Japanese gardens outside of japan: from the export of art to the art of export/Japonijos sodai uzsienyje: nuo meno eksporto prie eksporto meno.

Stauskis, Gintaras

Introduction

In today's globalising world people are actively exchanging all types of products, knowledge and experience. The speed and the range of this exchange are increasing dramatically beyond the limits of perception as a result of market-driven industrial development, and this is essentially different from what was available just a century ago. Import and export have covered all areas of human activity, even the most incredible ones. Whether good or bad, but certainly different is the way how we perceive and accept imported products both materially and culturally. Imported goods have a significant impact on nutrition, clothing, environment and the life style of a modern citizen, which deserves a special attention of researchers. Modern communities could be described by a triple reflection of their identity in social, environmental and economical scenarios, which are affected by rapid global exchange of uniform lifestyles. In architecture, similar construction techniques, materials and working methods require similar solutions. Even urban planning and design patterns are CAD-generated and spread rapidly throughout the globe, in many cases substituting local specifics with elements of temporary trend and fashion. The national, ethnic and stylistic borders between exported architectural services have vanished in most parts of the modern world. Offices, apartments, commercial areas and buildings look the same in many parts of the world slightly spiced with national decorative elements. Still, the massive process of globalisation is intervened by some very specific solutions that keep their original character even after being planted on the most remote and different soils. Finnish sauna, Turkish bath--hamam, French interior and English parks are well distinguishable in the most remote global environments. One of the most notable archetypical models of landscape architecture exported and recognised worldwide is the tradition of a Japanese garden. The Oriental peculiarities of Japanese gardens that are based on the local cultural philosophy including traditional religion, and that are set in the most diverse ethnical and geographical environments of the world are analysed in this article. The variety of reflections on local cultural identity in general, and the architectural tools and methods of landscape creation in particular are reflected in a multilayer analysis as well. Besides the goal of widening the general understanding of planning and design principles of a Japanese garden as a cultural phenomenon, the article also aims to open a wider discourse on the ways of exporting landscape archetypes and a consequently cultural traditions from the Far East in general and from Japan in particular to other regions of the globe. On the other hand, Japanese garden is too big a masterpiece to cover all sides of its profound completeness in a single article. Therefore, this paper that has been tailored by the author over the period of past eight months should be read rather as an invitation to open a wider professional discussion on cultural exchange traditions in landscape architecture.

Japanese garden as an oriental cultural phenomenon: a vision and a concept

Japanese gardens have travelled a long and winding road of evolution from a prototype of the ancient times to the stereotype of today. Having originated in Japan as a necessary part of Buddhist and Taoist temples to remind of mountainous regions of China with their rocks, lakes and forests often in a miniature way, Japanese gardens were first planned and designed in the ancient castle towns of Japan in the 6th c. AD. The tradition of an ambient meditation space next to a temple could be traced back in many cultures, e.g. a garden court for physical and mental preparation for prayer was usually planned next to Muslim mosques. In the 9th c., Japanese gardens shifted away from being just a compulsory element of a religious place and became more open for contemplation, amusement and ceremonies of the nobles. The gardens were built in mansions, in front of main buildings, which was usually on the South side of a land plot. Later in the 12th c., pureland-style Buddhist gardens were said to imitate paradise on Earth. During the flourishing of Zen school, the gardens were singing praise to emptiness as a part of traditional Japanese ritual belief. Because of a strong philosophical background that has been evolving across different historical periods sometimes Japanese gardens are also called Zen Gardens (Koren 2000). In the 13th c., garden techniques advanced as well as their missions that were leading to simply enjoying a natural garden life. Once the tea ceremony became an intricate part of the Japanese culture in the 16th c., a teahouse tradition was introduced to a garden, thus making a tea pavilion into a compulsory element of a garden. Instead of being a religious symbol, a Japanese garden turned into a symbol of prestige and power of its owners. Following the last period of modernisation of Japan, several extensively planned and decorated gardens owned by notable businessmen and politicians were created and some of them are even open to the public (Conder 2002).

