The Japanese Rock Garden
The Japanese dry garden (枯山水, karesansui) or Japanese rock garden, often called a zen garden,
is a distinctive style of Japanese garden. It creates a miniature stylized landscape through carefully
composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and uses gravel or sand
that is raked to represent ripples in water.[1] Zen gardens are commonly found at temples or monasteries.
A zen garden is usually relatively small, surrounded by a wall or buildings, and is usually meant to be
seen while seated from a single viewpoint outside the garden, such as the porch of the hojo, the residence
of the chief monk of the temple or monastery. Many, with gravel rather than grass, are only stepped into
for maintenance. Classical zen gardens were created at temples of Zen Buddhism in Kyoto during the Muromachi
period. They were intended to imitate the essence of nature, not its actual appearance, and to serve as an
aid for meditating about the true meaning of existence.
Selection and arrangement of rocks
Stone arrangements and other miniature elements are used to represent mountains and natural water elements and scenes,
islands, rivers and waterfalls. Stone and shaped shrubs (karikomi, hako-zukuri topiary) are used interchangeably.
In most gardens moss is used as a ground cover to create "land" covered by forest.
Gravel
Gravel is usually used in zen gardens, rather than sand, because it is less disturbed by rain and wind. The act of
raking the gravel into a pattern recalling waves or rippling water, known as samon (砂紋)[15] or hōkime (箒目), has
an aesthetic function. Zen priests practice this raking also to help their concentration. Achieving perfection of
lines is not easy. Rakes are according to the patterns of ridges as desired and limited to some of the stone objects
situated within the gravel area.[clarification needed] Nonetheless, often the patterns are not static. Developing
variations in patterns is a creative and inspiring challenge. There are typically four raking patterns, line, wave,
scroll, and check.
Symbolism
In the Japanese rock garden, rocks sometimes symbolize mountains (particularly Horai, the legendary home of the Eight
Immortals in Taoist mythology); or they can be boats or a living creature (usually a turtle, or a carp). In a group,
they might be a waterfall or a crane in flight.
Source: Wikipedia
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