The Opelousas courier., 1883-08-25
FLORAL WHIMSICALTTIEs.
inc Onions Manner i'm Which ,Jananese
Gardens are Cultivated,

The Onions Manner i'm Which Japanese
Gardens are Cultivated.
1t is not only certain places in tbe
Japanese capital that are noted for mar
tlcular flowers, but insignificant vii.
lagos IN distant provinces are celebrated
through all Japan for the same reason.
The little town of Yoshino. thirty
miles from Nara. would probably never
6e heard Of but for its plantation of
towering cherry trees. These are M
sldered to be incompatible for beauty
in the month of April, when the hill
sides are covered with their delicate
pale pink blossoms. The cherry trees
OF Mount Arashi, in Kioto, were trans
planted from here, and even the two
miles OF plum trees of Tanki-ga-se,
though almost as widely celebrated,
are considered inferior to them. But
1t is a poor place in Japan that is not
famous for some natural beauty. Biwa
lake, near Kioto, has no fewer than
eight distinguished beauties, and it
may be averred that the ingenuity
with which the catalogue is made up
would find something to admire in any
situation. People 60 to Ishiyama, on
this lake, to e the autumn moon: to
Hirayana (yama, mountain) to ad nire
the snow scenes, to Seta for the sun
SEE, to Mu-dera to hear the evening
chimes. to Yabase to see the boats sail
by, to Awadza when there is a bright
sky with a breeze, such a conjunction
beng pleasanter at that place than
anywhere else in Japan. Katada is
famous for it's flights of wild geese,
and Karasaki, having nothing else to
brag of, boasts of The beauty of its
rainy nights.
It is this fancifui way Of regarding
nature and dwelling upon particular
effects that has developed the peculiar
style of landscape gardening in minia-
ture that is common to China and
Japan. For this a sharp and poetic
observation of nature is necessary. and
a whimsical determination to get
around her ordinary laws, and to pro-
duce something more extravaganza than
her mildest vagaries. The gardener
OF the extreme Orient is a great fellow
to make use of ~honeycombed rocks,
the hollows of which he fills with
Towering plants. If he cannot get
real rocks from some ~neighboring sea-
coast, he has them made of baked clay
at the nearest pottery kiln. Out of a
cupful OF water, SO to speak, he will
have a stream with a cascade, a lake
with islands, and a bridge or an arm of
the sea with its junks and rocky coasts.
He delights in old trees, dead or living,
and turns them to all sorts of uses.
At Shimo Zebaka there is a hollow
keyaki tree of immense age, and
tw~enty-seven feet in circumference.
The hollow is the result of artistic
processes, by which the tree has been
trained TO grow around a well which
is sunk between its roots. At Nara,
the ancient capital, a huge old tree
trunk is shown, on the dead branches
of which a whole grove OF camellia,
cherry, wisteria and other bushes are
growing. The art Of dwarfng trees is
practiced with great success. The
pine, the cherry and the willow are
the fayorite subjects. The young tree
is taken in hand, and for many years
its branches are bandaged andtWisted.
its buds are nipped, AMI it is kept on
a starvation allowance of soil and
water. The stunted tree is quite a
costly object, and when a large number
are used toform a miniature landscape
the work of art represents a consider
able sum of money. Toy houses,
bridges and temples are accessories in
these curious reproductions of natural
scenes /; models of celebrated moun
tains, promontories and ravines are
made in pottery, covered with turf.
and finished off with rock work; stream
let's supplied from hidden conduits,
groves Of dwarf trees, bri gees and
reductions of all the more remarkable
features of the real scene.
One of the finest in Japan is the
public garden of Mito, the capital of
the province of Hitachi. It was laid
out about half a century ago by the
old lord of Mito as a retreat for him
self after he had resigned the govern
ment Of the clan. The gardens occupy
the summit of a little hill and sur
round the old lords summer residence.
Dwarf plum trees in gro es, artificial
mounds, covered with springy turf and
fenced off with rustic hedges of bam-
boo, and a Lake with stepping stones
and bridges are among the principal
attractions of the scene. There is a
little arbor on one of the slopes where
the old daimio used to sit in the even
ing. BY the door are two small stone
tables fixed in the ground, me marked
with lines to form a ~chessboard and
the other arranged for a similar game
much in vogue in Japan. In a grove
below is a well, the upper portion
followed out of a single block OF
marble, over which the water flows
evenly on all sides.
In the Mikado Uda's garden, in
Kioto, are gardens in the form of tor
toises standing out of the water. and a
pine tree trained in the shape OF a
boat In full sail. A large hill at the
end of the garden was once covered
all over with white silk, by the ex-
mfkado's orders, one broiling hot day
in July. Sc that he might at least have
something TO look upon that would
suggest winter and cool weather.
At Tomioko, near Yokohama, In the
tea house attached to the temple, Is .