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nightingale type
tea whisk type
Paths
Paths are generally constructed of beaten earth that can be left plain or covered with sand or fine gravel, on top of which are placed stepping stones. Irregular flat stepping stones were used in tea roji to guide the participant towards the teahouse and to keep his or her feet clean. Later, stepping stones were incorporated into other types of gardens. The most commonly used materials are slate, schist, flint and granite, left as natural slabs or shaped into more regular forms. In most traditional gardens, stepping stones are of different sizes and are arranged in a variety of patterns, with several inches between stones so the bare spaces can easily be cleaned. In other cases, cut rocks can be arranged in a close-fitting geometric pattern to create a type of stone pavement. Most paths serve a practical function but the material and style employed serve an aesthetic function by contributing to the degree of formality desired by the garden designer.
Sturdy stepping stone bridge at Kōrakuen Garden, Okayama.
Earthen path covered with gravel.
Geometric cut stones surrounded by natural pebbles and cut stone border (shin: formal style).
Closely spaced natural pebbles, classified as formal (shin) because of the regular effect achieved by the use of pebbles similar in size and shape.
Informal stepping stones (sō).
Closely spaced natural stones, irregular in size and shape, enclosed by a cut stone border (gyō: semiformal).
PONDS, WATERFALLS AND BRIDGES
Oceans and rivers have always been a major source of sustenance for the Japanese. It is therefore not at all surprising that water played a critical role in Shinto purification ceremonies. This indigenous emphasis upon water was strengthened in the sixth century when continental culture introduced gardens that included ponds, streams and waterfalls. Bridges are used to provide access to islands situated in ponds or to cross streams running through the garden.
Ponds and Streams
Ponds were created in a variety of shapes, sometimes based upon Chinese characters, such as the characters for water, heart or dragon. An important design principle was to avoid geometric forms such as rectangles and circles, except in very small domestic gardens. In a landscape garden, the pond should look natural with an irregular shoreline and different “arms,” sometimes partially separated by narrows. Rocks and polished stones were often used to create a rugged coastline or a pebbly beach.
Whenever possible, ponds were fed by natural streams or springs or by water that was piped in, sometimes from a considerable distance. In Kyoto, where most of Japan’s famous gardens are located, there were numerous springs until the mid-Heian Period. Streams also can be employed in gardens that have no ponds to represent tumbling mountain brooks or rivers flowing through a plain. In the former case, streams are narrow, twisting and rocky. In the latter case, they tend to be broader, straighter and lined with wild grasses and flowers.
Detail of a river emptying into a pond, from the gardening manual Tsukiyama Teizōden (Building Mountains and Making Gardens).
Autumn foliage at Tenryūji, Kyoto, the original “borrowed landscape” garden. The focus of the garden is the pond lying at the base of hills rising to Mount Arashi.
Waterfalls
Waterfalls are used to indicate where water enters a pond, to highlight a scene or to provide a focus. If a natural cascade is not available, an artificial waterfall is created by directing water over a cliff formed by planting rocks on a vertical face cut from a hill. The top is often obscured by vegetation to create the illusion of indeterminate height.
There are several varieties of waterfall. In some, water drops directly from a cliff whereas in others it descends in stages over river rocks. The early gardening manual Sakuteiki lists nine types of waterfalls, a classification system that provided the basis for the following categories still in use today: “right and left-falling” (divided into two cascades), “side-falling” (falling on one side only), “front-falling,” “folding-falling” (falling in a series of falls), “stepped-falling,” “wide-falling” (wide in proportion to its height), “heaven-falling” (falling from a great height), “thread-falling” (falling in thin lines), and “linen-falling” (falling in thin sheets).
Garyūkyō stepping stones in the Dragon Pond at Heian Shrine, salvaged from the supporting pillars of the Sanjō and Gojō bridges in Kyoto. The interconnected ponds in the garden are graced by lavish plantings of flowers, trees and water plants.
The 7-meter (23-foot)-high Midoritaki waterfall on the north edge of Hisago Pond at Kenrokuen was created in 1774 by the eleventh Maeda lord Harunaka, who held a large tea party to mark the completion of the waterfall. By this time, rock formations associated with waterfalls seem to have lost the religious symbolism they had in earlier gardens, such as Tenryūji.
BRIDGES
Like walls and fences, bridges are almost endless in their variety of shapes, materials and means of construction. The main variables for common types of bridges are as follows:
Shape: arched (soribashi) or flat (hirabashi)
Alignment: straight, staggered or zigzag
Materials: stones or logs covered with organic materials such as bark and sod
Construction: suspended with a center support, suspended with no center support, wood or stone slabs resting on multiple supports, or stepping stones planted directly in the pond or stream bed
Character: refined or rustic
Arched bridges (soribashi) can be either painted red or left unpainted. When a log bridge is covered with cedar bark and dirt, upon which moss or grass is encouraged to grow, it is referred to as a dobashi. Stone bridges (ishibashi) employ either natural or cut rocks and are generally used to cross streams running into ponds. Covered bridges with benches, seldom seen in gardens today, are called rōkyō or kurehashi. Rustic slab or stepping stone bridges are suitable
