The Garden As Architecture: Form and Spirit in the Gardens of Japan, China, and Korea (Hardcover)

~ Toshiro Inaji (Author), Pamela Virgilio (Translator) "Mount Miwa in Yamato (present-day Nara Prefecture) is a sacred mountain, thought to be manifested spirit according to the indigenous animistic religious beliefs of Shinto..." (more)
Key Phrases: yangban estate, shitomido shutters, keju system, Pure Land, National Treasure, Western Paradise (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... the concentration and study required to fully appreciate this book is sure to be amply rewarded." -- Debbie Greenfield, The Garden Design Journal

"... the only comparative study in English, of the three great gardening traditions of Asia." -- John Talbot, Shakkei: The Quarterly Journal of The Japanese Garden Society

"A must-read for anyone interested in this profound and remarkable cultural phenomenon." -- Peter Walker, Landscape Architect

It is not a book for beginners; but those with some knowledge will find their understanding ... enhanced and deepened...." -- Susan Pares, The Royal Society for Asian Affairs

Product Description

Gardens and their related architecture have always been designed in Japan, China, and Korea as a single, cohesive environment. The particular forms that these environments took over the centuries naturally reflect each country's differing aesthetic principles, but were also governed by other concerns--from religious beliefs and social structure to simple spatial or climatic constraints. In his exploration of the history of garden design in the Far East, Toshiro Inaji offers a fascinating study of changing cultural and aesthetic values.

The Garden as Architecture is the first book published in English to focus on the strikingly different interpretations made by these three countries--in their gardens and architecture--of the Buddhist, Confucianist, Taoist, and geomantic principles that have informed their cultures since ancient times. This pioneering study makes clear just how and why the approaches taken by neighboring countries were so different.

Inaji begins by looking at extant gardens in Japan, China, and Korea, and then traces back over the broad social, philosophical, and cultural circumstances that gave rise to period forms, in an effort to uncover what residential gardens and architecture were understood to mean at significant turning points in their development. He defines the prototype of garden-and-residential environments in each country, and considers the ways in which specific design solutions express the prototype while also meeting the functional criteria of a site. This approach gives readers the deep background they need to view gardens of the Far East with a more informed eye. It reveals--and demystifies--the genius of these garden-and-architectural environments.

This heavily illustrated, comprehensive volume contains more than 150 photographs of the most significant gardens and related architecture in the Far East. Additional information is provided by nearly 200 schematic line drawings. The Garden as Architecture is a milestone in Western access to the traditions of Far Eastern garden design, architecture, and thought.

Features
More than 150 photographs
Nearly 200 schematic line drawings

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 204 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN); illustrated edition edition (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 477001712X
• ISBN-13: 978-4770017123
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,871,543 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Contrasts in how 3 cultures relate buildings & gardens., April 15, 2000

By	Eric Miller (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews

The highest compliment which I can pay to a book is to say that it has a place in my "Desert Island" library - that is to say that if I were to find myself stranded on an island and could only have a few books on a given subject, this would be one of them. The Garden as Architecture is such a book; it is fascinating, well-written and profusely illustrated, and is lucid enough to be enjoyable the first time but sufficiently rich and complex in it's material that it continues to yield additional insights after repeated re-readings. It consists of a cross-cultural comparison of the relationships between architecture and the adjacent outdoor spaces, in the traditional cultures of Japan, China and Korea. I use the term "outdoor space" rather than "garden" because the author makes the point that these 3 cultures differ significantly in the use and meaning which they give to these spaces, which use of the word garden for all 3 does not adequately convey. The section on Japanese gardens and architecture is somewhat longer than the Chinese and Korean sections; it alone is worth the price of the book. The author describes the evolution of residential and temple architecture (starting with Heian-period Shinden style estates and proceeding thru the Shoin and Sukiya styles of the medieval and Edo periods) as well as the changes which occurred in the adjacent gardens. He shows that architecture and the gardens appear to have changed together as part of a mutually-dependant co-evolution, rather than having evolved independently of one another. For example, he describes how as a result of changes in the design of the shutters (shitomido), doors (mairado), and shoji screens used to screen the exterior from the interior of the building, the views of the garden were dramatically altered over time, which influenced the design of the garden. Elsewhere he argues that the south dry-landscape gardens of the Zen temples and the pond-and-hill gardens of warrior residences both evolved from the same prototypical Heian-period Shinden south garden by a process in which certain elements of the latter were emphasized (while others were condensed or retained only by implication rather than explicitly), with the later gardens differing from each other by what was chosen for emphasis. This is a fascinating idea because it is very similar to the process of idealization and abbreviation which many authors have used to describe the relationship between the Japanese garden and the larger natural landscape. The sections on Chinese and Korean gardens are more concerned with the influence of geographic/climatic and social factors than they are with their evolution over time. I'm not sufficiently versed in these subjects to comment on them except to note that the material in these sections is equally interesting, and concerns a subject about which little has been published in English compared with the volume of material on the Japanese garden & architecture. Since the Chinese and Japanese gardens were strongly influenced by Taoism and Zen respectively, the differences between them provide a degree of insight into the contrasting philosophies of these two religions. I have only one minor complaint concerning this book. The numbering of the illustrations is complex and at times confusing, and they are widely separated from the text which discuses them with distressing frequency - expect to be flipping the pages a lot. On a final note, you will get the most out of this book if you already have some familiarity (from more introductory sources) with the subjects covered. The illustrations are all in black & white, so a good large format color book (e.g. by Marc Keane or Teiji Itoh) on Japanese gardens would make an excellent companion, while the visual and spatial arguments in this book can be appreciated more deeply after having worked thru David Slawson's "Secret Teachings in the Art of Japanese Gardens" (which is also in my "Desert Island" library).