Japanese garden design, know to the West primarily in its traditional form, has undergone striking developments over the last decade. Leading landscape designers such as Shunmyo Masuno, Masatoshi Takebe, Atsuchi Akenuki, and Yasujirou Aoki, as well as architects such as Kengo Kuma, Kan Izue, and Kisho Kurokawa, have been experimenting more and more with the form, style, and content of their garden designs.
The Modern Japanese Garden is the first book to survey these contemporary Japanese gardens, presenting the designs in a way that is relevant to readers and their homes, whether it is in the East or West. Most of the locations have never been seen before in the West. In addition to important public gardens (such as that of the Tokyu Hotel Cerulean Tower, Shibuya) there are examples of some of the best modern domestic gardens. Among the more experimental gardens featured are a water garden with glass rocks; a mountain garden with flashing kinetic rods; a house with a vegetable roof garden; a rock plaza that pumps out mist; and a rock garden built inside a large inclined tube.
With chapters exploring such themes as the influence on contemporary design of traditional Japanese cultural ideas, the miniaturization of landscape, sculpture, and texture, and the use by some garden designers of far more planting than was previously found in Japanese garden design, this inspirational book is required reading for all garden enthusiasts, especially those living in urban areas, as well as garden and landscape designers, and architects.
Garden design topics include:
- Introduction by Shunmyo Masuno
- Advancing Tradition
- Miniaturization of Landscape
- Sculptural and Textural Qualities.
- The New Planted Garden