Category: Japan

Liveable Cities’ Liaison with Heritage and Open Spaces

Annual surveys and lists of ‘World’s most liveable cities’ each differ but there are some clear trends from which interesting lessons can be learned. These ‘World’s most liveable cities’ surveys indicate for instance how heritage, nature and qualitative open spaces are key factors in making cities healthy environments for living. This brief article wonders how a reconnection …

Composition of scenery in Japanese pre-modern gardens and the three distances of Guo Xi

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 …

Cherry Blossoms in San Francisco: Hakone Gardens and the Japanese Tea Garden

There are more than 300 public Japanese gardens in North America and the West Coast of the United States is the home of many splendid Japanese or Japanese-inspired gardens. If you ever pass through San Francisco I can recommend two remarkable Japanese gardens for a visit. The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park in …

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 …