Numerous cases that the author has analysed indicate that Japanese gardens have begun their spread throughout the world starting with the end of the 19th century. The expanding and intensifying communication between remote regions of the world driven by the rapid growth of the machined industry has evidently played its part. The first examples were intended to represent the culture of Japan outside of the country and were connected to international events. The famous Japanese garden in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park has been built specially for the World's Fair of 1894, so was the garden in Wroclaw, Poland built for World Expo 1913. The opening of the Japanese garden in Buenos Aires marked the visit of then Crown Prince of Japan Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko to Argentina's capital in 1967. Such country representing missions of seeding Japanese gardens in different countries were very successful in gaining an extraordinary interest in the public, though some gardens started deteriorating and faced difficult times as soon as the representative events finished. Gradually, Japanese gardens became a stereotype of Oriental landscape tradition and--as parks and recreational areas--were widely incorporated into the urban tissue and beyond, into suburban or completely rural zones of the most different climate in numerous sites worldwide. The article is focusing on the basic philosophy as well as the main principles of planning and design of Japanese gardens by examining numerous examples. Some Japanese-style gardens of Northern Europe are presented and analysed in more detail, especially those located in Lithuania and in the neighbouring countries Sweden and Poland.

The concept of a Japanese garden is to provide its visitors with a refuge away from a noisy and busy urban environment to a sheltered place and an ambient and tranquil landscape. The psycho-emotional effects are created by invoking all human senses and applying various design techniques and effects. The variety of unique and unforgettably distinct creations as a Japanese Park still bare some common features that with reasonable sake of reserve still could be formulated. As strange as it may sound, a typical Japanese garden is a place for temporary psycho-emotional relaxation and refuge from the surrounding urban environment. For this reason and to achieve its basic goal, it is planned for different images and landscape motives to compose a completely enclosed spatial-volumetric composition. As a site, a Japanese garden is usually isolated: it is fenced and protected from the surrounding environment of a city, suburb or neighbourhood. This also has a symbolic meaning of entering a garden as a completely different natural and spiritual world. Japanese gardens are located on very different sites: on available urban, suburban or rural land plots. In terms of urban structure, a Japanese garden is always of a completely different substance than any other surrounding urban tissue, thus structurally it is more exclusive rather than inclusive (Majorowski 2009). For this reason, access to a Japanese garden is strongly regulated: it is usually fenced and in general more private than open to wide public use (Teien 2000). The garden is always planned as a route scenario consisting of different views composed in a certain sequence. A strictly planned route scenario aims at creating the most relaxing and meditating emotional status for a garden visitor. Functional activities of a garden correspond fully to its meditative nature: they are quiet and ambient, of mostly passive recreational character. Application of complex landscaping elements is usually a way to achieve the truly ambient atmosphere: land surface and soil design, plant compositions, water surface design and other elements are used for this purpose. Locally available materials and natural vernacular land management, construction and finishing techniques are usually combined with original Japanese plants, materials and crafts (Teien 2001). Allegories and parallels in applying different natural elements for achieving the most meditative mood and double-coded semantic meanings of different elements are used widely. The topic of stone composition in a Japanese garden is very deeply and carefully studied as it takes different allegorical and personified meanings. As Thomas Merton explains, all things are very symbolic by their very nature, and they all talk of something beyond themselves (Keane 2006). Creating an image of mountainous rocks or drawing a parallel with a family, e.g. stones of different sizes, colours and shapes are composed as a symbol of a traditional family with a mother, a father, a son, a daughter and the grandparents. As a rule, the character of basic structural elements of landscape as a terrain, plants and water are well emphasised and spatially identified in a contrasting manner: plain area is juxtaposed to a sloped boundary or a hill ridge, waterfront line is emphasised by a group of plants or a forest at the edge of it, edges of a plot are defined by groups of plants and stone compositions. All elements in a Japanese garden are planned and designed in a certain balance in order to facilitate a personal emotional experience and recreation at the same time.

Japanese gardens in the Baltic sea region

Several prominent examples of Japanese gardens in the countries around the Baltic Sea are analysed to unpic the most typical planning and design features for the region. In some countries neighbouring Lithuania these gardens are still absent. Japanese garden in Wroclaw, Poland, was built for the World Expo 1913 as an Artistic Gardening entry or the exhibition of global achievements (Japan ...). The garden was designed by Oriental landscape guru Makichi Arai and was unanimously considered to be a real jewel of the exhibition (Figs 1-2). As many Japanese-style artefacts were leased just for the exhibition, the post-expo period was hard on the garden and on the surrounding park as well. After the period of lengthy abandonment, it was carefully and professionally restored twice--in 1996 and after the extensive flood of 1999.

