Japanese-style Landscape Gardens

“The Japanese garden is not simply an assortment of curved bridges, pagodas, bronze cranes, and poodle pines. We cannot make a sea by just raking sand. Rather we first visit the site with our minds and creative spirit…” says Herb Gustafson on page 100 in The Art of Japanese Gardens: Designing and Making Your Own Peaceful Space, 2007.

The overriding consideration in creating a Japanese-style garden is how the three elemental building blocks work together. The secondary consideration is the wished-for outcome of this small-space garden project.

In between these two considerations are the laborious but necessary tasks of examining the physical lay of the land and its microclimate. A plan, no matter how rudimentary, is essential to establishing a small Japanese garden.

Elemental Building Blocks

• Rocks, boulders and small cobblestones form the garden’s backbone and skeleton. They introduce impressions of stability and permanence. Placement of stones can also tell stories or imitate animals.
• Water binds the design by spreading its qualities through the garden space. It is the lifeblood of the garden. Its cleansing and purifying traits are spiritual. The sound of its movement is gentle and serene.
• Plants introduce a pallet of green and a harmony of textures. They may retain their original shapes by use of subtle pruning to maintain size and shape. Plants may also assume cloud shapes, horizontal layers, or other fanciful shapes through rigorous pruning and long-term training.

Design Elements

A Japanese-inspired garden requires components that maintain the design. They combine with the elemental building blocks and represent the Universe. They also guide visitors through the garden. These design elements should tie in with each other.

• Boundaries: gated wooden fences composed of bamboo or cedar, along with brick or stone walls;
• Walkways and paths: gravel, flat stones and flat stones set on a bed of sand or concrete;
• Bridges: stepping stones are appropriate for crossing small streams, while bridges built of wood, or stone and wood harmonize with larger stretches of water;
• Buildings: pavilions and teahouses proportioned and constructed for the garden’s size; and
• Ornaments: basin stones and wells, sculptures, stone lanterns and benches should all have a function as well as enhance the garden design.

Examples of Japanese Gardens

There are approximately 300 public Japanese gardens in North America, according to The Japanese Garden Journal. They vary from large to small and authentic to Japanese-inspired. The easiest way to develop a small-space Japanese-style garden is by studying these examples.

The 5.5-acre Portland, OR Japanese Garden is composed of five distinct garden styles. Gustafson suggests studying these five examples in his book’s chapter on Garden Design, pages 98-115. Stay with one design instead of combining styles, says Gustafson.

These examples are:

• The Strolling Pond Garden (chisen-kaiyu-skiki): a pond and meandering paths;
• The Flat Garden (hiraniwa): raked gravel and / or fine sand that represents water;
• The Natural Garden (shukei yen): untrimmed trees and meandering paths and streams;
• The Tea Garden (rojiniwa): exterior and interior gardens surrounding a teahouse; and
• The Sand and Stone Garden (skei tei): raked sand with large set boulders telling a story.

©Text by Georgene A. Bramlage. 2008. Reproduction without permission prohibited.