

Abstract Japanese gardens were developed under the influence of China. In the process of development, the Japanese gardens studied the modern Western gardening craft, and developed unique gardening craft with local regional characteristics and national style in accordance with local conditions. This paper analyzed Japanese gardens through the development of Japanese gardens, the development process, the types of gardens and gardening elements, the characteristics of garden design and the implications for modern and contemporary Chinese garden design. In addition, through an in- depth understanding of Japanese gardens and exploring their intrinsic value, this paper summarized their development experience, in the hope of applying them into the future garden landscape design.

Key words Japanese gardens, Development process, Type and gardening elements, Design characteristics, Summary of implications

1 Introduction

Japanese gardens can be traced back to the Han Dynasty of China. Influenced by the landscape garden culture in the Tang and Song Dynasties, Japanese gardens imitated the artistic style of landscape painting, borrowed the gardening craft of the Tang and Song landscape gardens, combined with the local topography and climate characteristics of its own country, and developed in accordance with the local conditions[1]. Japan’s cultural deposit is shallow, and there is not much cultural foundation at the early stage of the garden, but it has developed unique characteristics on the basis of learning from Chinese classical gardens. In the period of "Meiji Restoration" (also called Meiji Renovation), Japanese gardens began to learn from the gardening craft of Western developed gardens. On the basis of learning the excellent Chinese culture to form the context of the oriental landscape garden system, and combination of Chinese and Western, Japanese gardens have set up a unique position in the oriental landscape art[2].

2 Development of Japanese gardens

Over 1 700 years of history of Japanese gardens includes prehistoric gardens, ancient gardens, middle age gardens, early modern gardens, and modern gardens. Jomon Period and Yayoi Period were the start of Japanese gardens. At the early stage of Jomon Period, people lived a settled life and survived mainly through hunting, fishing and collecting. Later, it finished the large- scale settlement and developed into a ring- shaped settlement with a large square in the center. This period was famous for its huge pillars and the remains of large buildings, and this period began to carry out the original plant cultivation to obtain food, which to some extent preliminarily formed the garden landscape of this period. The ancient garden period of Japan mainly included the Asuka Period (538-710), the Nara Period (710-794), and the Heian Period (794-1192). The most special garden in Asuka Period was the Sumeru style garden. Such pure land style gardens as Motsuji Temple, Joruri- ji Temple, and Shinsenen were built in the Heian Period. Motsuji Temple belongs to the pure land style garden. Within the courtyard, the waves of Oizumi- ga- ike pond are glistening. Surrounded with the pond, it was dotted with small stones. With the change of the time, green lichens grew in surrounding areas, and water in the channel was introduced from karesansui rockery and standing stone. Looking from the distance, the Buddhist temple and the pond are complemented by each other and they contrast finely with each other. Motsuji Temple well inherited the gardening thought and craft of the world first gardening bookSakuteiki(The Book of Gardening). After more than 800 years, the ruins of the pure land style garden and buildings that are preserved today are still full of charm and excellently complement the surrounding plant landscape. Kamakura Period (1192-1333), Muromachi Period (1336-1573), and Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568-1582) formed the third period of Japanese gardens. Stone courtyard exists in the temple and forms a college- style garden, which is the main characteristics of the Kamakura Period. For example, Saihoji Temple. Saihoji Temple courtyard belongs to the typical moss courtyard, and the courtyard is covered with moist lichens. As it is known to all, the moss has a fresh and tenacious vitality and a sense of historical vicissitudes. To some extent, there are traces of years, so Saihoji Temple courtyard becomes the living fossil of botanists and biologists. Ryoan- ji Temple is a typical karesansui garden, which was developed from Muromachi Period; tea court open field and pond style courtyard were developed mainly in Azuchi-Momoyama Period, in which gardens obtained considerable progress and development, such as Daigo- ji Temple, Nijojo courtyard, and Sen no Rikyu Nunnery. The early modern gardens of Japan, also called Edo Period (1603-1868) gardens, remained the fourth stage of Japanese garden history. Miniature scenery style gardens and strolling gardens with pond are basic patterns of gardening craft in this period, for example, Katsura Imperial Villa and Kenrokuen Garden. Katsura Imperial Villa in the Edo Period is one of the three typical well- preserved royal gardens of Japan. It has been attracting numerous tourists from all over the world. Modern theme gardens and eclectic gardens are the main Japanese garden craft styles that have been open to the world since the Meiji Emperor period. Modern gardens are classified as the fifth period in the history of Japanese gardens. Hibiyakoen and Osaka USJ (Universal Studios Japan) are typical representatives of this period[3].

