Moss, stone, trees, and sand arranged in striking or
natural-looking compositions: the tradition of establishing and
refining the landscape has been the work of Japanese gardeners and
designers for centuries. In Japanese Gardens and Landscapes,
1650-1950 Wybe Kuitert presents a richly illustrated survey of the
gardens and the people who commissioned, created, and used them and
chronicles the modernization of traditional aesthetics in the
context of economic, political, and environmental transformation.
Kuitert begins in the Edo period (1603-1868), when feudal lords
recreated the landscape of the countryside as private space. During
this same period, and following Chinese literary models, scholars
and men of letters viewed the countryside itself, without any
contrivance, as the ideal space in which to meet with friends and
have a cup of tea. Stewards of inns, teahouses, and temples, on the
other hand, followed increasingly cliched garden designs prescribed
in popular, mass-produced pattern books. Over the course of the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the newly wealthy
captains of industry in Tokyo adopted the aesthetic of the feudal
lords, finding great appeal in naturalistic landscapes and
deciduous forests. Confronted with modernization and the West,
tradition inevitably took on different meanings. Westerners,
seeking to understand Japanese garden culture, found their answers
in the pattern-book cliches, while in Japan, private landscapes
became public and were designed in environmentally supportable
ways, all sponsored by the government. An ancient, esoteric, and
elite art extended its reach to every quarter of society, most
notably with the extensive rebuilding that occurred in the
aftermath of the Tokyo earthquake of 1923 and the end of World War
II. In the wake of destruction came a new model for sustainable
public parks and a heightened awareness of ecological issues,
rooted above all in the natural landscape of Japan. Featuring more
than 180 color photographs and reproductions, Japanese Gardens and
Landscapes, 1650-1950 illustrates a history of changes and
continuities across a span of three centuries and makes an eloquent
case for the lessons to be learned from the Japanese tradition as
we face the challenges of a rapidly changing human habitat.
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