Japanese Garden Design
From ancient times the Japanese had a design tradition which involved composition with stones and water. They also made gardens, but what form they took is not known. The history of surviving Japanese gardens is of the introduction of Buddhist and Taoist ideas from China, in the 7th century AD, and of how these garden design ideas were adapted to the context of Japan and its ancient religion (Shinto).
645 Emperor Kotoku decides to adopt Buddhism and base his new capital (Naniwa, now Osaka) on Chang'an. and using Fung Shui principles.
612 Ono-no-Imoko visited China as an emissary from Japan (see chronology of Chinese gardens). This was the starting point for the development of a Buddhist approach to gardens in Japan.
710 Nara became the Japanese capital, with its design was based on Chang'an. The capital moved 30 miles to Kyoto in 794, with the design again based on Chang'an, where it remained until Tokyo became the capital in 1868.
753 the Chinese Buddhist teacher Jianzhen (Ganjin) arrived in Japan with a team of craftsmen and gardeners. They built the Toshodai-ji Temple.
1000 The Tale of Genji gives a detailed picture of life in the aristocratic garden courts of Kyoto (see website devoted to Tale of Genji).
c1100 Sakutei-ki (notes on the making of gardens) published with detailed, if enigmatic, advice on how to make a distinctively Japanese Buddhist garden. The author was a gentleman, a scholar and a dignitary in the Kyoto court. (see translation by Jiro Takei & Marc Peter Keane)
1191 A monk, Eisai, brought Chan teaching (Zen in Japanese) and the tea ceremony from China to Japan.
1342 Foundation of the Tenryu-Ji (Temple of the Celestial Dragon) in Kyoto as a base for the Rinzai Zen Buddhist monastry, which made stone compositions.
1339 Design of the Saiho-ji Temple (also known as the Kokedera or Moss Temple) which has the oldest surviving stone composition. Like Tenryu-ji,
where the stones are more 'raised', it was made after renewed contact with China.
1333-1573 Muromachi Period - a high point in the influence of Zen Buddhism and the making of Ryoan-ji, the Gold Pavilion and the Silver Pavilion. The tea ceremony developed by Zen monks and led to the making of a tea garden as a path, often with stepping stones and stone lanterns, to a tea ceremony room which could be used after dark. They were a peaceful contrast with the strife of sixteenth century Japan.
1620 The palace gardens of Katsura, Sento Gosho and Shugaku-in are a development of tea garden principles on an imperial scale, made by a court which had lost its power to military shoguns.
1603 Edo (later called Tokyo) became the seat of government in a new age of prospertity. Its old temple Nanzen-ji became the site of a new Zen garden using the rocks and raked gravel approach seen at Ryoan-ji. Another 'symbolic landscape' garden was made at Daitoku-ji in Kyoto. Each lord (daimyo) was required to spend time near Edo and so they built houses and gardens. Secular in use, they became literal representations of famous landscapes (eg Korakuen Garden). The term Kaiyu Style, used for this period, means 'walk around and enjoy'. Some of the scenes were in China but Japan was now operating a seclusion policy.
1735 The publication of Kitamura Enkin's book Tsukiyama Teizoden ('Creating landscape gardens') was a sign that the art of garden design was passing from scholars to professional men. It was illustrated with pictures of Japanese gardens. In 1828 another author (Akizato Rito) re-published the book with a second part. He was a member of a guild of garden makers.
1868 The Meiji restoration saw the start of a major phase of European influence on Japan. As ever, ideas were absorbed, transformed and made Japanese.