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JAPAN LANDSCAPE
DESIGN PRINCIPLES

•Tray landscapes eliminate the

unessential.

•To create a powerful

minimalist aesthetic.

REDUCTION

•Kare sansui gardens

express the characteristics
of rivers and streams using a
selective language of stone and
sand.

ABSTRACTION

Nested geometries
concentrate power at
the centre, as illustrated
by the plan of the Forbidden City.

HIERARCHY
 SYMMETRY
Perpendicular axes subdivide space
in a chahar-bagh, or four square
garden.

PROPORTION
According to Alberti, the parts must
equal
the whole—nothing can be added or
taken
away without destroying the integrity of
the design.

ZEN GARDENS
Raked sand and Rocks
IMPERIAL CITIES Rocks

GATES
COURTS

PLATFORMS
MUROMACHI ERA - A Minimalist Aesthetic
•Characterized by a15threduced scale and a refined purpose.
CENTURY – JAPAN
•A distinct architectural setting that reflected the values of the
military regime of the Ashikaga shoguns, who returned the capital
to Kyoto.
•Muromachi gardens now focused on aspects of form and artful
composition.
•Zen Buddhism, first introduced during the Kamakura era, was
widely promoted by the ruling shoguns.

•Since Zen practice is an individual pursuit concerned with

meditation and the development of the interior self, large
ceremonial spaces were less critical.
Priests established individual sub temples within
larger temple compounds.
Small temple gardens became sites for seated
contemplation, not ritual, and were meant to be seen
from fixed points of view.
The sliding partitions of the shoin provided unique
opportunities for framing landscape views.
Gardens, engaged only visually, became aids to
meditation, not sites of active use.
A MINIMALIST - AESTHETIC
•Large landscapes were represented in small
spaces.
•Garden elements were abstracted and reduced to
their essential characteristics, expressed in the
form of kare sansui, or dry landscape gardens, and
conceptually similar to tray landscapes.
•A distinct Japanese painting style
developed during the Muromachi
period, as did a distinct social class of
gardening specialists.

•Both influenced the design of gardens.

•Sesshu (1420–1506) was a Buddhist
monk who elaborated on Chinese ink
painting techniques, devising his own
vocabulary of short angular strokes and
dots.

•Like Song dynasty artists, he captured

the immensity and depth of the
landscape within the confines of a
hanging scroll.
Examples of Muromachi-period gardens include Ginkaku-ji and the Zen gardens
of Ryoan-ji and Daisen-in.

GINKAKU-JI
•Ginkaku-ji dates from 1480 and was built by the eighth Ashikaga shogun,
Yoshimasa, grandson of Yoshimitsu.
•The pond-style garden of Ginkaku-ji (called the Garden of the Silver Pavilion)
was created on a more modest scale than Kinkaku-ji (the Garden of the Golden
Pavilion).
•Yoshimasa was inspired by the restrained beauty of the garden at Saiho-ji, which he
often visited, and he sought to duplicate many of its same features at his villa.
•The garden contained a tea pavilion, chapel, and bridges leading to an island with
flat-topped rocks.

•The two-storied Silver Pavilion (its name derives from an unrealized project to
cover the ceiling with silver leaf) contained a meditation chapel and Buddha hall,
and afforded superb views of the garden.

•The large sand mounds—the Sea of Silver Sand and the truncated cone of the Moon
viewing Platform — were added during later restorations.
Ryoanji Temple at Kyoto

• The Zen garden of Ryoanji is famous for its simplicity—made of nothing but clay
walls, raked sand, and fifteen rocks. 

• Ryoan-ji is a small, enclosed, inward looking garden made of simple materials

conducive to meditation and the scene is contained within a rigid frame, viewed from the
verandah of the temple building for contemplation.

• This garden enclosure measures about 75ft by 30ft wide.

• It is approached and viewed from a wooden verandah raised above the ground along
one side.

• The enclosing wall of clay with tile roof is approximately 7ft high and the surrounding
forest can be seen beyond.

• The rectangle contains fifteen rocks in five groups of five, two, three, two and three
each. The groups are composed within themselves.

• All but one of the fifteen rocks seems to be flowing from left to right.  Some have
described the composition in colorful terms such as "a tiger crossing the sea with her
cubs" or "islands in the ocean."  Indeed, the raked sand does resemble water lapping at
the base of mystical islands.
The overall site plan of Ryoanji garden
Other moss covered gardens around
the outside of the temple.
CASE STUDY: Daisen-In

Observing the garden from the temple’s interior, the visitor’s gaze moves from left to right.
The dry course of water appears to fall from a high mountain gorge, becoming a river flowing by
rocks, under bridges, and finally out to sea.
The large stone parallel to the edge of the veranda serves as an eye-drop, bringing the viewer
into the scene.
The entry garden on the south side of the temple features two simple cones of sand; their form
probably derives from earlier utilitarian functions.