Parks and Gardens 庭園

The garden, a sacred space

For the geographer Augustin Berque: "The origins of the Japanese garden seem well-rooted in the sacredness of the wilderness." Many authors see them in the heaps of sacred stones that tie the human world to nature and the gods.

Designed for philosophical enlightenment, gardens have zen aesthetics and raise awareness of emptiness. Clean lines, fine gravel, formal abstraction in the dry landscape (kare sansui), a zen style garden where visitors can only sit and look, invites contemplation and forgetting of the self. This is ever apparent at the the unparalleled Ryoanji in Kyoto.

In parks and gardens around the country, the spring bloom of cherry blossoms announces that long-awaited symbol of the transience of life. The autumn maple draws in walkers, lovers, friends, and colleagues always on the lookout for joyful revelry, honoring the pleasure of being here and now.

• Read more: the most beautiful Zen gardens

The composition of Japanese gardens

The symbolism in Japanese gardens comes from their primary origin: religion. Their composition follows three main principles: miniature reproduction, symbolism, and the capture of landscapes. The miniaturization illustrates scenes in nature: stones, rivers, mountains, lakes, etc., in a reduced size. Finally, the landscape capture incorporates elements external to the garden, natural or not, in the composition and acts within limits imposed to insert the green space in a wider context.

The enclosures of Japanese gardens are always closed: giving the illusion of a large space. The boundaries are more natural: they take the form of hedges, palisades, bamboo or trees, for example.

The three most famous gardens in Japan:

• Kenroku-en, in Kanazawa
• Koraku-en, in Okayama
• Kairaku-en, in Mito

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