BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDEN RECORD 



VOL. XVIII JULY, 1930 NO. 4 



THE JAPANESE GARDEN 

 OF THE BROOKEYN BOTANIC GARDEN 



By Bunkio Matsuki 



Introduction 



The Japanese Garden of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a 

 charming spot in this great metropolis where visitors may tem- 

 ])orarily forget their western thought and enjoy a glim]xse of the 

 Land of the Rising Sun. At least so it impresses a native Japa- 

 nese who enters into this garden. It is a great pleasure to me, 

 therefore, to write out and explain the various interesting features 

 in this unique Jaimnese garden in the midst of the great occidental 

 city. There are many hooks which have l)een written ahout Japa- 

 nese gardens, hut reading them and actually seeing a garden are 

 two dififerent matters. It is my hope that this guide hook may 

 clarify and explain the delightful features to those who visit this 

 ]dace. 



The garden was designed hy Mr. Takeo .Shiota. and was first 

 opened to the puhlic on Sunday, June 6, H)I5. Since then, from 

 the Japanese point of view, the garden has shown a very marked 

 improvement in adding a jiatina to the tone of the garden com- 

 plexion through the processes of natural weathering. 



This Japanese garden, or Nkva, is a landscape garden and, in 

 order to kee]) its as])ect constant all the year round, the transitory 

 flowering plants are greatly restricted ; preference is given to 

 evergreen trees (such as the pine) and shruhs, in association with 

 rocks and water. A yearning for nature exists in every nation- 

 ality, but the demonstration of such intimacy with nature as was 

 created in landscape garden making in Japan is a distinct aesthetic 

 contribution of the Japanese to the world. 



The earliest record of garden making in Japanese history is 

 found in the twentieth year (602 A.D.) of the reign of Empress 



197 