3 Types of Japanese gardens and gardening elements

3.1 Type of Japanese gardensKaresansui, pond and spring water garden, Erik Borja, plain pavilion and tea pavilion constitute main types of Japanese gardens. Karesansui courtyard has no water and mountain, and each element represents different implications. Standing stones, rockery and white sand symbolize the mountains and rivers. Karesansui courtyard is also one of the most important types of courtyards in Japan, and is well known in the world. As Buddha said, to see a world in a grain of sand. Karesansui tests the soul of observers, thus Karesansui courtyard is not just a kind of landscape garden, but rather it is abstract garden. Most of the pond and spring water gardens are arranged in a centripetal manner, centered around the pool, and surrounded by stone groups, which symbolizes the ocean and the sea, and the magical pond and island, using the small to show the large, manifesting the Japanese nation’s sense of island nation to a certain extent. Erik Borja is different from the "terrace" in Chinese classical gardens. Terrace often uses natural terrain to embellish flowers, grass, trees, stones, stone lanterns and other gardening elements on the basis of certain terrain height differences; through the rich superposition of the landscape level, terrace achieves the effect of the secluded and deep artistic conception, while Erik Borja is basically built for assisting the pond and spring water gardens[4]. The plain pavilion uses small stone groups, stone lanterns, white sand that flows like water, and vegetation to form a valley- like plain scenery. There are three patterns of plain pavilions. According to materials, the plain pavilions can be divided iris, moss, sand, and stone courtyard. Tea pavilion is another name of dewy courtyard. Due to the rise of the Japanese Sado culture, "wa, kei, sei, jaku" (which means harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility respectively), tea pavilions are often built in a relatively quiet and tranquil place and set up some architectural landscape pieces on the trail before entering the tea room, through toilets, hand washing basin,etc., similar to two- way corridor landscape design of Suzhou Canglang Pavilion, the road leading to the tea room will generally be relatively roundabout or tortuous[5].

3.2 Gardening elements of Japanese gardensGardening elements of Karesansui courtyard include flying stones, white sand, stone lanterns, hand washing basins , stone towers, plants, stepping stones, caves, bridges,etc. Each element has its own different configuration, each representing a different meaning, for example: the source of the stone lantern and the lamp of Buddha is a Buddha’s lamp. Stone lanterns were originally introduced from China and used for night lighting. The materials can be wood, stone, iron and various metals. In Japan, stone lanterns are particularly prominent, can be used for lighting, implying safe and bright. Japan is a multi- god- faith nation with distinctive national characteristics, so the three- face stone lanterns will be decorated with different forms of patterns to symbolize people’s beliefs. In Katsura Imperial Villa, the three faces of a stone lantern are decorated with the pattern of sun, moon, and star separately. The stone tower in the garden is the building of Buddhism dedicated to the Buddha’s relics, where people pray for peace. In the Karesansui courtyard, the elemental stone tower is used to eliminate spirits and bless safety. In the plant configuration, the evergreen plants are often used in the Karesansui courtyard, and the flower landscapes are seldom used. Compared with the gorgeous peony and the beautiful roses, the Japanese people prefer the cherry blossoms. Because Japan admires the beauty of the decline, the short period of cherry blossoms implies that the world is impermanent, the good things are always short- lived, there is a certain period of time, and the artistic conception of garden is filled with sadness and desolateness. In the autumn, we often see the red maple leaf in the Japanese garden, and the red leaves on the mountain make people realize the gorgeous beauty before the end of life. Caves are generally set up on the pond and spring water gardens or in the Karesansui gardens. A hole is dug in the middle of the rockery, similar to the ancient screen in China, the landscape on both sides of the cave is partly hidden and partly visible. Landscape in both sides is not so easy to see at a glance, which is full of beauty. Stepping stones, also called walking steps, are used to enrich the water landscape, increase the interest and diversity. Much of stepping stones are put into water, to facilitate the sightseeing. In Japanese gardens, stepping stone is a common gardening element. There are usually four pieces of stones similar to square shape between the road and the building to achieve a spatial transition. Hand washing basin is small in size and arranged at a lower level. When washing, people have to bend or bow, or squat, which means piety and cleaning up the dust of vulgar world, to reach the pure soul. The porch leading to the teahouse is lower in scale than other garden buildings. On the one hand, it is the traditional height of the Japanese and the regional national culture. On the other hand, if pedestrians want to enter from the shorter porch, they need to bend, which let people have the modest and pious attitude. It is a successful design to guide people’s behavior and promote the sublimation of the human mind through the a proper design and control of the architectural and landscape elements.

