Japanese Gardens Resources

Welcome to the Resources area for Japanese Gardens. Feel free to check out the links, and add your comments or submit your own link suggestions by clicking the button on the right and discussing them on the Japanese Gardens forum.

Online Resources

Bowdoin College: Japanese Gardens
Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine) site is dedicated to the gardens of Japan, and primarily to the historic gardens of Kyoto and its environs, including Nara. Adobe flash player needed to view the full content for each garden. The online photo library of Japanese garden elements is useful for beginners to learn in an easy to navigate format. The content and great photos will be of value to beginners and enthusiast alike.

Link location Japanese Gardens - Overview
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 26 Jun 2017; last confirmed 26 Jun 2017

JAANUS : Terminology of Japanese Architecture & Art History
On-line Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology, compiled by Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent. This dictionary contains approximately 8000 terms related to traditional Japanese architecture and gardens, painting, sculpture and art-historical iconography from approximately the 1st century A.D. to the end of the Edo period (1868).

Link location :<<>>: JAANUS :<<>>: Terminology of Japanese Architecture & Art History
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 26 Jun 2017; last confirmed 26 Jun 2017

Japanese Garden Dictionary
A glossary of Japanese garden terms with the English and Japanese names in alphabetical order. When you click on the English name (in blue) it takes you to a page with definition, more information, and some provide a picture for more clarity. Or you can select the Japanese index, in which case those names are alphabetized and clickable.

Link location: English Index -- Japanese Garden Dictionary

Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 15 Jun 2019; last confirmed 15 Jun 2019​

Japanese Garden Enthusiast
Photo library of Japanese gardens and garden elements, organized by garden type: dry landscape (or) stroll and moss gardens with water elements (or everything else that is not a dry landscape). In Japanese; Google will translate. There is a full description of the site in this thread: Japanese Garden Enthusiast home page - Great online resource!.

Link location 日本庭園の楽しみ
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 20 Mar 2014; last confirmed 25 Jun 2017

Japanese Gardens Outside Japan
Scholarly and general information on Japanese gardens outside Japan. The site covers Japanese gardens on six continents. The information was compiled by Tokyo University of Agriculture's Professor Makoto Suzuki who is the world's leading expert on the subject.

Link location 海外の日本庭園
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 24 Dec 2013; last confirmed 25 Jun 2017

Japanese Lantern Making
Forum user rufretic has posted instructions for making a large Japanese lantern from Hypertufa.

Link location Japanese lantern made of Hypertufa
Submitted by rufretic
Submitted date 20 Mar 2014; last confirmed 25 Jun 2017

Kamakura Gardens
A personal tribute to the author's home for ten years, this site is a photo catalog of flowering trees and shrubs in Kamakura, Japan, with the common and Japanese names. Rather than offering depth of botanical information, this is perfect for someone who wants to get ideas for adding Japanese flowers to their own garden or for someone who can appreciate and enjoy the beauty.

Link location Japanese Flowers
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 26 Jun 2017; last confirmed 26 Jun 2017

Mirei Shigemori: The Ageless Modernity of the Rock Garden [1080p] - Video from Core Kyoto

Mirei Shigemori, a prolific landscape artist based in Kyoto from the late 1920's, is famous for the striking and abundant creativity of his gardens, considered one of the great Japanese garden designer of modern time. He made a powerful impact on garden design in Kyoto with his checkerboard-patterned gardens and dry karesansui gardens that use dynamic rock groupings, such as Hasso-no-niwa at Tofuku-ji and Joko-no-niwa at Matsunoo Taisha. Discover the ageless modernity of Mirei's revolutionary designs that continue to stimulate, inspire and influence people today.

This 28 minute video is engagingly presented, showing several Japanese gardens and garden creation, and explaining the meaning behind the garden design.

Link location
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 21 Jun 2018; last confirmed 30 Jul 2018

Modernizing the Japanese Garden
This doctorial thesis by Christian Tschumi, published in 2004, is a monograph on Mirei Shigemori. It introduces the work of this Japanese landscape architect and scholar who was very active in the years right before and after WWII. This thesis or monograph is the most complete and in-depth analysis of Mirei Shigemori's life, works, and gardens. The author had access to Shigemori's never seen before sketches, research papers, personal journals, garden plans, receipts from original garden installations, ect. Even works written in Japanese are referenced and translated in English for the first time.

