Japanese Sand Garden Design

Water koi fish rock sand garden bridges stone lantern garden fence and flowers trees.

Japanese sand garden design. Alternatively azaleas are intrinsic in japanese garden design the bushy evergreens deliver all year round colour and interest providing structure and shape to the space. Sand gravel raked into a particular pattern is meant to symbolize the waves in the river or the sea while rocks placed the sand symbolizes mountains. Japanese gardens 日本庭園 nihon teien are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas avoid artificial ornamentation and highlight the natural landscape.

Although those gardens are thematically based on the natural landscapes the purpose of them is not so much to create an exacts replica of nature more like they are aiming to compose a meditational space in which one can contemplate the meaning of existence. In order to make it easy to understand the concept i will divide this post into 7 sections that describe all the seven elements of a japanese garden namely. Almost all the elements indicate some kind of symbolism which makes it interesting to watch the japanese garden.

Japanese garden design elements and principles. Before placing a boulder you pick its top and its best side in japanese that s called the face keane says. The large ornamental stones in japanese gardens are viewed with the same artistic eye that a sculpture would be.

Japanese privet or box leaved holly may be what you need to provide some structure in your styled garden these can be pruned into the cloud tree shape using the japanese method of niwaki which means garden tree. Plants and worn aged materials are generally used by japanese garden designers to suggest an ancient and faraway natural landscape and to express the fragility of existence as. Such a garden is created to be felt not observed.

A typical zen sand garden design includes a large area of raked sand interspersed with one or two large rocks bordered by edging pavers and dotted here and there with plants. The shape texture and color are all intentionally chosen to enhance the garden s overall design. The essential elements in one japanese zen garden are gravel stones and in some cases moss.