The art of setting stones

摘要

Japanese gardens tend to produce strong reactions in the West, being either loved or hated. There are different styles, but in fact all are idealised forms of natural or mythical landscapes, and have a design ethos all their own. Most westerners, onseeing a Japanese garden, are struck by its strange, almost 'alien' nature. We wonder at the positioning of the rocks, the unusual ornaments and the distinctive way in which the plants have been trained. When Japan first opened its doors to outsiders in1868, Britons were suspicious of 'foreign ways' and well-known horticulturists were downright rude: Reginald Farrer, the Yorkshire plant hunter, commented that the Japanese must 'hate plants because they butcher them', and Lord Redesdale, in 1871, described their gardens as 'monuments to wasted labour'. Such arrogant and ignorant reactions are out of place today. Japanese gardening history goes back a lot further than ours and, as an art form, the Japanese garden is more finely developed, aesthetically, than anything we have to offer in the West. With that in mind - and please stay with me for the moment, even if you disagree - it seems sensible to include a look at Japanese garden art as part of this series on creative planting.