312 
The Garden Magazine, July, 1923 
ENJOYING THE 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS 
It would seem that the mod¬ 
ern American club woman 
and the little Japanese lady 
of two centuries ago are after 
all “sisters under the skin”; 
at any rate the same diver¬ 
sions appeal to both, and the 
fashion of visiting gardens is 
evidently no new cne. A 
Chrysanthemum Viewing 
Party, by Sukenobu Nichi- 
kawa, 18th centurv 
A view of a Japanese garden is given in a painting supposed 
to be by Nobuzane Fujiwara at the beginning of the 13th 
century. It represents Michizane Sugawara paying his re¬ 
spects to the robe of the emperor in a pavilion around which 
are clustered various flowers and trees. These appear in pro¬ 
fusion without any special order, and indicate that the arrange¬ 
ment of the garden was not formalized as in the following period. 
The detailed analysis of the art of landscape gardening began 
in the 15th century in the Muromachi period, and was started 
by the Buddhist priests themselves. Thus the priest Muso 
koushi gave philosophic study to gardening, and become re¬ 
nowned for his carefully composed gardens about several 
temples in Kioto. 
I N THE meantime tea, the use of which had first been in¬ 
troduced into Japan about 800 A. D., but had died out, was 
reintroduced about 1200 by the Buddhist priest Senko, the 
chief of the Zen sect. By the 14th century tea had become 
socially of great importance, and tea parties had come into 
vogue. This was a period of extravagance, and such entertain¬ 
ments became lavish and formal. It is stated that the first 
rules for the tea ceremony were officially promulgated in the 
time of the Shogun Yoshimasa (1443-1473), but they were no 
doubt based on still older customs. One of his favorites was 
Sho-ami, who was both a painter and one of the first so-called 
tea professors. He had much to do with the formulation of the 
rules for the ceremony, and also gave particular attention to the 
construction of tea-houses, and the gardens about them. 
Being naturally austere and severe, Sho-ami impressed both 
the ceremony and tea gardens with these characteristics. The 
garden of the Buddhist temple of Ginkokugi in Kioto, supposed 
to be by him, was famous for its silver sand channel, sand 
patterns, and moon tower. At Rynanji in Kioto, in order to 
clear the view to the shrine on the distant mountain, all trees 
were omitted, and a dried up ocean scene constructed by means 
of sand, with rocks to represent islands, and low clipped shrubs 
and bushes. In the garden of Ditokugi, however, Sho- 
ami expressed himself more fully, and constructed a complete 
landscape in miniature. 
From 1400 to 1600, the art of landscape gardening was develop¬ 
ed chiefly by the tea professors. The symbolism of the monastic 
gardens was maintained, and spread outside religious precincts 
to the gardens of the great, while the prospect in front of the 
tea-house itself was given an atmosphere of sequestered solitude. 
In 1387 Taiko Sama gave a tea party at Kitano. The guests 
brought their own utensils, but Sama drank tea with each, and 
the reception lasted ten days. 
His favorite tea professor, Rikiu, as the country was poor, 
revived the severe style of tea-houses and gardens. He thought 
that the tea garden should represent “the lonely environs 
of a secluded mountain shrine with round about it the dark red 
leaves of autumn.” We are sorry to add that at the age of 
seventy-one Rikiu fell out with his later patron Hideyoshi, and 
was compelled to commit hara-kiri. 
B Y THAT period the principles of landscape gardening 
in Japan had become thoroughly formalized. In order 
to appraise the extent to which this was carried, it is necessary 
to summarize their most important rules. 
In general the Japanese gardens were enclosed with hedges or 
trellises, or sometimes bounded with the cliffs which formed 
part of the gardens. All had two gateways—one at the front 
for visitors, and one at the back for clearing away the litter. 
Elaborate gardens often had pavilions at the gate, including 
even a porter’s lodge. 
The most important, and most complete type of garden was 
the hill garden, because in addition to containing most of the 
features of the other gardens, it also had natural or artificial 
hills, and could thus be made to represent the various types of 
landscape. Hill gardens were themselves divided into different 
styles in accordance with the scene they were intended to 
portray. Thus one might imitate a rugged ocean shore, one a 
broad river, another a mountain torrent, while still others might 
emphasize a lake or marsh scene. In the rocky-shore type, 
the stones were ocean rocks, the banks of the pond were steep 
cliffs down which poured cascades; while the shore was planted 
with weather beaten Pine trees, or strewn with white sand. 
In the broad river style, hills were used for the background, but 
the waterfall was kept low, and the boulders were of the river 
type. The pond itself was in shape like the broadened bed of a 
river. Sometimes the waterfall was not real, but was merely 
imitated with stones. In the mountain-torrent type, actual 
water was employed if possible, to form cascades or rapids, but it 
it were not obtainable, these were frequently imitated with stones. 
Where real or artificial hills were out of the question, the flat 
type of garden was favored. This was made to represent either 
a valley or a wide spreading moor. 
In some form or other water was a feature of practically all 
