A LYRICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE JAPANESE GARDEN
If you've never been to a Japanese garden before, brace yourself. Don't expect to be overwhelmed by Western standards of garden beauty. Instead open your mind and let the Japanese garden take you to a higher plane, for any visit can really provide a profound experience, if you allow the garden to work its magic.
In encountering a Japanese garden, you not only see with your eyes, you listen, feel and live its simplicity and beauty. It is not enough just to look at the moss-covered ground and the lovely Fall colors; you also hear the "clunk" of the bamboo water container punctuating the silence of the garden as if thumping out its very heartbeat.
The Japanese garden is a work of living art. As with all Japanese art forms and aesthetic principles, the Japanese garden is a manifestation of Japanese values, beliefs, and principles -- in short, a reflection of the Japanese spirit. The Japanese reverence for nature, the Zen way, Shinto beliefs are all reflected in the Japanese garden. Nothing is left to chance; every living thing in a garden exists for a reason. Every tree, rock or plant is significant and stands as a symbol for something else in Japanese society and culture. There is a link, a connection somewhere that serves to tell us more about Japan, if we know where to look and what to look for. A simple garden walkway could reveal to us a part of the richness of Japanese history or the significance of its metaphorical importance if we seek out poetic points of reference in Japanese literature.
The Japanese garden is a physical manifestation of religious belief, a poetic form, a symphony, a link to a traditional sense of cultural heritage, an inspiration to meditation, a gateway to oneself; it is anything you choose it to be because it is ever-changing; and, from any angle you choose to view and experience it, you arrive at different conclusions. Even the mood you are in when you view a Japanese garden influences the outcome of the viewing and the experience of "being there". On a rainy day, the slick, wet rocks and the droplets enveloping the greens remind you of the melancholy richness of nature while a hot summer day would throw an entirely different light on the same garden, with sunlight glinting playfully off the pond's surface evoking feelings of gaiety instead of sadness.
No one person experiences any single Japanese garden in the same way at each encounter. As such each garden is different and each experience of that garden space is unique unto itself. There is no right way and no wrong way to experience a Japanese garden. One only has to look within from the exterior and the Japanese garden will open itself up to you, showing you all the beauty contained in both life and nature while providing you a glimpse of the Japanese spirit as well.