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Sweden has a Japanese garden in the public park of Brunnspark which is a recreational park in Blekinge located in the Ronneby Commune of South Sweden. Started in the early 18th c., after discovering the first mineral water springs in the area, soon spa centres were developed around the streams and the main park was equipped with several gardens with the Japanese garden among the most attractive ones. Because of its exemplary design and outstanding maintenance, the Japanese Garden and the entire Brunnspark was nominated as Sweden's Best National Park in 2005. The Japanese Garden is a part of the bigger garden area in the park comprising a rhododendron hill garden, a rose garden and a scented garden. It is planned in the reputable area and has all traditionally applied elements of a Japanese garden. The Japanese garden belongs to the type called Roji--a well-maintained "dew path" leading across the whole promenade area to a teahouse located at its depth (Figs 3-5).

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Lithuania enjoys two examples of a Japanese style parks: one located Botanical Garden of Vilnius University and started in 1999, and the other big park started in the rural area of Kretinga district in 2006. The Japanese Garden at Kairenai Botanical Garden represents a recreation of a suburban landscape with a strong education and cognitive missions--it is designed as a university garden that actively used for theoretical and practical academic activities. Situated on the site of a historical manor and even more ancient pre-historic settlement on the outskirts of Vilnius City, the garden has several landscaping areas whereas the Japanese inclusion makes one of the most attractive and fascinating spaces. Situated and planned in the natural valley, the Japanese garden has the pond at its heart and is surrounded by the forest, which forms an intimate enclosed space (Fig. 6). The garden features the most of traditional attributes of a Japanese garden, such as the entrance gates with a wooden fence (Fig. 7), the waterfall stream leading to the pond, quiet paths and rest places (Fig. 8), a teahouse and other traditionally applied and regionally designed garden elements.

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The Japanese garden Madzuchai in Lithuania has a beautiful name that means The Garden of Singing Stones (Japoniskas ...). The Garden is located in the most extraordinary place, which is rather far from any other urban settlement or city. It seems that the garden founder--who is a private investor--pursued capturing the very essence of a Japanese garden where quiet environs free from noise and chaos are extremely valued. The garden area of 16 hectares is more than big and makes it the largest Japanese garden in Europe (Japoniskas ...). Started in 2007, it is only partially developed to the required shape. It clearly shows that building of such masterpiece as a Japanese garden takes a lifetime (Figs 9, 10).

It seems that the most suitable description for the fundamental idea of planning, constructing and using a Japanese Garden is the art of balance of different elements in the garden. The goal of a successful recreational activity in a natural landscape or re-arranged cultural environment is to strengthen or stimulate personal balance--physical, psychological, mental, and spiritual--with the help of many types of scenery. Nobody would probably argue with a statement that in the modern rushed world, human stability is constantly affected by urban stress. Therefore, the concept of a place and a space which could bring this stability back and strengthen one's balance is greatly logical and beneficial to every individual, family, neighbourhood, community and society as a whole. This design concept explains many features and peculiarities of a Japanese garden that are disclosed in the article. The principles of a quiet ambience manifest during different phases of creating a Japanese garden. In particular they could be described by placing an emphasis on the following elements.

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Site selection for a Japanese garden is an important issue that influences and often determines the planning; on the other hand, the concept of planning a Japanese garden is so flexible that any site in principal fits for designing one. Analysis of existing parks, more recent and the older ones, reveals that very different available sites have been chosen: urban areas (Istanbul), suburban (Vilnius) and rural (Kretinga district) plots, plain land plots and the hilly ones, with water surfaces and without, with existing vegetation and with no plants. The sites with more developed natural elements contribute more to the final result of the project with more natural and expressive material than plain and poor land plots.

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Relief character is always a strong stimulus for planning a garden: smooth and plain relief is contrasted with hurly and hilly, absolute plain is balanced out with dynamic and sharp peaks, round hilltops are framed by breaking hilltops, sliding slopes are cross-combined with terraced slopes. The strength of contrast corresponds to the power of emotional effect.

Soils of a site play an important role in planning a garden as a whole; it also gives a ground for different soil-based design combinations: fertile soil for lawns and plants switches to sandy planes and strips, leading to rocky stone's arrangements.

Planning a garden site, strait, long and rectangular lines are balanced out with curvy, shorter and flexible lines, e.g. in planning and designing pedestrian walks, pond or river waterfronts (Fig. 9).

Triadic compositions of harmonious balance of odd numbers in selected landscape elements carries a symbolic meaning of the relationship between the heaven, the earth and a man, e.g. stone arrangements, whereas it is believed that inanimate stones have a soul and personality, as well as a tail, a head, a back and a stomach.

Scale and size: big elements and big spaces are combined with small-scale elements and small spaces. Microclimate: sunny and shady areas are created and combined, windy areas are sheltered; all such places are identified on a land plot.

