Japanese Gardening History, No. 2

On the afternoon of July 21 (Sun.), Ueyakato Landscape president Tomoki Kato gave his second lecture on Japanese gardening history at Kyoto International Community House!

This lecture’s theme began from the Kamakura period (1185-1333), the age of the dry landscape (or karesansui) garden! We learned that the period up until this time had seen the evolution of natural landscape gardens and that gardens change according to each period!

Muso Soseki, the founder of Tenryu-ji Temple, was a Zen monk of the Rinzai school during the early Muromachi period. Through his on-screen presentation, Mr. Kato explained for us the gardens whose creation Muso was involved in and the gardens in Kyoto that bear some connection to him. It was a two-hour session brimming with an abundance of garden knowledge.