The Gardens of Japan
By Helena Attlee Photographs by Alex Ramsay
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Online price: £16.99
Hardback, 136 pages
Published: 25th March 2010 Category: Gardens and Gardening, Travel |
In Japanese gardens, visitors find nature consdensed and brought to perfection: trees are trained and sculpted; the finest natural landscapes are reproduced in miniature; and the seasons are celebrated with spring blossom and the fiery leaves of autumn. In this introduction to Japanese gardens Helena Attlee captures the essence of Japanese garden style and gives an outline of its history. She then explores in detail 28 of the great Japanese gardens, explaining their character and nature. Alex Ramsay's superb photographs, specially taken for the book, illustrate every aspect of the gardens.
Map
Introduction
Adachi Museum of Art and Gardens
Daichi-ji
Daisen-in
Entsu-ji
Ginkaku-ji
Heian Jingu
Higashi-Gyoen
Hosen-in
Kairaku-en
Katsura Rikyu
Kenroku-en
Kinkaku-ji
Konchi-in
Koraku-en
Koto-in
Murin-an
Nanzen-ji Hojo
Ritsurin-koen
Ryoan-ji
Ryogen-in
Saiho-ji
Sanzen-in
Shoden-ji
Shosei-en
Suizen-ji
Tenju-an
Tenryu-ji
Tofuku-ji
Visiting Japanese Gardens
Select Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
This book cannot be bettered as an introduction to the subject for visitors - a ravishingly beautiful and inspirational read that makes you want to jump on the next plane to Tokyo. - BBC Gardens Illustrated
Having visited the gardens of Kyoto extensively I was almost afraid to open this book in case it disappointed. It didn't. The photographs capture the detail and ethos. The prose is informed and I'm able to recapture my experiences through this wonderful book. - Oxford Times
Attlee's informative text is supported by the photography of Alex Ramsey, who has captured the elegance and majestic quality of these immaculately groomed gardens. Featuring iconic Japanese imagery: koi carp in milky ponds, trained trees, stepping stones, spring blossoms and vibrant autumn leaves, this book is a real treat for the eye. - Outdoor Photography
Featuring unusual and relatively remote examples alongside the famous raked gravel and rocks of Ryogen-in and the temple moss gardens of Kyoto it is also packed with atmospheric detailed shots of stone tsukubai or water basins used for water purification, flowers floating on water and so on that are every bit as insightful into the spirit of Japanese gardening as the more expected overviews. - Sunday Telegraph
Until such time as you can make a trip to Japan. Her book is your window on Japan's greatest gardens. - Scotsman
This beautiful book leaves one itching to plan to experience these serene sights at first hand. - World of Interiors
The author is Helena Atlee, a fine explainer of foreign gardens' history and meaning who is known to many of you for her superb recent book on the gardens of Portugal. Her Gardens of Japan studies 28 of the most famous sites and features photographs taken by her husband Alex Ramsay, and a checklist of addresses, contacts and opening times in Kyoto and elsewhere. It will be invaluable for foreign visitors. - Financial Times
The perfect book for the first time garden visitor to Japan. - House & Garden
Need to spruce up your summer garden? Take inspiration from 'The Gardens of Japan' by Helena Atlee. Packed full of gordeous photographs by Alex Ramsay. - Image Magazine (Eire)
A gorgeous book. - Sunday Telegraph
For anyone who has been to Japan to look at gardens, this would be a lovely memento, and for anyone who is thinking of going, it would provide a tempting itinerary. - Professional Gardener
For garden visitors and armchair travellers. - Irish Times
A Monday night in early April, and Maruyama Park in central Kyoto is packed with festive crowds. The paths are lined by stalls selling whole herrings smoked in ash and served on a stick, whole barbecued squid, also on a stick, charcoal-baked yam, chocolate-coated bananas and many other less easily identified treats. The cooking food makes an exotic mixture of scents that mingles with laughter in the air, and as darkness deepens the colourful paper lanterns on the stalls are lit. What has drawn all these people out into the cool night, and what is fuelling their great good humour? The food alone could not create this festive, carefree atmosphere. No, the main attraction here is sakura, the blossom of the cherry trees that grow all over the park.
This week it reaches its peak, drawing thousands of people to revel in the almost ethereal beauty of the floodlit blossom and celebrate the promise of spring. Since early morning there have been tarpaulins laid out to reserve places beneath the trees. Now this sea of pale blue plastic is obscured by revellers enjoying a hanami, or flower festival, picnic. All life is here, beneath the raft of beautiful pink blossom and the indigo night sky. There are huge, informal groups of students, more formal ones of men in suits and women in kimonos, and intimate family groups made up of only parents and their small children. By eight o'clock it's standing room only and a couple of late arrivals must squash themselves into a niche between a tree trunk and the corner of a hedge.
It is perhaps surprising that the citizens of this intensely urban and technologically advanced country should still gather in their thousands to celebrate the blossoming of the cherry with a festival that is already 1,500 years old. However, the same acutely felt link with the natural world also draws the crowds into Japanese gardens, where they find nature condensed and brought to perfection. Trees are trained and sculpted until they epitomize the very best of the trees' tree-like qualities, the finest natural landscapes are reproduced in miniature and the seasons are celebrated with spring blossom and the fiery leaves of autumn.
Publication Details:
Binding: Hardback, 136 pages
ISBN: 9780711229716
Format: 267mm x 250mm
100 colour photographs
BIC Code: WMB
BISAC Code: GAR013000
Imprint: Frances Lincoln
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