Wouldn't a true Japanese Garden have to be in Japan? Elsewise you have a Japanese inspired garden. Can the western mind completely grasp the significance of the elements in a Japanese garden? I wonder.

I can't judge the Japanese garden by my Western orientation since my spaces are an attempt to put together an attractive package of shrubs, trees and flowers without discernable meaning beyond that they fit my conditions and might be cohesive by design or accident.

And I believe the Japanese garden is designed to represent natural scenery - recreating a beloved or meaningful natural scene independent of the existing landscape the gardener is working with - and despite the fact a recreated mountain scene, let's say, would be incongruous to the small urban plot.

Japanese gardens are beautiful, they're disciplined, they're serene, the placement of every element means something that I could learn about but never truly understand.

Oftentimes, restraint is not part of our lexicon and what we think IS so often IS NOT. A scattering of lanterns or rocks does not make a Japanese garden any more than hanging a piece of wrought iron over my fireplace makes my home a Tuscan villa.

You used the word "restrictive"; I used "restraint" - and I'm of the mind that many of our Western attempts at Eastern gardens (at least those I've seen in my travels) overcome any style restraints by not being able to imagine a space without the latest perennial offering.

Regardless, I don't think anyone should refrain from making a space what they wish it to be and calling it what they believe it is. There are no penalties meted out for differing interpretations.

I sometimes wonder if a person of the "Eastern Cultures" would spend as much time learning about opera, Catholocism, and motor sports in pursuit of creating wonderful Italian dishes as it seems "westerners" feel they must learn so much about "eastern culture" in order to create Japanese Gardens.

If you look to the offspring to give birth to the mother, it will be a mysterious never ending quest. Perhaps the garden is the mother behind the pilosophy that goes with it rather than the opposite.

Ever wonder if southern Europeans make wine, fine dining, and grow cut flowers because they are a "romantic culture" by nature, or are they a romantic culture because they have these things?

Learn the physical nuances of the Japanese Garden and perhaps the philosophy will be easier to follow. I'm not at all confident that reading Asian philosophy will train your eyes to place a stone or a plant in perfect harmony anymore than going to the opera will have you blend Italian spices masterfully.

The garden is the mother, the philosophy is its offspring. That is what Westerners fail to understand because they want to insist that anything Asian is supernatural instead of being as actal as anything western.

A man who has been working 30 years for design build company specializing Japanese garden, he can't make Otoko musubi/tsuno musubi( hone knot).Otoko musubi which most apprentice have to learn in first month. If some one who can speak, manage financeing well, and know how to hire right sub contractors, he can build Japanese garden.

Happy Thanks giving holiday. If you happen to be Boston area, we are happy to have you.
yama

I definitely don't tend a Japanese garden. What I learned in the lecture is that very few gardeners outside of Japan tend a Japanese garden.

"The garden is the mother, the philosophy is its offspring."
Laag I am in agreement with your comment. It says to me our garden is western.

Duluth completely agree with your statements.

Inkognito, good thread starter.Do you know about Hobson, have any opinion of his book?

Yama, wish you were closer. Could you tell me does a person have to be Japanese to see his Japanese garden?