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Japanese garden-2

The area around the tea-house we will keep empty; raked gravel emphasizes the special qualities of this place. Originally such an empty space was used for festivities and ceremonies. It evokes the atmosphere found at holy places at the foot of some mountains or by specific rocks, where a meeting with kami could take place.                             

   In  the Japanese religious system of faith and worship, Shintoism, the very air is imbued with kami, the spirits or gods, the souls of the ancestors. As they can be good or evil, people have to keep on good terms with them. During the Heian period garden-makers were still very much involved with these kami and how to deceive them - how to lead them round the garden! Hence many of the old instructions include indications for the positioning of the large rocks, their orientation and that of other rocks and the locating of certain important trees. Conscientiously, we have attempted to follow them. Although we are not disposed to being superstitious nor are we able to believe in kami, we have not found it difficult to work with these ideas. Maybe there really is more between heaven and earth than we can ever dream of. Perhaps we could talk here of "energies". And as the thought of a beautiful form being able to attract positive energy immediately arises in us, we are able to transform many of the instructions into aesthetic principles.                                                     

North of the nantei there is a small area that we call our Iris-trefoil. Many Iris sibirica cultivars find a place here. Behind them is a trellis with two Wisteria floribunda varieties. In this way we try to keep the character of Wisteria above Iris, even if the Iris is not Iris ensata. Unfortulately it turned out very difficult for us to grow them succesfully. After many experiments with place and gradation of moist in summer and winter we were happy to get some irises flourishing behind a campsheet along a part of the pond.    

In Japan extensive gardens of these irises exist with varieties of Wisteria on trellises overhanging them. It must be an enchanting sight when all these beautiful plants are in bloom simultaeously. For Japanese people it is a feast of nature, almost as important as the springflowering of ornamental cherries and the autumn colours of maples.                         

 In the lake which is about 300 m², there are two rocky islands. In the western part it is a crane island (tsuru-shima), and it symbolizes longevity. In the eastern part it is a three-stones island (mitsugumi-shima). 
The mind of Japanese people was occupied with rocks and islands long before they started making gardens. And already in the 7th century there was a Minister who enjoyed himself in a garden with an island. It has much to do with their ideas about kami. It is believed that there are kami who come from above; they descend on rocks (iwa-kura). And there are kami who come from over the sea; they must find hospitality in lakes and ponds (kami-ike). These ideas have become intermingled with elements from Chinese mythology and from the Buddhist-Hinduist cosmology. Furthermore considering that Japan is a country with beautiful rocky coasts and many, many islands, it is not surprising that in whatever shape or form, a Japanese garden always contains one or more islands. Except perhaps in the undiluted tea garden.