Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-06-06
4 Little Garden in Japan.

The following is from John La Fargo,
Letter from Japan in the June Century
You have heard of the little gardens
and of their exquisite details, in which
the japanese makes little epitome of ma
ture, arranged as if for one of his micro.
scropic jewels of metals, ivory, or lac
quer.
Here in our own garden there would
seem no call for an artificial nature. The
mountain slope on which we live must al.
ways have been beautiful in itself: but fol
all that, our garden-that Is to say, the
space about our landlord 5 house and om
Own-haS been treated with extreme care.
Our lnClosure Is framed towards the great
temple groves, and the great mountains
behind them, by high wall of rock. over
which, at a corner edged with moss, rolls
a torrent, making a waterfall that breaks
three times. The pool below, edged with
iris that grow IN the garden sand. is
crossed by a bridge of three big fiat stones,
ard emptieS secretly away. On each side
of the fall, planted in the rock wall, stands
a thlck-set pauloWnia, with great steady
leaves and bending towards it a willow,
whose branches drop far below itself and
swing perpetually in the draught of tine
waterfall. Bunches of pink azalea grow
In the hOllOws Of the rocks, and their re-
bections redeemed the eddies of the pool
Steps which seem natural lead up the wall
of rock old pines grow against it. anG our
feet pass through their uppermOst branches
On the top is planted a monumental stone.
and from there little path runs along,
leading nowhere nowadays, as far as | can
make out. ! am right In calling this mass
of rock, which is a spur of the mountain s
slope, wall, for look down from its top
to the next inclosure far below, now over
grown and wild. What is natural and
what was made by man has become 50
blended together, or has always been so,
that can choose to look at it as my mood
may be, and feel the reposo of nature or en-
JOY the disposing choice of art.
Where the little bridge crosses over,
where messy rocks dip down little to al
low the passage, edged by a maple and
pine, took over across the hidden road
to deserted yashki, with one blasted tree,
all overgrown with green and melting in
to distances of trees, which. tier behind
tier, reach to a little conical hill, that is
divided and subdivided 10y sheets of mist
at every change of heat and damp, so that
feel half as if knew its forms perfectly
1
heart
I'm the sand of our little garden are set
our clumps of flowers, chrysanthemum
mostly and occasionally iris and azeIea
and the two houses make Its other two sides.
The priest house, an old enc, with large
thatChed roof projecting in front and sup
ported there by posts covered with creep
ers, is nearer the water | see the little
,l1yrtn lal nr,
the mats in the big front room, whose
whole face is open; while in break, or
wing, is the opening to the practical house
keeper side of the dwelling
Our own house, when faces south like
the priests, completes the square, rs
said. 1t is edged on the outside by a
small plantation of trees with no charac-
ter that sketch away to the back road and
to the wall terracing a ground behind.
There Is a wide space Overgrown with
bushes and herbage, that cover former
care and beauty, spreads out indefinitely
toward conical hills hot in the sun, behind
which rises the great volcanic slope of
Nio-ho. A little temple shrine, red, white
and gold, stands in this heat of sunlight
and makes cooler yet the violets and tender
greens of the great slopes. This is to the
north. When | look toward the west
see broad spaces broken up 10y trees, and
the corner of Iyeyasu's temple wall hall
hidden by the gigantic cedars, and as |
write, late in the afternoon, the blue peak
of Nan-tia-san rounded off like a globe by
yellow mist
The garden enbosomed in this vastness
of nature, feels small, as though it were
meant to be so. Every part is on a small
scale. and needs few hands to keep things
in order, We have a little fountain In
the middle of tn. garden, that gives the
water for our bath, and sends a noisy
stream through the wooden trough of the
wash-room. The fountain /. made by a
bucked placed upon two big stones, set in
a basin, along whose edge grow the iris,
still in bloom. A hidden pipe fills the
bucket, and a long, green bamboo makes
a conduit for the water through the wood
en- side of our house. With another BAN.
boo we tap the water for our bath.