International studio (58.1916)

Studio- Talk


THE JAPANESE GARDEN AT THE PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION, SAN FRANCISCO

It is hard to realise that the garden covers less
than two acres.

The purpose of the pavilion is to show the archi-
tectural style of some five centuries ago. The
building is not in the style of a home, but rather
in that of a temple structure with slight modifica-
tions to meet modern requirements. The grace
and simplicity of the mural decoration of the
building have been much admired. Besides the
government pavilions, there is a house in the further
corner of the garden, erected and furnished in the
Japanese style by the Japan Central Tea Associa-
tion, in which is the “ tea ceremonial ” room, a
small regular-shaped room of about nine feet square.
Like the real cha-no-yu room, it is so constructed
that there is a rhythm of harmony in colours and
materials. It has a marked tranquillising effect on
the minds of the occupants. Its fragile construc-
tion and delicate finish do not give them the sense
of being shut in and oppressed by the four walls.

The murmur of the waterfall and the whispers of
the wind through the trees outside greet one’s ears
as one sits there, and they harmonize with the
singing of a kettle in the room. Thus one sitting
there does not feel the barrier, but in freedom
his soul can expand to the uttermost limits of
the universe.

Again, the simplicity of the construction of this
room gives one an idea that it is not permanent,
that the human habitation is but temporal. How-
ever strongly you may build a house, it will
crumble in time. So it is with our human bodies.
Soul finds but temporal habitation in our flesh.
It is like gathering growing reeds in the field and
tying them at the top with a rope. When the
space inside is cleared, one could live in it and call
it a habitation. But when the time comes the
rope snaps and the reeds resume their former
positions and grow in the same old field, as if
nothing had happened. It is this idea of transient

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