This book is a delightful journey through the gardens of Japan, their art, culture, and history. This beautifully designed book is a guide to gardens in Japan and a revelation of their historical and cultural contexts. Offering a tour of over 120 gardens spanning east, west, north, and south in Japan, the authors provide a brief description, beautiful photographs, and directions for easy reference, interwoven with notes on personal experiences and travel in different seasons. A glossary of terms and a chronological summary of the gardens in different historical periods are included. A perfect reference for visitors to Japan as well as armchair travelers, this book is the first to show such a wide geographical spread of gardens throughout Japan, and will be beloved by all garden lovers and anyone captivated by this unique element of Japanese culture. 120 color photographs and illustrations. - Publisher.

**Winner of the 2006 American Horticultural Society Book Award** The Art of the Japanese Garden is the only historical overview of Japanese gardens that covers Japanese gardening culture in one beautiful book. Japanese gardens are rooted in two traditions: an indigenous prehistoric tradition in which patches of graveled forest or pebbled beach were dedicated to nature spirits, and a tradition from China and Korea that included elements such as ponds, streams, waterfalls, rock compositions and a variety of vegetation. The Art of the Japanese Garden traces the development and blending of these two traditions, as well as the inclusion of new features as gardening reached new heights of sophistication on Japanese soil. 300 full-color Japanese garden illustrations and photographs highlight notable gardens in Japan, including graveled courtyards, early aristocratic gardens, esoteric and paradise gardens, Zen gardens, warrior gardens, tea gardens and stroll gardens. Also included are sections on modern trends and Japanese gardens in other countries.

"While very attractive visually, this is no mere coffee table book. A wealth of knowledge and information is put across in an instructive yet highly readable fashion. The attention to detail is thoughtful, from the map inside the front cover to the font used in the titles. This book offers both intellectual and visual appeal to any reader, whether familiar with Japanese gardens or new to their aesthetic and traditions. --Garden Design Magazine"

"In tracing the garden of Japan back to their Chinese prototypes, the book presents the first systematic account, as fascinating as it is scholarly, of Chinese garden history, and thus represents a major advance in the study of Oriental garden art in general. It also undertakes to focus Japan's gardens into the total world picture of garden art. Again, although concentrating on the traditional gardens of Japan, the book makes another important contribution by tracing their evolution into modern landscape art, an aspect that present-day readers will particularly appreciate. Also included is much information on garden-making techniques, both old and new. The narrative itself is vivid and entertaining. Against a clarifying background of people and events, the gardens emerge as living realities, and the human intentions underlying their construction become forcefully clear. The reader, whether he visits these gardens in actuality or in spirit alone, will find himself at home in an evironment of meaningful beauty."--Jacket

Getting started -- Designing a Japanese garden -- Elements of Japanese gardens -- Plants for Japanese gardens.