Japanese Gardening

A client of mine is both Japanese and Canadian.  She has a Japanese style home and garden to match.  She lent me a lovely hardcover book about Japanese Gardening.  Here is a quote from the Forward by Teiji Ito in 1972.

"The early use in gardens of rocks sculpted by the action of waves told of the seafaring days of the race.  Later, the still water of garden ponds carried the dragon-prowed pleasure boats of the Heian court nobility.  The desolation of an age of civil wars drove people to fashion garden replicas of a Buddhist paradise.  Then the cycle of nature itself as it unfolds in a garden was elevated to a symbol of life and death.  Gardens no longer existed for the contemplation of nature but became reflections of metaphysical speculations concedrning nature and man."

I can't say I understand Japanese Gardening, but from looking at the picture book, it seems that they each involve a minimal number of species and large areas of rock or water.  Framing seems to be a strong design element, where a view will be literally framed by a window in a wall.  These are very tidy gardens, except for when the leaves first land artfully.  Shrubs are pruned into rounded mounds.  Moss carpets give way only to definitive streams, rocks, or trees.

I think Canadian gardens incorporate some Japanese elements.  Buddah statues,  rocks, stepping stones, and sculpted lawns (or moss carpets depending on your lawn) abound.  Framed views, such as that from a kitchen window, are very important to our sense of esthetic.  We like our gardens tidy too, and what tidy means can vary by person.