# Japanese Gardens

JAPANESE GARDENS
BY WALTER TYNDALE Japan and the Japanese
MAPLES AT OMORI, NEAR TOKIO
JAPANESE GARDENS
BY MRS. BASIL TAYLOR (HARRIET OSGOOD)
WITH TWENTY-EIGHT PICTURES IN COLOUR BY WALTER TYNDALE, R.I.
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
First Published in 1912
TO
EVELYN D. TYNDALE
AND
BASIL TAYLOR
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
BY THE
ARTIST AND THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
ANOTHER book on Japanese gardens would need an apology, rather than a preface, were it not that Mr. Tyndale's beautiful pictures, to which my words are but as the tail to a soaring and many-coloured kite, have already made excuse unnecessary.
But I do not presume, in spite of my great love of, and admiration for, the most subtle and highly wrought art of landscape gardening that exists in the world to-day, to offer a technical treatise on the subject. That, Mr. Josiah Conder (who, perhaps I may be allowed to say, was to have written this book, but, owing to stress of work, was at the last unable to undertake it, so the privilege fell to me) has already so perfectly done, that those who wish for expert information must go to him for it.
But while I acknowledge most gratefully the help his books have been, and have quoted directly from them whenever the space at my ​disposal allowed it, I do not present a complicated crib on the theme, which some one who has never seen a Japanese garden, nor even sniffed the strange, not over-sweet, odour of Japan at all, could do. I promise to intrude with the hideous technicalities, that only bristle for the subject on paper, as little as may be for a grasp of the ideas that are the foundation of the art. If, with the sympathy which I feel for all forms of Japanese art, and for this gentle one in particular, I can convey to others anything of the peace and restful charm, the delicate and fine delight, that a well-arranged Japanese garden can give (and they always are well-arranged, from the best to the poorest); if I can help the traveller to a little more understanding, which also means a greater pleasure, in them, or assist memory in recalling them; or, last to name, but first in reality, if I can add even a little to an appreciation of Mr. Tyndale's lovely garden studies, I shall be content.
I regret very much that I have not been able to retain the seasonal sequence of the illustrations. I have had to compromise by placing the pictures as nearly as possible in the order of the flowering time when they were painted, and where this was not possible ​without a sacrifice to the intelligibility of the text, by referring the reader to other parts of the book. Also, I have not been able in technical descriptions to illustrate my meaning as often as I should like, and in such cases, where obscurity exists, I can only refer the reader to the clear and lucid descriptions, full of drawings and diagrams explaining them, in Mr. Josiah Conder's book on Japanese Landscape Gardening.
I must again acknowledge my indebtedness to this book, as well as to Miss Du Cane's delightful volume on the Flowers of Japan; also to my friend. Sir Francis Piggott, for the botanical names of many plants, as well as to Mr. Stephen Troyte Dunn of Kew, formerly of Hong-Kong, who has helped me in more ways than I can name. I owe much, also, to Professor Basil Hall Chamberlain, although I have had the impertinence to disagree with him often in his strictures on the various arts of the country, which he knows so much better than does any other foreigner. I should also speak of the late Mr. Arthur Lloyd of Tokio, probably the greatest home (foreign) authority on Buddhism, whose kindly talks no less than whose books have been a help to me. It would be absurd to include Lafcadio Hearn's beautiful tales and myths of Japan in this list, because it ​goes without saying that anyone who goes to Japan, or who writes of anything Japanese, must have read them.
I have drawn on many other books both for facts and garden lore, but have acknowledged it always in the accompanying text, but as far as I know no other book on this exact topic—Japanese Gardens—exists.
While I do not mention them by name, my deep thanks are also due to numerous Japanese friends, made in Hong-Kong and London as well as during several long sojourns in their country, and to many garden owners, both rich and poor, peasant and noble, in that pleasant land, who, through the medium of mutual sympathy and enthusiasm, helped me to love and keenly to appreciate the beautiful results—as well as the art that created them—of the gardens of Japan.
HARRIET OSGOOD TAYLOR
CONTENTS.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
“He who knows the most, he who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground, the waters, the plants, the heavens, and how to come at these enchantments, is the rich and royal man. Only as far as the masters of the world have called in Nature to their aid can they reach the height of magnificence.”
Emerson
“Moreover, it tends to edify the heart if we plant trees and herbs in our garden, and love them.”—Kaibara Yekken
(W. G. Aston’s Translation)
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1943, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 80 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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