This book, filled with gorgeous photographs, explains the theory, history, and intricacies of Japanese gardening. The creation of a Japanese garden combines respect for nature with adherence to simple principles of aesthetics and structure. In Japanese Garden Design, landscape architect Marc Peter Keane presents the history and development of the classical metaphors that underlie all Japanese gardens. Keane describes the influences of Confucian, Shinto and Buddhist principles that have linked poetry and philosophy to the tangible metaphor of the garden in Japanese culture. Creative inspiration is found in the prehistoric origin of Japanese concepts of nature; the gardens of Heian aristocrats; the world-renowned Zen garden, or rock garden; the tea garden; courtyard garden; and stroll garden. Detailed explanations of basic design concepts identify and interpret the symbolism of various garden forms and demonstrate these principles in use today in Japanese landscape architecture. Topics include: Design Principles Design Techniques Design Elements Godspirit in Nature Poetry in Paradise The Art of Emptiness Spiritual Passage Private Niches A Collector's Park
Overturning our grasp of what is civil and what is wild, Marc Peter Keane's collection of nine short stories revels in the illusory space between culture and nature. A garden designer by trade, Keane forays into fiction with the wisdom and sure-footedness of someone all too familiar with manipulating the boundaries of the natural world. In "A Peaceable Kingdom," the tranquil lives of a picture-postcard American family are bewildered by discoveries of untamable nature. A girl made mute by the violence of her childhood finds solace in the orderly house and pruned gardens of her uncle's country manor in "Gardens of the Soul." And in the title story, "Moss," an overworked employee in a large Tokyo corporation pines for the return of the wild to his city, while trying desperately to discern the natural from the artificial in his surroundings. From 18th century English countryside to contemporary Tokyo, from a covered wagon crossing the American desert to a high-tech private yacht crossing the Pacific, Keane's tales offer, in alluring prose, thoughts on how to understand our place as humans in the wild world.
Japanese Garden Design explains the theory, history, and intricacies of Japanese gardening through gorgeous photographs and expert commentary. The creation of a Japanese garden combines respect for nature with adherence to simple principles of aesthetics and structure. In Japanese Garden Design landscape architect Marc Peter Keane presents the history and development of the classical metaphors that underlie all Japanese gardens in this. Keane describes the influences of Confucian, Shinto and Buddhist principles that have linked poetry and philosophy to the tangible metaphor of the garden in Japanese culture. Creative inspiration is found in the prehistoric origin of Japanese concepts of nature; the gardens of Heian aristocrats; the world-renowned Zen garden, or rock garden; the tea garden; courtyard garden; and stroll garden. Detailed explanations of basic design concepts identify and interpret the symbolism of various garden forms and demonstrate these principles in use today in Japanese landscape architecture. Topics include: Design Principles Design Techniques Design Elements Godspirit in Nature Poetry in Paradise The Art of Emptiness Spiritual Passage Private Niches A Collector's Park
Marc Peter Keane, in his remarkable set of meditative explorations, Dear Cloud, asks what if we had the ability to act on our inner urge to experience life as another person, not just hypothetically, but to actually live their lives - to be that lonely man whose chance meeting in the high-desert changes his life forever, or the new-born babe amazed at its still unfathomed world? And not just other people, but to intimately experience the unique viewpoints of other forms of life on this planet - an ancient cedar struck by lightning, a cheetah out for blood. And going even further, to delve into the spirit of place and occupy the inanimate - a tide pool, the mirror surface of a pond. Mixing a devoted naturalist's awe with what seems almost shamanic insight, seasoned with inspired and delightfully wry big-picture matter-of-factness, Dear Cloud comprises fascinatingly detailed observations and unexpected realizations about the world we live in. These thoughts take the form of letters sent home by a shape-changing protagonist who slips seamlessly between various identities, experiencing both the profound physical solitariness of every existence, and paradoxically, their absolute interconnectedness.
From his vantage point as a garden designer and writer based in Kyoto, Marc Peter Keane examines the world around him and delivers astonishing insights through an array of narratives. How the names of gardens reveal their essential meaning. A new definition of what art is. What trees are really made of. The true meaning of the enigmatic torii gate found at Shinto shrines. Why we give flowers as gifts. The essential, underlying unity of the world.
