One may visit famous gardens in Tokyo, Kyoto, or Osaka—or one may
visit Japanese-styled gardens in New York, San Francisco,
Philadelphia, Berlin, London, Paris, São Paulo, or Singapore. We
often view these gardens as representative of the essence of
Japanese culture. Christian Tagsold argues, however, that the idea
of the Japanese garden has less do to with Japan's history and
traditions, and more to do with its interactions with the West. The
first Japanese gardens in the West appeared at the world's fairs in
Vienna in 1873 and Philadelphia in 1876 and others soon appeared in
museums, garden expositions, the estates of the wealthy, and public
parks. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Japanese garden,
described as mystical and attuned to nature, had usurped the
popularity of the Chinese garden, so prevalent in the eighteenth
century. While Japan sponsored the creation of some gardens in a
series of acts of cultural diplomacy, the Japanese style was
interpreted and promulgated by Europeans and Americans as well. But
the fashion for Japanese gardens would decline in inverse relation
to the rise of Japanese militarism in the 1930s, their
rehabilitation coming in the years following World War II, with the
rise of the Zen meditation garden style that has come to dominate
the Japanese garden in the West. Tagsold has visited over eighty
gardens in ten countries with an eye to questioning how these
places signify Japan in non-Japanese geographical and cultural
contexts. He ponders their history, the reasons for their
popularity, and their connections to geopolitical events, explores
their shifting aesthetic, and analyzes those elements which
convince visitors that these gardens are "authentic." He concludes
that a constant process of cultural translation between Japanese
and Western experts and commentators marked these spaces as
expressions of otherness, creating an idea of the Orient and its
distinction from the West.
General
Imprint: |
University of PennsylvaniaPress
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture |
Release date: |
September 2017 |
First published: |
2017 |
Authors: |
Christian Tagsold
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 29mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
256 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8122-4674-2 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8122-4674-8 |
Barcode: |
9780812246742 |
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