Create your own beautiful Japanese garden

Japanese gardens are unique because  it’s gardening based upon culture. It’s designed to  produce a scene that copies nature as much as possible. Using trees, shrubs, rocks, sand, artificial hills, ponds and garden fountains as art-forms, a Japanese garden creates an amazingly serene place to relax and unwind.

A large part of Japanese gardening is based on Zen and Shinto traditions. Because of this, Japanese gardens have a contemplative and reflective state of mind. A Japanese garden is much different than the Western style; and most would agree it’s far more meditational and soul soothing.

A true Japanese garden has three basic methods for scenery.

1. Reduced scale. Reduced scale is the art of taking an actual scene from nature – mountains, rivers, trees, etc. and reproducing it on a small scale.

2. Symbolization. This is a big part of Japanese gardening. An example would be using white sand to suggest the ocean.

3. Borrowed views would use an ocean a forest as a background and would become part of the scene.

There are essentially two types of Japanese gardening: Tsukiyami is a hill garden and mainly composed of hills and ponds. The other is hiraniwa, which is basically the exact opposite of tsukiyami: a flat garden without any hills or ponds.

The basic elements used in Japanese gardening include rocks, gravel, water, moss, stones, fences, and hedges. Rocks are most often used as centerpieces and bring a presence of spirituality to the garden. According to the Shinto tradition rocks embody the spirits of nature. Gravel is used as a sort of defining surface and is used to imitate the flow of water when arranged properly. Stones are used to create a boundary and are sculpted into the form of lanterns. Water, whether it be in the form of a pond, stream, or waterfall, is an essential part of a Japanese garden. It can be in the actual form of water or portrayed by gravel, but no matter what form water is in, it is crucial to a Japanese garden’s balance.

There are several forms and types of plants that are the signature of a Japanese garden.

The primary one being Bonsai. Bonsai is the art of training everyday, average plants, such as Pine, Cypress, Holly, Cedar, Cherry, Maple, and Beech, to look like large, old trees just in miniature form. These trees range from five centimeters to one meter and are kept small by pruning, re-potting, pinching of growth, and wiring the branches.

Japanese gardening is a tradition that has crossed the Muso Soseki, poet, said “Gardens are a root of transformation”.

A Japanese garden is sure to bring about many different feelings and is definitely a transforming experience.