The Gardens of Japan

First published in 2005. In Japan, the garden is considered a barometer of the nation's prosperity and character, and different periods in history have produced different kinds of gardens. Harada gives brief summaries of them all, including the Edo period (1603-1867), when professional gardeners first took over the design of gardens from priests, and reveals a few of the subtle distinctions that the Japanese use to distinguish between different kinds of gardens that appear identical to Western eyes. As a reaction to all things foreign, the gardens of the Meiji Restoration period (1868-1912), on which the book concentrates, revived the earlier simpler cha-no-yu style of garden heavily influenced by Zen. A special feature of the book is rare period photographs of famous parks and the now vanished gardens of Japanese aristocrats.