Kyoto Gardens. Judith Clancy

      

      The fleeting embace of hanging cherry blossoms in Heian Jingu Shrine garden.

      A dragon emerges from a cloud at the Mirei Shigemori garden at Ryogin-an.

      A garden whispers to those who listen at Komyo-in, a subtemple of Tofuku-ji.

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

       Reshaping the Land

      CHAPTER 1

       Gardens of Central and Eastern Kyoto

       Kyoto’s Old Imperial Palace Garden

       Nijo Castle Garden

       Heian Jingu Shrine Garden

       Kennin-ji Temple Garden

       Nanzen-ji Temple Garden

       Shinnyo-do Hermitage Garden

       Anraku-ji Temple Garden

       Honen-in Temple Garden

       Ginkaku-ji Pure Land Garden

      CHAPTER 2

       Gardens of Northern Kyoto

       Konpuku-ji Poet’s Garden

       Shisen-do Villa Garden

       Shugaku-in Imperial Villa Garden

       Sanzen-in Temple Garden

       Hosen-in Temple Garden

       Kamigamo Shrine Garden

       Daitoku-ji Temple Garden

       Jisso-in Imperial Garden

      CHAPTER 3

       Gardens of Western Kyoto

       Kinkaku-ji Estate Garden

       Ryoan-ji Zen Garden

       Toji-in Temple Garden

       Daikaku-ji Temple Garden

       Tenryu-ji Zen Garden

       Myoshin-ji Zen Garden

       Hokongo-in Villa Garden

      CHAPTER 4

       Gardens of Southern Kyoto

       Saiho-ji Moss Garden

       Katsura Imperial Villa Garden

       Jonangu Shrine Garden

       Mimuroto-ji Paradise Garden

       Daigo-ji Temple Garden

       Tofuku-ji Zen Garden

       Gardens Glossary

      Time Periods / Bibliography

       Acknowledgments

      Autumn’s signature color.

      The universe at one’s feet. Dragon-tail steppingstones in Heian Jingu Shrine. A graceful, cusped window frames a view. A slender maple brings a touch of color to the Moss Garden. Cone-shaped mounds of sand at Kamigamo Shrine. The captivating blend of symmetry and asymmetry.

      reshaping the land

      Long ago, the shadow of a large pterosaur swept across a prehistoric land. Buffered by air currents, the winged predator surveyed the wave-trimmed coastlines and peaked ridges.

      Today, it is the undulating shadow of an airplane that skims the same glistening peaks and white sand coasts. Forests of houses and factories have displaced dense woodlands, and rivers of asphalt cross ancient streams.

      The Japanese archipelago stretches from the temperate island of Hokkaido with its long, snowy winters to the semitropical coral reef islands in the Okinawan chain. The country ranges from 45 to 26 degrees latitude, the distance from Milan to Dubai, from Montreal to Miami.

      Grasses glisten with waterfall spray at Sambo-in.

      Wild yet contained—a boat glides past a thicket of pampas grass on Osawa Pond.

      Once part of the Asian land-mass, the island chain of Japan broke away from the continent and is now separated from it by the Sea of Japan. The heaving tectonic plates and volcanic activity created steeply corrugated mountains, narrow valleys, volcanoes, and shallow rivers. Even today, wisps of sulfurous steam escape from fissures beneath which smoldering magma resonates with a low rumble. With its abundance of hot springs and its fifty active volcanoes, Japan is an integral part of the Pacific Rim of Fire.

      A path to ageless beauty at Okochi Sanso in Arashiyama.

      The main land masses—Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu—along with hundreds of smaller islands strung along the archipelago, give Japan one of the world’s longest coastlines.

      Textured, layered, yet grounded—the world of Zen.

      The abundance of fertile land and variety of climates host a rich diversity of trees: pine, cedar, cypress, beech, juniper, yew, paulownia, cryptomeria, elm, magnolia, mountain cherry, camphor, mountain azalea, maple, oak, ilex, hackberry, chinquapin, andromeda, ash, and walnut. They in turn nurture a bounty of birds from continental China and beyond.

      The sumptuous fall foliage of Kyoto’s northeastern mountains.

      Wet-field rice cultivation began around 300 A.D. in Kyushu, spread quickly northward, and structured the land into manageable shapes for agriculture. Farmers sculpted the gentler slopes into small plots and built an elaborate canal system to irrigate the crops.

      Set on the island of Honshu, in a wide basin in the middle of the archipelago, is the ancient capital