Space and Illusion in the Japanese Garden

The discussion of how to capture landscape is more effective than the discussion of the courtyard garden. While both topics are considered from an historical and design point of view, the suggestions made in the captured landscape sections are more explicit, making them easier to apply in actual situations.

There are six means discussed in which a shakkei garden, or a garden utilizing a borrowed landscape, can borrow that landscape. They are:

To Capture with Tree Trunks

To Capture with a Woods

To Capture with Posts and Eaves

To Capture with the Sky

To Capture with a Stone Lantern

To Capture with a Window

Essentially, the difference between a shakkei garden and a garden with a view is that the shakkei garden somehow incorporates the view into the design of the garden itself, so that it appears to be a part of the garden. This is done to make the garden feel larger than its real size. The methods of “capturing” a view all involve framing the view in some way, in combination with the utilization of foreground, middle ground, and background (the view) manipulation.

Unlike the review on Amazon, I thought that the photographs used to support the text were sufficient, many of them being very beautiful, although they are mostly printed in black and white gravure; only eight of the images are in color. They are placed at the end of the text and regularly referenced, requiring much page turning.

If this book leaves you hungry for more design detail, definitely read David Slawson’s SECRET TEACHINGS IN THE ART OF JAPANESE GARDENS: DESIGN PRINCIPLES, AESTHETIC VALUES. There is little, if any, overlap between the two books and Slawson goes into much more detail concerning the visual enlargement of small gardens.