The Journey: A History of Japanese Garden Design
Seven centuries of Japanese garden making, from the paradise ponds of the Nara period to the strolling gardens of the Edo era. This is the tradition behind every Escape Garden Design landscape in Aspen, Colorado.
- Japan – Art of Standing Stone (The Foundation): The mystery and intrigue of man's creative ability to stand stone upright has proven to be one of the most powerful aesthetic and spiritual creations of man's history.
- Nara Period (710 to 794 A.D.): The Nara period produced Japan's earliest formal gardens, shaped by Chinese and Korean traditions, and made the pond garden a lasting form.
- Heian Period (794 to 1185 A.D.): The Heian period produced the Sakuteiki, perhaps the world's oldest gardening manuscript, and formalized pond-and-island garden design.
- Kamakura Period (1185 to 1333 A.D.): The Kamakura period brought Zen Buddhism into Japanese garden art and pared nature down to its essentials.
- Muromachi Period (1336 to 1573 A.D.): The Muromachi period refined the dry garden, the karesansui, to its highest form and produced some of Japan's most celebrated gardens.
- Momoyama Period (1573 to 1603 A.D.): The Momoyama period brought the tea garden, the roji, into the center of Japanese garden culture, and tied the tea ceremony to the experience of the path.
- Edo Period (1603 to 1868 A.D.): The Edo period grew the tea garden into the strolling garden: a sequence of composed views that let the visitor discover the grounds as a living, changing thing.
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