Quiet Beauty

March 11, 2013
The gently flowing streams, crushed-rock paths, and koi-filled ponds of Japanese gardens invite tranquil meditation beauty, nature, and order. Yet, the 150-year history of Japanese gardens in American culture raises complicated questions about authenticity, design, style, and meaning. In this lavishly illustrated book, art historian Brown and photographer Cobb act as tour guides to 26 such gardens—including the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, Francisco Nitobe Memorial Garden in Vancouver, B.C., and Shōmu’en (Pine Mist Garden) at Cheekwood in Nashville, Tenn.—that are accessible, historically significant, and compelling physical spaces. The first Japanese-style gardens were built between the 1890s and 1920s, often at fairs and expositions in an effort to satisfy the curiosity of Westerners obsessed with Japan; these early tea gardens were often built by the “first generation of Japanese immigrants anxious to leave the forms of their ancestors in the land of their descendants.” After WWII, friendship gardens multiplied, designed by distinguished Japanese landscape artists as a way of building ties and promoting business with former enemies. By the 1960 and 1970s, homeowners began building Japanese-style gardens in their backyards, as authentic as their budgets would allow; today’s Japanese gardens focus on the power of such places to “calm, inspire, and even heal.” 180 color photos.