House^Garden 
Vol.II MARCH, 1902 No. 3 
JAPANESE TEMPLE GARDENS 
I N the dim gardens of mouldering Buddhist 
temples, one may still find, as in the temples 
themselves, hints of the old Japan. The 
sacred tradition that has preserved the original 
forms of eighth century architecture through 
a long sequence of structures, built only to be 
consumed and again restored, has held as well 
in the surround¬ 
ing gardens; and 
though nothing 
may remain of the 
ancient originals, 
save only the 
fantastic stones, 
far-sought and 
eagerly treasured, 
the curves of the 
walks are still the 
same, the placing 
of the shrubs and 
flowers and 
gnarled dwarf 
trees unchanged, 
and even the pat¬ 
terns traced in the 
silver sand are the 
patterns of long 
ag °\ 
They are very fascinating, these temple 
gardens, and they have a character wonderful 
in its diversity. Sometimes they are nothing 
more than the necessary forecourts of minor 
temples; a terrace, a few steps, a lantern or two, 
a grinning stone dog, or benignant image of 
Jizo, “The Helper,” and perhaps a crabbed 
tree or bush of scented box. Then they be¬ 
come solemn and ghostly graveyards, crowded 
with ranks of gray and moss-covered monu¬ 
ments of strangely beautiful shapes, leaning, 
all of them, from the jostling of endless earth¬ 
1N THE FOREST OF NARA 
quakes ; the newer ones,—yes, and some of 
those hoary with antiquity,—blurred by the 
thin smoke of burning incense-sticks and 
fronted by sections of bamboo holding freshly 
cut flowers. Again they blossom into the full 
glory of the stately and hieratic garden, the 
domain of nature glorified by consummate art, 
where rocks and 
sand and water, 
lotus, iris, peony, 
azalea and the 
royal fuji, box and 
maple, pine and 
cherry are all 
blended into one 
wonderful setting 
for the scarlet 
temple that flames 
in the m i d s t, 
against its back¬ 
ground of forest 
or serrated hill. 
Yet whatever 
its estate, the tem¬ 
ple garden is less 
a pleasaunce than 
a framework; it is, 
like every good 
garden, a modulation from pure nature to pure 
art. In the old temple of Horenji at Shiogama, 
you may see how finely everything leads up to 
the lofty shrine ; and the effect must have been 
finer yet when the temple was still Buddhist, 
and before the Shinto priests, who now control 
it, raised the rather clumsy torii at the foot of 
the dizzy flight of steps. Again at Nara, 
rocks, box, lotus, palm and pine are all placed 
just where they will do most honour to the 
temple itself, and together with this, compose 
into the picture that is perfect and complete. 
77 