The garden as a poem. Not simply a beautiful design to be appreciated by looking, but a living poem that can actually be read. That is the way gardens were thought of in Japan during the Heian period (794-1185). In that ancient society, a detailed understanding of poetry was an essential part of life for people in the literate classes. Poetic anthologies were learned by heart and all manner of communications either included poems or were interwoven with references to poetry. A central aspect of Heian-period poetry was that it employed images of nature as symbols of human emotions. A lonely pine tree on a windswept, rocky seashore evoked the bitter sadness of someone waiting for their lover. A scene of cut reeds, fallen and scattered this way and that, was a standard epithet to express unsettled, scattered emotions.When gardens were built, many of those same elements of nature - pines and reeds and so many more - were also incorporated into the designs. When gardens were viewed, they were understood not simply as objects of visual beauty, but as being filled with allegorical meanings drawn from poetry. These visual cues triggered in the minds of people in the garden the memory of poems they knew, and acted as catalysts in the creation of new ones. The word for poem, uta, was the same as that for song, and poems at that time were often sung or chanted, rather than spoken. In this way, the poetic elements were like songs in the garden.The author, Marc Peter Keane, is well-known both as a garden designer and writer. Having lived 18 years in Kyoto, Japan, he brings ample first hand knowledge to the subject. Songs in the Garden not only describes the nature of gardens in Japan 1000 years ago, but also suggests a new paradigm for understanding what gardens can mean to us today.
Learn the art of Japanese gardening with this classic, fascinating text. The Sakuteiki, or "Records of Garden Making," was written nearly one thousand years ago. It is the oldest existing text on Japanese gardening—or any kind of gardening—in the world. In this edition of the Sakuteiki, the authors provide an English-language translation of this classic work and an introduction to the cultural and historical context that led to the development of Japanese gardening. Central to this explanation is an understanding of the sacred importance of stones in Japanese culture and Japanese garden design. Written by a Japanese court noble during the Heian period (794-1184), the Sakuteiki includes both technical advice on gardening—much of which is still followed in today's Japanese gardens—and an examination of the four central threads of allegorical meaning, which were integral features of Heian-era garden design. For those seeking inspiration to build a rock garden or just better understand the Japanese stone garden, the Sakuteiki is an enduring classic.
This inspiring guide shows how a traditional Japanese approach can be adapted to produce a tranquil, spiritually nourishing home or garden. Includes a resource section that lists architects, designers, and suppliers. 125 full-color photos.
Philosophical essays on the beauty and meaning of traditional Japanese gardens. In Japanese gardens, composition follows from placement of the first stone; all elements and plantings become interconnected. These eight essays on Kyoto gardens similarly begin with keen description and build into richly meditative excursions into art, Buddhism, nature, and science. Landscape architect Marc Keane shows how Japanese gardens are both a microcosm of the natural universe and a clear expression of our humanity, mirroring how we think, worship, and organize our lives and communities. Filled with passages of alluring beauty, this is a truly transcendent book about "experiencing" Japanese design.
This book, filled with gorgeous photographs, explains the theory, history, and intricacies of Japanese gardening. The creation of a Japanese garden combines respect for nature with adherence to simple principles of aesthetics and structure. In Japanese Garden Design, landscape architect Marc Peter Keane presents the history and development of the classical metaphors that underlie all Japanese gardens. Keane describes the influences of Confucian, Shinto and Buddhist principles that have linked poetry and philosophy to the tangible metaphor of the garden in Japanese culture. Creative inspiration is found in the prehistoric origin of Japanese concepts of nature; the gardens of Heian aristocrats; the world-renowned Zen garden, or rock garden; the tea garden; courtyard garden; and stroll garden. Detailed explanations of basic design concepts identify and interpret the symbolism of various garden forms and demonstrate these principles in use today in Japanese landscape architecture. Topics include: Design Principles Design Techniques Design Elements Godspirit in Nature Poetry in Paradise The Art of Emptiness Spiritual Passage Private Niches A Collector's Park
Learn the art of Japanese gardening with this classic, fascinating text. The Sakuteiki, or "Records of Garden Making," was written nearly one thousand years ago. It is the oldest existing text on Japanese gardening--or any kind of gardening--in the world. In this edition of the Sakuteiki, the authors provide an English-language translation of this classic work and an introduction to the cultural and historical context that led to the development of Japanese gardening. Central to this explanation is an understanding of the sacred importance of stones in Japanese culture and Japanese garden design. Written by a Japanese court noble during the Heian period (794-1184), the Sakuteiki includes both technical advice on gardening--much of which is still followed in today's Japanese gardens--and an examination of the four central threads of allegorical meaning, which were integral features of Heian-era garden design. For those seeking inspiration to build a rock garden or just better understand the Japanese stone garden, the Sakuteiki is an enduring classic.
From his vantage point as a garden designer and writer based in Kyoto, Marc Peter Keane examines the world around him and delivers astonishing insights through an array of narratives. How the names of gardens reveal their essential meaning. A new definition of what art is. What trees are really made of. The true meaning of the enigmatic torii gate found at Shinto shrines. Why we give flowers as gifts. The essential, underlying unity of the world.
This inspiring guide shows how a traditional Japanese approach can be adapted to produce a tranquil, spiritually nourishing home or garden. Includes a resource section that lists architects, designers, and suppliers. 125 full-color photos.
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