Gardening was an advanced art in China and Korea by the time the Romans came to Britain. Buddhist missionaries brought the practice to Japan. Initially Japanese Garden included religious symbols because it was nurtured for 2,000 years by ancient tradition. The religious symbolism was highlighted in the years of aesthetic and cultural influence, eventually turning into a mystic cult. Each feature that is added has a special significance and place. Even trees are planted to represent an animal, mood, or shipwreck. Features represent masculine and feminine. Bold stones represent masculine, while less dominant stones are feminine. “The first place to seek God is in the Garden”, this quite by George Bernard Shaw represent the basic spirit behind the tradition of Japanese miniature gardens. The garden is place of spirituality where recreation can occur.
The essentials of Japanese gardening are guided through design and symbols. The garden is often modeled after an popular scene. During these reproductions the rules of proportion and the arrangement of pathways are strictly observed. The exactness of the miniature gardens of the Japanese is unparalleled, a true wonder. The sizes range from a small bonsai to a larger garden. No matter what the size, they all have the same guiding principles. The reproduction depends on the artist’s perspective. These gardens feature much attention to depth and dimension, often creating a piece that is more detailed than the original.
Japanese gardeners find much pleasure in creating the miniature gardens where the beauty is only revealed to the seeker. The legend is that there was once a gardener who made the beauty of his work only visible once the viewers raised their head over the water basin. This explains the passion and though process that is applied to each garden. There are three types of designs, the Shin, or the elaborate, the Gyo, the intermediate, and the So, the simplest form.