Construction and finishing materials: big and small, sharp and smooth, round and edged, soft and hard materials are combined in the same park. Local craftsmanship is applied to produce them (Fig. 10).

Water and stone applications: a quiet pond area with a glowing surface of water and flat wet stones (Fig. 11) are usually combined with a more dynamic stream flowing downhill, outlined with groups of rough standing stones (Fig. 12).

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Spatial arrangement: big and small, long and short, geometrically rectangular and flexible spaces are created. Mostly open and light spaces are predominant.

Colours: monochromic and polychromic views, light and dark tones, clear and pastel, bright and dark, cold and warm colours are combined.

System of plantings: cropped and natural, high and low, round and strait forms, soft and sharp leaves, plants with different leafage, branches and trunks and their groups are composed.

Architecture of built structures: relatively small buildings are designed with the main idea of making them transparent, scaled to fit-in, mainly of different volume and plasticity than the natural environment of a park (Fig. 10). Evidently natural landscape elements are dominating in a park against the built structures (Nitschke 2007).

Complex combinations of the above-listed methods in composing the landscape of a Japanese garden: e.g. a straight element, such as a tree trunk, is contrasted with a flexible element, such as a pedestrian path, big stones of cold (grey, black) colour are supplemented with smaller in-fitting stones of a warm (red, brown) colours, plain territory is suddenly combined with a hill or a slope, natural or artificially created.

Basic functional elements of a Japanese garden

Entrance gates are an essential part of a Japanese garden. Having the symbolic meaning of entering into a sacred place, it usually features a wooden-beam portico (Figs 1, 4, 7, 10a) in a wood-pole fence that encloses the entire garden space. A Japanese garden usually has a central house or a pavilion from where the garden is visible; on the other hand, it is in principal just a secondary element of a garden as the priority is always given to combinations of natural elements in a naturally existing or masterly shaped landscape. Both in examples of ancient times and the present, precise stone arrangements are another must of a Japanese garden. Stones from a local landscape are composed precisely arranging the pieces of different shapes, round and sharp edges, varying big and small sizes and light and dark colours, smooth and rough textures, and carefully selecting their mounting levels.

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Water is the essential lively element of natural beauty used in a Japanese garden. It's real and symbolic meanings is created through a form of a pond or a stream. An island and a bridge or stepping stones leading to a natural or artificially formed island in the middle of a pond or a small lake, or taking a visitor across a stream is an arrangement found in most Japanese gardens(Figs 13-14). Plant arrangements of different scale are usually supplemented by their miniature reflections in the form of bonsai compositions. Careful maintenance and looking after them is a central axis of a garden's life. In terms of details, lanterns are widely used in the territory of a garden to mark the way and show the main attraction points in a garden. Lanterns in corners of a garden mark its boundaries. A teahouse as a place for some quiet time at a traditional tea ceremony attended before, during and after a garden visit appeared in the evolution of a garden and has become a place of attraction and a shelter (Fig. 10 b). The garden plot is traditionally fenced with a wall or local natural materials as stone and wood such as bamboo or the other local types of wood.

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From the export of culture to the culture of export

Japanese gardens are the living pieces of art. Although the art of landscape composition is based on local and regional influences, it spreads globally. More intense trade, travel and collaboration between people of the West and the East, especially in recent times, have intensified cultural engagement and exchange of Oriental cultures (Fung 1999). The globally spread tradition of building Japanese gardens is actually an export of traditional Japanese style of landscape architecture. The export is achieved by copying and reapplying standard approaches of planning and design, and running the facility as a Japanese garden. It should also be noted that the Japanese culture was favoured in Europe and the rest of the globe to a very different extend because of the global conflicts of the 20th c.: WWI and WW2 (Tachibana et al. 2004). The complexity of the question lies in the ability of the exported tradition of a remote oriental country to integrate into the local cultural environment and it's contribution to the local character of national landscapes and townscapes.

The question on the ethics of such export is hot on the agenda: if required and favoured by local and visiting users, these tranquil yet costly facilities will continue to emerge far away from the place of their primary origin. Planted on local soils, Japanese gardens gain some local character from used local plants and building materials; still they sustain a major structural and especially emotional character of Japanese traditionbased masterpieces of landscape architecture. The aspect, which is still on the agenda of a modern town planner, is how ethically and efficiently this cultural export could and should be executed and implemented in a local urban setting?

