Japanese Gardening for Small Areas 



265 



— and the greatest of these is the stones. You can get along without hills, 

 and you can get along without trees, but you cannot get along without 

 stones. Indeed, the perfect type of the fiat garden is nothing but an archi- 

 pelago of rocks in a sea of white pebbles. The stones must be the foundation ; 

 the rest are mere accessories. Speaking stones are what is wanted — stones 

 that suggest moods and passions — for the Japanese recognise that there 

 are sermons in stones. Each stone has its name and relative ]-)lace in the 

 composition. There is the Guard- 

 ian Stone in the center, and 

 opposite it the Belle view Stone. 

 Across the cascade is the Moon- 

 shade Stone, and so on in orbits 

 around the grand key are the 

 Throne Stone, Worshipping 

 Stone, Snail Stone, Idle Stone, 

 and so on. 



The hills unmask each other 

 by rule. The principal hill has its 

 two foothills, its spur hills, its dis- 

 tant peak seen through a valley, 

 and the low hill that must stand 

 on the opposite side of the lake. 



As there is a principal stone 

 and a principal hill, so must 

 there be a "principal tree," the 

 slwjin-boku, around which the 

 Tree of Perfection, the Tree of 

 Evil, the Tree of the Setting Sun, 

 the Tree of Silence, and the Tree 

 of Solitude bow their lesser heads. 



These are the essentials. Now add one pond, one island, two stone 

 lanterns, three bridges, and mix thoroughly, garnish with lotus, and serve 

 with goldfish and mandarin duck. There is a recipe for the classical 

 Japanese garden. 



To return to my American translation of the Japanese garden — I laid 

 out an irregular square one hundred feet in each direction, and into it crowded 

 about an acre of view, and by exaggerating the perspective produced depths 



1 wanted to see and hear real water 



