DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16633#0282
262
History of Garden Art
famous in Japan—the salt coast {shiwo-mama) of the province of Mutsu. It is charac-
teristic of the nobility of that day that they had hundreds of tons of salt water evaporated
there, so as to give the fresh-water lake the proper taste of the sea. In the same spirit of
exaggerated aestheticism, they would cover tall trees with artificial cherry- and plum-
blossom, in order to recall the spring, or would hang garlands of wistaria on pine-trees
in the autumn, or would pile up great masses of snow, so that they might still see traces
of it under the sunny skies of spring. The mixture of snow and flowers is, of course, one
of the things that the Japanese have delighted in at all times.
The art of gardening shows what seems to be an entirely new feature in the next,
the so-called Kamakura, epoch, lasting from about 1150 to 1310. The Buddhist monks,
as we have said, were the chief cultivators of the garden and also the chief teachers. Even
FIG. 570a. SUIZENJI PARK, KUMANOTO, JAPAN—
FIG. S706. FUJIYAMA, JAPAN
ARTIFICIAL FUJIYAMA IN THE BACKGROUND J/ ' 1
to this day we find, as in China, the best old gardens round the temples and monasteries;
and these look very fine against the dark-green background with the complementary red
colour so universally used in religious buildings.
We have already noticed the importance of stones in the Chinese garden. It is probable
that the monks took from China into Japan the custom of naming the most important
stones, which had special places assigned to them, after certain Buddhist divinities. In
the garden of the Abbot of Tokuwamonu Lafcadio Hearn saw represented the legend
of the Buddha, before whom the stones bow down. And even in the latest times stones
bearing the names of gods are to be seen in monastic gardens: they are mostly nine in
number, five standing, four lying down. Each had to have a fixed place, and they were
to serve as protectors against evil. Probably these temple gardens had predecessors in
China that were equally or more important. Hills are sacred to the Japanese as well as
to the Chinese. Nearly all are dedicated to a particular deity, and have temples to which
pilgrimages are made. The highest hill, and the most perfect the gods have ever made, is the
Fujiyama; and to have a copy of it in one's own garden is the best thing possible (Fig. 570a).
History of Garden Art
famous in Japan—the salt coast {shiwo-mama) of the province of Mutsu. It is charac-
teristic of the nobility of that day that they had hundreds of tons of salt water evaporated
there, so as to give the fresh-water lake the proper taste of the sea. In the same spirit of
exaggerated aestheticism, they would cover tall trees with artificial cherry- and plum-
blossom, in order to recall the spring, or would hang garlands of wistaria on pine-trees
in the autumn, or would pile up great masses of snow, so that they might still see traces
of it under the sunny skies of spring. The mixture of snow and flowers is, of course, one
of the things that the Japanese have delighted in at all times.
The art of gardening shows what seems to be an entirely new feature in the next,
the so-called Kamakura, epoch, lasting from about 1150 to 1310. The Buddhist monks,
as we have said, were the chief cultivators of the garden and also the chief teachers. Even
FIG. 570a. SUIZENJI PARK, KUMANOTO, JAPAN—
FIG. S706. FUJIYAMA, JAPAN
ARTIFICIAL FUJIYAMA IN THE BACKGROUND J/ ' 1
to this day we find, as in China, the best old gardens round the temples and monasteries;
and these look very fine against the dark-green background with the complementary red
colour so universally used in religious buildings.
We have already noticed the importance of stones in the Chinese garden. It is probable
that the monks took from China into Japan the custom of naming the most important
stones, which had special places assigned to them, after certain Buddhist divinities. In
the garden of the Abbot of Tokuwamonu Lafcadio Hearn saw represented the legend
of the Buddha, before whom the stones bow down. And even in the latest times stones
bearing the names of gods are to be seen in monastic gardens: they are mostly nine in
number, five standing, four lying down. Each had to have a fixed place, and they were
to serve as protectors against evil. Probably these temple gardens had predecessors in
China that were equally or more important. Hills are sacred to the Japanese as well as
to the Chinese. Nearly all are dedicated to a particular deity, and have temples to which
pilgrimages are made. The highest hill, and the most perfect the gods have ever made, is the
Fujiyama; and to have a copy of it in one's own garden is the best thing possible (Fig. 570a).