A desire to see a so-called Japanese garden of an original Japanese style has a strong ground. It would be more than regretful to see diluted models with simply a physical collection of some pieces of an original version as it would deteriorate both the local landscape culture as well as the tradition of a Japanese garden in general. These few recommendations offer a framework for professionally satisfactory and culturally inevitable export trends while forming a substantial cultural tradition on sharing the original style of Japanese landscape architecture with the wide world.

Planning a new Japanese garden, the primary issue is to set the basic concept of the garden with the help of different stakeholders: user communities and local authorities, land owners and service providers, in order to define the main functional idea, which should be realised: should an educationally cognitive, a recreational, a cultural or the other type of a garden be planned?

The following step should certainly be the proper planning and design of a garden based both on traditions of a Japanese garden and classical principles of landscape planning and design. The blend of a local features and original design principles is absolutely inevitable, understandable and even favourable. Introduction of local plants, soil shapes and stones fits more the basic idea of a Japanese garden than a simple replication of selected Japanese elements and their drastic implantation into remote land plots of a local landscape. In addition, the same balance of vernacularly local and originally Japanese approaches is probably the key to success of aesthetically valuable and emotionally powerful solutions. A Japanese garden franchise could be an option to ensure compatibility to the basic standards and to allow adequate space for a local flavour.

The third element takes us back to the very roots of a Japanese garden, which in its essence is a natural living organism and a stunning piece of art in one. The permanently living result, its flavour and attractiveness finally depend on the way the garden is used. In this space and place, which is globally known as a Japanese garden, the local garden culture is shaped in time by neighbourhood communities and visitors. As many existing Japanese gardens are hereditary objects of real estate architecture, it is important to extend the topic to the issue of maintenance and renovation of the existing historical parks. Existing Japanese gardens have to withstand the test of time, enduring physically and morally, i.e. continue being used for reasons they were built despite of changing outlooks and preferences of people (Tscumi, Wernli 2005).

Concluding remarks for the permanent discourse

As mentioned in the introductory part of the article, there are so many more questions than answers about a Japanese garden tradition seeded into local settings outside of Japan. For the sake of continuing and extending the outlined discussion in the future research, the following questions are outlined as the most essential:

--Export of a Japanese-style landscape tradition poses many questions in terms of its cultural integrity. Is replication of such landscape traditions as a Japanese garden acceptable always and to every culture despite of national, regional and ethnic locality and what effect, if any, might it have latter?

--Values of exported landscape artefacts are soon turned from prototypes into stereotypes of Japanese gardening tradition as such. What are their relative absolute cultural values and how could they be ranked in comparison to local landscape traditions of the recipient locality and the region?

--Authenticity of exported substances and materials is often ignored and sometimes is treated doubtfully. Original materials used are substituted by locally available examples. Does the transferred substance still belong to the original Japanese garden tradition of a donor country? What are or might be the dangers of a simple copy-paste export into the historically or environmentally sensitive sites in a recipient country? Are some elements of a Japanese garden dissolving into local landscapes, e.g. in Lithuania, Poland, Sweden or beyond?

--Intensity and scope of that kind of cultural export is spreading immensely. Are there more cases of cultural export from one tradition to other areas in Europe or worldwide and what are their similarities and differences reflected in landscape architecture?

--Connections between the donor and the recipient of the cultural export are quite mysterious. Has a recipient of a Japanese garden culture some effect on the donor of that tradition? Could there be an interactive communication in between them?

doi: 10.3846/tpa.2011.22

References

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Fung, S. 2001. Mutuality and the Cultures of Landscape Architecture, in Corner, J. (Ed.). Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Theory. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 141-151.

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Gintaras Stauskis

Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Pylimo g. 29/Traku g. 1, 01132 Vilnius, Lithuania

E-mail: gintaras.stauskis@vgtu.lt

Submitted 1 May 2011

GINTARAS STAUSKIS

Doctor of Humanities in Architecture, Associate Professor of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, (Lithuania) conducting academic training and research activities at the Department of Urban Design, Pylimo g. 26/Traku g. 1, 01332 Vilnius, Lithuania. E-mail: Gintaras.stauskis@vgtu.lt

Involved in European Union research programs and international research projects on planning urban recreation and landscape, mobility, public health and accessibility. Member of Editorial Boards of scientific journals Arhitektura un pilsetplanosana (Riga, Latvia) and "Science--Future of Lithuania" (Vilnius, Lithuania). The current research fields: landscape architecture and planning, "green" urban architecture and mobility, accessibility of environment, recreation and urban health. Research results have been presented in numerous national and international publications and conferences.