Learning from Saiho-ji: sustaining a garden tradition

摘要

This article sets out to explore the principles that sustain the Japanese garden tradition and to better understand how this tradition has been transported outside of its homeland to other cultures and bio-climatic regions. It seeks, as well, an understanding of how the integrity of this tradition has been maintained within the modern design idiom. To do so, an initial analysis focuses on an exemplar of the tradition, the gardens of Saiho-ji, and is informed by the Sakuteiki, perhaps the world's oldest text that treats gardens as an art form. When creating a garden let the exceptional work of past master gardeners be your guide. Heed the desires of the master of the house, yet heed as well one's own taste.