Heritage

JAPANESE GARDENS

Japanese gardens are works of art, with the placement of every pond, stream, boulder, tree and bush chosen with as much care as a painter composing a picture on a canvas. Most of Japan's great gardens date back centuries, when they were laid out for the personal pleasure of feudal lords throughout the land or to grace the grounds of huge temple complexes. They figured highly in the aesthetic pursuits of the day, including moon viewing, haiku composing parties, and the tea ceremony. Famous among Japanese master gardeners were Sen-no-Rikyu (1521-1591) and Kobori Enshu (1579-1647), whose works can be enjoyed even today.

Among the gardens constructed for the country estates of feudal lords, standouts include Kenroku-en in Kanazawa, Ritsurin Koen in Takamatsu, Koraku-en in Okayama, and Sengan'en in Kagoshima. Kenroku-en, which took 150 years to complete, is among the largest and is especially beautiful, with artificial hills, ponds, historic buildings, and flowering trees and shrubs that render the scenery picture perfect.

As the nation's capital for more than 1,000 years, Kyoto is blessed with some of Japan's finest gardens, including the temple ground of Nanzenji and at Nijo Castle, and according to history, designed by Kobori Enshu. Ryoanji is Japan's most famous Zen rock garden, laid out in the 15th century and composed of 15 rocks and boulders laid in a "sea" of raked white pebbles. Katsura Imperial Villa, with traditional Japanese architecture that blends seamlessly with a landscaped garden that's stunning no matter which direction you look, is arguably the most splendid garden in the land.

Tokyo, too, has its fair share of Japanese gardens, most notably Rikugien, which once belonged to a feudal lord and is dominated by a pond encircled by a strolling path, made even more glorious when maples turn a fiery red in autumn.

But not all of Japan's noteworthy gardens are old. Koko-en, in the shadows of Himeji Castle, was laid out only in 1992 but is a delightful composite of nine separate gardens laid out in different styles of the feudal era, while the Adachi Museum in Shimane Prefecture boasts not only contemporary Japanese paintings but a first-class viewing garden, visible through picture windows like the work of art it is.