The Japanese garden is original and attracts with its sophistication and harmony. It is relatively easy to care for and is designed for a relaxing, relaxing stay. It invariably contains three constituent elements: stones, water and plants.
Any European who enters a Japanese garden for the first time is struck by its asceticism and isolation from everyday hustle and bustle, and at the same time its special sophistication.
At the origins of the Japanese garden were Japanese monks who professed Zen Buddhism. And the gardens they created served one purpose - to help achieve a state of enlightenment.
The Japanese-style garden is designed for contemplative relaxation, so maintenance should be kept to a minimum. They equip it in such a way that it does not require constant changes.
Unlike the Europeans, who found harmony in symmetry, the Japanese believed that the landscape should be asymmetrical, hence the winding, flowing lines of the landscape, an odd number of stones and plants included in the composition.
Stone plays a major role in East Asian gardens and is not just a decorative element. It is the starting material for making garden sculptures, lanterns, bridges, ponds and paths. Stones with a rough surface are especially beautiful, over time they are covered with moss, and this gives the impression that they have lain here for an eternity - the seal of time is especially revered in oriental gardens.
Plants in the Japanese garden play a supporting role, are used in minimal quantities and carry a certain meaning. So, pine symbolizes longevity, bamboo, which is mandatory in a Japanese garden, is firmness. One of the most revered trees in Japan is sakura, or ornamental cherry. The Japanese value its flowering even more than its fruit. Another favorite of the Japanese garden is the Japanese maple. Grass lawns in Japanese gardens are replaced with carefully tamped earth or fine gravel. The gravel cover with soft wavy transitions can alternate with a carpet of ground cover plants: apical pachisandra, undersized ferns and hosts, bryozoans, gradually expanding, naturally fit into the landscape.
Water is the personification of life and vital energy, therefore it is necessary to be present in the Japanese garden. A bubbling stream, a small fountain, and a small pond define the structure of the landscape, but the water may not be real. Often it is replaced by a platform covered with light coarse sand or fine gravel, on which wavy lines are applied. You can often see "gravel rivers" flowing through the garden.
When choosing accessories and small decorative forms, it is also necessary to follow the principles of simplicity and restraint. Typical of a Japanese garden are a stone lantern, a bamboo screen, and a stone bathing pond. The red lacquered bridge, thrown over a man-made stream, looks expressive. Sculptures in the Japanese garden are full of meaning. So the figure of a sea turtle symbolizes longevity, the crane personifies the desire to rise up.
The Japanese style itself is the style of small and very small spaces; a few square meters are quite enough for its implementation. The classic Zen garden is intimate. The minimum number of plants, the restraint of decorative elements, the refinement of smooth lines and the quiet splash of water, an abundance of greenery of all possible shades, simplicity and sophistication, the promise of peace and tranquility - all this is a Japanese garden that will delight even the most sophisticated connoisseur of beauty with its laid-back naturalness.
