Japanese Garden Design
A Japanese Garden is full of mystery, nature and serenity. Just as landscape gardens of the West followed historic points of reference such as Classical Garden Design, Traditional Garden Design, English Garden Design on up threw Modern Garden Design, the Japanese garden tradition has a history that followed the trends and lifestyles of their location and times. It would be very pretentious to copy directly a Japanese Garden for Houston, although there was actually a style of Japanese Garden Design that did just that. We will highlight how you could build and apply the Japanese or Zen Garden style to your own home in Houston Texas.
Japanese Garden History
• Asuka period (538-710)-gardens were an expression of Buddhism and Taoism. Small gardens were reflections of spiritual themes or miniaturizations of the large mountainous regions of China and Japan.
• Heian period (794-1185)-the garden shifted from representing religious beliefs to becoming a place for ceremony, entertainment and passive contemplation. These became gardens for the wealthy of the time. (more…)