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Gardens in Japan

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Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures

The Early Centuries

Before a clearly defined native garden art appears in Japan’s history somewhere in the eighth century, evidence is found of activities in the field of landscape design. It is mainly through archeology that these early centuries speak to us. At Jo-no-koshi (Mie prefecture) a set of rocks was unearthed that stand upright in a rather naturalistic manner. This group had been put up along three narrow well heads lined with shingles that flow together to feed a small stream. The arrangement has been dated between the end of the fourth and middle of the fifth century. The setting vaguely resembles a manner of handling rocks and shingles seen in a few gardens of the seventh and eighth centuries. One can only guess about the meaning these arrangements would have had for the ones who made it or ordered it to be made (Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties & Agency for Cultural Affairs, 2009) (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Survey drawing of the excavated rocks and shingles...

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  1. Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University, Seol, South Korea

    Wybe Kuitert

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    Helaine Selin

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Kuitert, W. (2014). Gardens in Japan. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_9016-2

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