It’s time to go Japanese... and ‘try’ out these winning oriental ideas for your garden
ALL EYES were on Japan for the recent Rugby World Cup – an extraordinary country whose history and culture has fascinated and inspired many aspects of western life. I have been privileged to visit that nation a few times to learn more about their beautifully serene gardens.
Ryoan-ji in Kyoto is my favourite oriental garden. It’s the first Zen rock and gravel garden and I found it mesmerising. In one courtyard there are 15 stones, grouped into three mossy islands set in raked white gravel, confronting you with their silent presence.
You view it from a veranda or platform and every day for the past 500 years people have come to gaze at this “empty” space.
The stones appear like rugged islands dotting a vast white ocean, or a series of mountain tops rising above a cloudscape. No one knows who created it or why... or what it really represents and that for me makes it even more remarkable.
It’s very different to what we seek in a garden. It’s not crammed with plants or colour... but it’s remarkable in its ability to captivate.
In Tokyo, Kiyosumi Teien was originally the residence of a merchant and then passed on to a feudal lord who turned it into a garden. Eventually it was donated to the city and opened to the public as an amenity in 1932.
It’s a stunning place to visit, a remarkable representation of nature and garden craft set against such a modern city. Its appearance changes with the rise and fall of the water level in the tidal Tokyo bay and a magnificent set of stepping stones will lead you around the water’s edge.
Also worth a visit in Kyoto is Tenryu-ji Temple at Arashiyama, on the western outskirts of the city. One of Kyoto’s great Zen temples, its spectacular Japanese stroll garden is framed by the scenic mountains of Arashiyama.
In this country we’re familiar with the concept of oriental gardens as our landscape and climate allows us to easily mimic the elements which go together to make up a Japanese-style garden.
There’s an excellent example at Tatton Park in Cheshire. The garden was restored in 2001 for the Japan
Festival and was the result of more than 14 years of research with input from various Japanese specialists.
And if you live around London, you can enjoy the Kyoto Garden in Holland Park which opened in 1991.
A gift from the city of Kyoto to commemorate a long friendship between Japan and Great Britain, it’s a traditional Japanese garden with tranquil tiered waterfalls and a serene pond full of beautiful koi carp. There are stone lanterns, Japanese maple trees and the garden is even home to peacocks.
It was joined in July 2012 by the