Link locations
Mirei Shigemori : Modernizing the Japanese garden - PDF
(The site above host the PDF as a viewable document without having to download it for free)
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-004680629
(The above site hosts the PDF as a download option for entire document or thesis all in PDF format for free)
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 10 Jul 2019; last confirmed 11 Jul 2019

My Japanese Garden - Chris Gare
Photos, links, recommended books, and text documenting how to create the elements. The author documented the formation of his garden in a straight-forward way and provides all the resources used during each step in a way that is easy to use and understand. The left navigation bar on his site is loaded with information for the DIY'er. Read a fuller description on the discussion page for this resource.

Link location My Japanese Garden - home page
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 29 June 2017; last confirmaed 29 Jun 2017

My Japanese Teahouse - Chris Gare
By the same person whose My Japanese Garden website is listed here. This site has photos, links, recommended books, and text documenting how to create the elements. The author documented the formation of his teahouse in a straight-forward way and provides all the resources used during each step in a way that is easy to use and understand. The left navigation bar on his site is loaded with information for the DIY'er.

Link location My Japanese Teahouse - home page
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 29 June 2017; last confirmed 29 Jun 2017

Transience - video from NHK World Japan
NHK is a Japanese TV station. As part of their Design Talks Plus series, they have issued a 28-minute video on the importance of transience in Japanese garden design. The guest speaker is a Zen temple priest and one of Japan's top garden designers Shunmyo Masuno, who shares design principals and their connection to Zen teachings. You can read some excerpts from an interview with the designer on this forum page: Japanese Gardens resource discussion thread.

Link location
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date Jun 9 2018; last confirmed 9 Jun 2018

Books

Flowers and Gardens of Japan
A book of colour-plate paintings by Ella Du Cane and text by Florence Du Cane, first published in 1908 by Adam & Charles Black, London. The opening chapter on Landscape Gardening covers the features of a Japanese garden. After chapters on ornaments and different types of gardens, the most important garden plants are discussed as they come into focus through the year. There seem to be later versions of this book available for download. Here is a google books display of several pages from the original book.

Reference for a current version Paperback: 232 pages, Publisher: Lulu.com (May 26 2013), ISBN-10: 1304068552, ISBN-13: 978-1304068552
Submitted by wcutler
Submitted date 25 Jun 2017

Illustrated History of the Japanese Garden
26 volume set featuring 243 gardens in detail, by Mirei Shigemori, a very well-known Japanese garden designer. This is described in great detail in this thread: Could be the greatest books ever written on Japanese Gardens

Reference Nihon teien-shi zukan (Illustrated History of the Japanese Garden; Tokyo: Yukosha, 1936-1939, abbreviated as"Zukan")
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 26 Feb 2014

Landscape Gardening in Japan
Book by Josiah Conder, an English architect who taught in Tokyo and designed the Rokumeikan and the Imperial Museum in Tokyo; published in 1893, this book was highly lauded by Florence Du Cane, author of Flowers and Gardens of Japan, referenced here. It is a two-volume set with many black & white plates. The first and primary volume presents the history of Japanese gardening followed by chapters dealing with various technical aspects of traditional Japanese gardens. There is a full description of the book, with photos of some of the pages at Landscape Gardening in Japan, J. Conder, Collotypes (40) by K. Ogawa.

Reference 2 volumes, Tokio, printed by Hakubunsha, published and sold by Kelly & Walsh, 1893. A 2002 Edition from Kodansha Amer Inc, ISBN10 4770028520, ISBN13 9784770028525 is available from various online sellers.
Submitted by wcutler
Submitted date 26 Jun 2017

Practical Guide to Japanese Gardening
The full title is A Practical Guide to Japanese Gardening: From Design Options and Materials to Planting Techniques and Decorative Features. That would seem to say it all. Here is one location that carries it: A Practical Guide to Japanese Gardening

Reference Author: Charles Chesshire, Publisher: Lorenz Books , 2008-04-25, ISBN: 0754817725, EAN: 9780754817727
Submitted by janetdoyle
Submitted date 11 Aug 2009

Sukiya Living Magazine - Journal of Japanese Gardening
Bi-monthly English-language print publication dedicated to the special world of Japanese gardens and Japanese architecture. Every other month, this 44-page magazine discuses various aspects of Japanese architecture, horticulture, art, and philosophy. Topics range from centuries-old design principles to modern, how-to construction and maintenance techniques.
In 2008, this journal published a list of Best Books - click to view this as a pdf file.

Reference link Japanese Garden Journal
Submitted by JT1
Submitted date 29 Jun 2017; last confirmed 29 Jun 2017