4 Design features of Japanese gardens

4.1 Originated from nature and consummate in craftJapanese gardens also respect nature and revere nature. Most of the materials are derived from nature, simple and pure, natural and textured, showing the beauty of being consummate in gardening craft. For example, in Karesansui courtyard, the flow of white sand has different textures and flowing trend images to set off the flow of water. Some of the Karesansui courtyards or moss gardens are complemented by fresh and green lichens with strong vitality and flowing white sand, and they contrast finely with each other.

4.2 Pursuing the details and building perfect gardensThe apt point added to Japanese gardens lies in the depicting of details. A tiny bamboo, a pile of white sand, and a piece of stone are arranged with great care. Small but mysterious, abstract and profound Japanese gardens use small things to reflect great ideas, and use refined elements to reach magnificent gardening effect.

4.3 Caring about impressions and expressing profound senseIn the tranquil, delicate, and profound Japanese Zen garden landscape, the road is paved with fine white sandstones, stacked and patched stones are like group of islands and rivers, and like ocean but there is actually no a drop of water; the mountains and cliffs are not represented by a mountain; such unique craft present the characteristics of nature and the aesthetic taste of implicit and meaningful ideas[6].

4.4 Tranquil and peaceful, condensed and simpleMost of teahouses in Japanese gardens are located in open wild field, where there are evergreen vegetation such as pines, showing the same interest of Zen and Sado and the unity of heaven and man. In the selection of vegetation, simple colors are often selected, flowers are not used. In the very limited space, it manifests the situation of deep mountains and secluded valleys, making people feel the beauty of silence, and also reflecting the beauty of tranquility in Sado, Kadou and Wabi- sabi culture. In terms of space, in order to reflect the natural quality, the principle is that plants naturally grow without excessive interference[7].

4.5 Paying attention to Buddha dharma and profound Zen ideaIn Japan, the religion takes up an important position, and important symbols of temples and shrines play an important role in Japanese culture. Under the influence of strong religious thoughts, Japanese gardens pursued the extraordinary and refined idea of far from the madding crowd, which refines the representative Karesansui gardens into simple, pure, no flower and no tree[8].

5 Implications of Japanese gardening craft to for China’s garden design

5.1 Inheritance of the traditionJapanese gardens treat foreign culture not simply learning and innovation, but also pay attention to protecting traditional culture and stressing the cultural inheritance. Well protection of Japan’s top ten ancient capitals fully proves this point. Japanese gardens learn modern Western gardening techniques, but do not negate the tradition. Through the Karesansui courtyard, we can see the inheritance and innovation of Japanese traditional gardens. By comparison, as one of the four ancient civilizations, China has not only the exquisite painted pottery art, the graceful Suzhou gardens, but also the magnificent royal palaces, which reflect the profound cultural heritage of China for thousands of years. However, these ancient cities are gradually disappearing, the city walls are destroyed and the ancient buildings are demolished in the name of the demands of modern construction. Besides, the characteristics of some regional landscapes have been gradually destroyed, and the historical context memories of memories of several generations have been cut off. Instead, many Chinese gardens just blindly imitate foreign cultures. Large- scale European architecture and magnificent squares start to spring up. Various exaggerated Arc De Triomphe and Roman columns are decorated with modern Chinese architecture. However, the magnificence of blind imitation often lacks soul and cultural connotations; many designs are simply transplanted and do not fit well into the local culture, leading to the same landscape in most regions. Considering these situations, the design workers must first understand the history of traditional culture and the historical origins, learn from the experience of outstanding designers and gardeners in the past, master the contextual connotation, learn the excellent foreign culture, respect the tradition of the outstanding culture of the nation, and discard the dross and select the essence, and carry forward on the basis of inheritance[9].

