The Art of the Japanese Garden. David Young

or the peak weekend for viewing cherry blossoms at specific locations around the country. Every spring, companies in the Kansai area—the southern-central region of Japan’s main island, Honshu—send a young employee to Osaka Castle Park to camp out for a couple of days in order to reserve a place under the budding cherry trees. When the blossoms open, an excited call to the company brings the other employees flocking for a party under the cherry trees. Since the blossoms do not last long, timing is everything.

      The same is true in the fall. At the peak of the season for viewing maple leaves, millions jump in cars, buses and trains in an attempt to reach a favorite viewing spot, often a garden belonging to a temple, shrine or villa. Some temples depend upon the hundreds of thousands of dollars in admission fees that can be received on a single weekend to keep their buildings and grounds in repair.

      Seasonal Variation in Gardens

      Each of the four seasons described below is accompanied by a haiku, a brief 17-syllable “tone poem” that attempts to capture the beauty of a fleeting moment. Most haiku are dedicated to one of the four seasons. The translations are by R. N. Blythe.

      Spring by Yaha

       After the garden

       Had been swept clean,

       Some camellia flowers fell down

      The reawakening of the Japanese garden in spring is heralded by flowering trees. The first trees to flower in the spring are plums, soon followed by cherry, peach and pear. Azaleas also make their appearance in late spring. Hirosaki Castle Park in Aomori Prefecture is most famous for its cherry blossoms, which are at their best in late April. Visitors come from all over the world to view the masses of blossoms that overhang the picturesque bridge and to participate in saké (rice wine) parties. Other famous spring gardens are Maruyama Park in Kyoto, well known for its weeping cherry trees, and Heian Shrine in Kyoto, also famous for its cherry blossoms.

      Summer by Kirei

       A single fire-fly coming

       The garden

       Is so dewy!

      Summer in Japan is hot and humid. It is the best season for viewing a variety of flowering plants.

      Irises and wisteria arrive in late spring to early summer. Other summer flowers are the blue bellflower, gardenia and lotus. Gardens that are particularly pleasing in summer are those with ponds, such as Kyoto’s Ginkakuji and Kinkakuji temples, where the silver and golden pavilions are reflected in the water, or the lotus garden at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Other famous summer gardens are Koishikawa Kōrakuen Garden in Tokyo, where one can follow an elevated boardwalk through masses of irises, and Sentō Gosho in Kyoto with its trellises of hanging wisteria. Summer is also the best time to view the delicate raked gravel patterns of karesansui gardens such as those at Ryōanji and Daisenin temples, both in the northwestern part of Kyoto.

      Snow weighs down the pine branches at Kinkakuji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion), Kyoto.

      Autumn by Basho

       A hundred years old it looks

       This temple garden

       With its fallen leaves

      In autumn the heat and humidity of summer gradually dissipate to be replaced by shorter, dryer days and cooler nights. In autumn, color is supplied by the foliage of trees such as maples and gingko, the former red and the latter yellow. Other favorite plants are bush clover, osmanthus and grasses that turn a variety of hues. Autumn is also famous for chrysanthemums. Though usually not planted in Japanese gardens, a variety of potted chrysanthemums are on display in the fall at temples, shrines and other public places. Favorite gardens for viewing colored leaves are those of Tōfukuji Temple in Kyoto and Jōruriji Temple near Nara.

      Winter by Shado

       In the newly made garden,

       The stones have settled down in harmony;

       The first winter shower.

      Winter is marked by the disappearance of brighter colors from the Japanese garden. Evergreens, particularly the various species of pine, play an important role by providing contrast, not only to the gray color of rocks and stone lanterns but also to snow and the stems, trunks and branches of other trees and shrubs that have lost their leaves. Two gardens that are much visited in winter because of the large amounts of snow they receive are Kenrokuen Park in Kanazawa and the garden of Sanzenin Temple in the mountain village of Ōhara, near Kyoto. Another favorite winter garden is that of the Shūgakuin Detached Palace in the northeast of Kyoto.

BEHIND THE SCENES