The bee., 1883-08-04
FLORAL WHIMSICALTTIES.
The Curious Manner I'm which Japanes,
Gardens are Cultivated.


1t is not only certain places in the
japanese capital that are noted for par.
tieular flowers, but insignificant vii
lageS in distant provinces are celebrated
through all Japan for the same reason
The little town of Yoshino. thirty
miles from Nara, would probably never
be heard of but for its plantation of
Towering cherry trees. These are con.
sidered 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 Tank-ga-se,
though almost as widely celebrated,
are considered inferior to them. But
/ it is poor place in Japan that is not
! famous for some natural beauty. Biwa
lake, nea- 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 see the autumn moon; to
Hirayana (yama, mountain) to admire
the snow scenes, to Seta for the sun
set, to Mu-dera to hear the evening
chimes, to Yabase to see the boats sail
by, to Awadza when there is bright
sky with a breeze, such conjunction
being pleasanter at that place than
anywhere else in Japan. Katada is
famous for its flights of wild geese,
and Karasaki, having nothing else to
brag of, boasts of the beauty of its
rainy nights.
1t is this fanciful 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
whimsical determination to get
around her ordinary laws. and to pro-
duce something more extravagant than
her millest vagaries. The gardener
of the extreme Orient is 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, 50 to speak. he will
have a stream with a cascade, a lake
with islands, and bridge or an arm of
the sea with its iunkS and ocky coasts.
He delights in old trees, dead or living,
and turns them to all sorts Of uses.
At Slime Zebaka there is a hollow
keyaki tree of immense age, and
twenty-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 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 favorite subjects. The young tree
is taken in hand, and for many years
its branches are bandage1 and twisted
its buds are nipped, AMI it is kept on
starvation allowance of soil and
water. The stunted tree is quite a
costly object, and when 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 noun
tains, promontories and rayines are
made in pottery, covered with turf,
and finished off with rock work; stream
lets supplied from hidden conduits,
groves of dwarf trees, bri ges 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. 1t was laid
out about half a century ago by the
old lord Of Nito as a retreat for him
self after he had resigned the govern
ment Of the clan. The gardens occupy
/ the summit of a little bill and sur
! round the oil 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 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 damio used to sit in the even
ing. BY the door are two small stone
tables fixed in the ground, one marked
with lines to form a chessbnard 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 covere
all over with white silk, by the ex-
mikados orders, one broiling hot day
in July. so 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 a
fine example of the more ordinary sort
of miniature garden, which, though
very small, is yet more wonderful to a
foreigner than the more ambitious
ones described above. Into a space of
about six feet by four is compressed a
landscape with hills, dales. mountain