The importance of planning and planting bamboos and grassesin Japanese Zen style Feng Shui gardens.

" I can imagine a garden superimposed overthe image of an orchestra. A garden is composed of various different elementsand sophisticated details that converge to form a harmonious whole. Eachelement does not exert its individuality, but achieves a state ofanonymity...and that is the kind of music that I would like to create."

T. Takemitsu

Japanese Gardendesigners

followed 3 basicprinciples when composing scenes. They are reduced scale, symbolisation, and"borrowed views". The first refers to the miniaturisation of naturalviews of mountains and rivers so as to reunite them in a confined area. Thiscould mean the creation of idealised scenes of a mountain village, even withina city.

Symbolisationinvolves abstraction, an example being the use of white sand to suggest thesea. Designers "borrowed views" when they used background views thatwere outside and beyond the garden, such as a mountain or the ocean, and hadthem become an integral part of the scenic composition.

Ancient Japanese Gardens:

The earliestknown gardens date back to the Asuka period (593-710) and the Naraperiod(710-794). In the Yamato area (now in Nara Prefecture), designers of imperialfamily gardens and those of powerful clans created imitations of ocean scenesthat featured large ponds dotted with islands and skirted with"seashores".

It was at thistime that Buddhism was brought to Japan from the continent by way of the Koreanpeninsula. Immigrants from there added continental influences to Japanesegardens, such as stone fountains and bridges of Chinese origin.

Kamakura period(1185-1333) that followed, saw the rise of a warrior class and the influence ofZen priests from China, bringing about changes in the style of residentialbuildings and gardens. It was not the custom of the military elite to holdsplendid ceremonies in their gardens. Instead, they preferred to enjoy theirgardens from inside the house, and gardens were designed to be appreciatedprimarily for their visual appeal. In this period, priest-designers orishitateso (literally, rock placing monks), came to the fore.

It is said thatthe golden age of Japanese gardens occurred in the Muromachi period(l333-I568). Groups of skilled craftsmen called senzui kawaramono (mountain,stream, and riverbed people) were responsible for creating a new style ofgarden, known as karesansui (dry mountain stream). Heavily influenced by ZenBuddhism, these gardens are characterised by extreme abstraction: groups ofrocks represent mountains or waterfalls, and white sand is used to replaceflowing water.

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Japanese Zen Garden Bamboo and Grasses.

Shibataeakumasasa Japanese Zen Bamboo

Bambusa venticosa Japanes garden zen

Bambusaventicosa The Buddha's Belly Bamboo

Semiarundinaria fastuosa. A tall elegant Bamboo

I t is important torealise that thetypical Japanese Zen garden has very much a different qualities to agarden with a Chinese Feng Shui themeboth in composition and philosophy.I n contrast to the geometrically arranged trees and rocks of aWestern-style garden, the Japanese garden traditionally creates a sceniccomposition that, as artlessly as possible, mimics nature

The basic framework of the Japanesegarden, according to one school of thought, is provided by rocks and the waythey are grouped. Ancient Japanese, we know, believed that a place surroundedby rocks was inhabited by gods, thus naming it amatsu iwasaka (heavenlybarrier) or amatsu iwakura (heavenly seat). Likewise, a dense cluster of treeswas called himorogi (divine hedge); moats and streams, thought to enclosesacred ground, were referred to as mizugaki (water fences).

Usually Japanese style gardens usebamboos and grasses very sparingly. The general approach to a Japanese gardenis basically evergreen with variegated and coloured pants on the wholeconspicuous by their absence with the exception of a few carefully placedspecimens such a spring flowering cherry blossom , a Japanese Acerpalmatum purpreum, Magnolia or Camellia as a focal point,

In essence a Japanese garden is onethat is unchanging tranquility therefore the permanency and stability of rocksand stone play a significant role as well as , artificial hills, ponds, and flowing water . Raked gravel orstone replaces the familiar lawn representing flowing rivers swirling aroundsolitary rocks or island tufts of plain green grasses and sedges such as Hakenochola, Imperata , Deschampsia , Carex oshimensis, Carex comans, Ophiopogon LuzulaPhalaris .

Ponds feature in Japanese gardenshowever they are not highly ornamental like the Chinese and quite small. Thesound of running water being considered more important than the quantity. Emptyspace is considered as important as any of the other features and needs to beutilised or placed if that's possible with empty space? as precisely as theother features. The overall effect should be one composed so as to resemble apicture and, like a fine painting, invites careful and extendedviewing

Although bamboo is held in greatesteem in Japan in both philosophical and practical terms as a rule the use ofbamboo is not featured in Japanese gardens to anyexcess, being limited to one or two smaller specimen plants ofeither delicate upright nature or of the short clumping varieties suitable forcontainers. Good bamboos for a Japanese garden are S hibataeaKumasasa , Chimnobambusatumidissinod a, SemiarundinariaFastuosa , Bambusa venticosa

Japanese gardens can be classifiedinto 2 general types: the tsukiyama (hill garden), which is composed of hillsand ponds, and the hiraniwa l (flat garden), a flat area without hills andponds. At first, it was common to employ the hill style for the main garden ora mansion and the flat style for limited spaces. The latter type, however,became more popular with the introduction of the tea ceremony and the chashitsu(tea-ceremony room).

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