5.2 Rigorous and meticulous designThe design of Japanese gardens pays great attention to detail. Such pursuit of meticulous and rigorous spirit is the pursuit of the gardener’s reasonable control and perfection of the garden design details. The design serves people. The designer should be people- oriented. From the perspective of tourists and users, designers should taken into consideration the overall design direction, give priority to the behavior of people in the creation, so the design is often meticulous and rigorous, and also meets the individualized demands in the functions. The design that is easy to leave impression does not pursue the exaggerated beauty in the beautiful appearance, but cares more about the technical details. In the present fast- developing world, many design works are excessively pursuing speed and economic benefits. They seem to be impetuous and even similar. Without the level of traditional designers, it has resulted in huge waste of many design works. Garden and landscape design should serve people. In garden creation, designers should be meticulous, full of human care, and truly create from the perspective of people, so that the landscape works have both aesthetic art and texture[10].

5.3 Learning excellent points of others and combining the art and craftAs is known to all, Japanese culture has been deeply influenced by China. Since ancient times, after the Meiji Restoration, it began to learn Western modern gardening craft, constantly drawing on and innovating uniquely, and it has uniquely occupying an important position in the oriental garden system and even the world garden system. Besides, it discarded the dross and refined and evolved into its own national cultural and artistic characteristics. In modern life, Japanese gardens not only preserve the complete traditional skills, but also combine modern advanced technology to create and improve the gardens. All of these are worth learning. Since the ancient times, Chinese classical gardens have been skillfully crafted and have occupied a great position in the history of world gardens. While inheriting the excellent gardening skills of classical gardens, we must broaden our horizons and learn excellent advanced modern gardening craft.

5.4 Complying with local conditionsThrough learning from the foreign gardening craft and paying attention to the combination of local characteristics, complying with local conditions and avoiding shortcomings, Japanese gardens have developed characteristic gardens such as Karesansui, pond and spring water garden, Erik Borja, plain pavilion and tea pavilion. The development of modern Chinese gardens should also be adapted to local conditions, take into consideration the scale, type and style of garden construction according to the actual situation, we will strive to create a modern oriental garden with national characteristics and cultural customs and ultimately establish a scale system[11].

5.5 Keeping pace with the timesJapanese gardens learn Chinese gardening craft from the origin, and also learn the western modern gardening craft in the later development. Japanese garden designers constantly keep pace with the times, make scientific innovation, and have developed exquisite, profound and unique Japanese gardens. Since the ancient times, Chinese classical gardens have occupied an important position in the history of world garden. However, at present, existing Chinese gardens are less distinctive in national culture and style characteristics, and the contribution to the world gardening craft is also declining. In this process, other garden systems learn from Chinese gardening craft and have exceeded us. Chinese garden designers should learn from Japan’s learning and innovation spirit of learning from other countries’ excellent gardening techniques and keeping pace with the times, constantly learning advanced gardening craft, combining contemporary spirits, advancing with the times, and making constant innovation[12].

6 Conclusions

Nowadays, the information is highly developed and the technology is advanced. Japanese gardens have formed a modern garden system with its own characteristics and national style, and have taken up a place in the world garden system. Japanese gardens comply with local conditions, are rigorous and meticulous, good at learning, use small things to reflect great ideas, and use Zen, Buddhism, and Sado culture to manifest profound meaning. In line with the spirit of respecting and revering nature, and people- oriented principle, Japanese garden designers are modest and prudent, and open- minded, and have developed their gardens to a new height. Garden design must inherit the tradition and have profound cultural heritage and national characteristics. The design should serve people. Garden design should care more about demands of people, take into consideration of feeling of people, and design ideal leisure places for people from the perspective of the users.