Japanese 'Temple Gardens 
THE TOMB OF IYEYASU, NIKKO 
royal garden, built long ago by a man who 
gave ten years of his life and half the wealth 
of a great daimyo to the task, a garden that 
appealed to every varying emotion of the 
soul, that worked its will like a great sym¬ 
phony, where only one of the products of the 
earth was employed, and that was simply and 
only—rocks. Even now these are sought 
carefully from every province, and some 
curious or beautiful specimen is hoarded like 
a jewel. How valuable, indeed how quite 
indispensable these may be, can be seen, 
though imperfectly, from almost any of the 
illustrations of this article, particularly from 
those of lshi-yama-dera. The name of this 
ancient temple on Lake Biwa means simply, 
“ The Temple of the Rocky Mountain ” for 
there is a curious outcropping here of black 
and contorted basalt, and every crag has been 
used as part of a scheme of gardening. 
It would be hard to imagine anything 
more delicate and crafty than the manner in 
which the monks have built up their picture. 
Every native quality of the rock is empha¬ 
sized and its effect enhanced by a clever 
and ingenious art. The smooth foreground 
of shining sand, the fluffy green of the forest, 
the soft verdure of delicate shrubs sprouting 
from rocky crevices, the smooth velvet of 
hinoki thatch and weathered wood, the clean 
angles of chiselled stone, all these things 
are handled like the colours of a painter’s 
palette ; they are placed with discretion, fused 
THE GARDEN OF KOSHOJI 
8o 
