Wybe Kuitert explores in this article traditional East Asian landscape composition through Chinese and Japanese sources and drawings, supplemented by investigative research at the rock garden at Daisen-in, Kyoto, and the larger seventeenth-century garden without rocks at Jiko-in, in Nara. In doing so he enhances our understanding of the spatial illusion of the Japanese pre-modern garden. Part of the …
Category: Asia
Seoul as Landscape System
Wybe Kuitert analyses in this article how the early historical settlement and development of Seoul, which started in the 1390s, had a strong connection with the natural landscape, and how this is still readable in the landscape. Particularly Seoul’s rolling hills were favourable and secure places to live. In contrast many water-induced areas and flood …
Continuity in Landscape – West and East
In this article by Wybe Kuitert, the author reminds us that many historic gardens may at present appear like rather isolated green spaces, but that such gardens and parks were often laid-out as an integral part of a wider, continuous landscape. The author gives examples of historic gardens in Japan and The Netherlands to illustrate …
Haeinsa Temple & Tripitaka Koreana
The Tripitaka Koreana is one of the most complete Buddhist scriptures and are housed at the Haensa Temple. They consist of 81,258 printing woodblocks of about 70x24cm. It took the craftsmen 16 years, from 1236 to 1251 to complete the carving. The depository building, the ‘Janggyeong Panjeon’ consists of two main buildings and while simple …
Batik City, Pekalongan, Java, Indonesia
Rediscovering the Mughal Gardens of Kashmir
The Mughal gardens of Kashmir are, apart from being of exceptional beauty, important and irreplaceable physical evidence to the understanding of Mughal and Kashmiri history and Mughal Garden history. Different periods of history have created historical layers in the gardens with distinct markings. The most recognized and renowned representation of the Mughal Period of Kashmir …