Lifestyle Feb 13, 2021
How to truly define a Japanese garden
by Stephen Mansfield
Japanese gardens come in many forms that are each interpreted differently, redefining what such spaces represent in the first place.
Lifestyle Mar 7, 2020
Altered perspectives: The 'interactive' Okinawan garden
by Stephen Mansfield
If Japanese landscape gardeners looked toward mountains and river valleys for inspiration in creating the rock arrangements that form the power grids of their gardens, infusing natural elements with Taoist and Buddhist principles, it is likely that Okinawans cast their eyes over the seas ...
Lifestyle May 18, 2019
Shifting landscapes: The state of traditional Japanese gardens
by Stephen Mansfield
My neighbor's garden is a wonder to behold. Where you might expect to find trim box hedges, bamboo fences, subtle rock arrangements, junipers, conifers and pine, there are garden gnomes, an ornamental concrete wheelbarrow, pots of begonia, hanging baskets of pansies and an iron ...
Books May 18, 2019
'Cutting Back': The collected wisdom of an aesthetic pruner
by Stephen Mansfield
Breezy, frequently humorous and self-scolding, Leslie Buck's "Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto" is a poignant look at the storied Japanese world of professional gardening.
Books / Reviews | ESSENTIAL READING FOR JAPANOPHILES May 18, 2019
'The Art of the Japanese Garden': Green-fingered insight into Japanese garden spaces
by Steve John Powell
By delving into the history, development and intricate details of Japanese gardens, "The Art of the Japanese Garden" brings new appreciation and awareness to the art form.
Books / Reviews Dec 30, 2017
This no garden variety book on Zen practice
by Stephen Mansfield
The over-application of the term Zen to describe everything from interior design to restaurant menus pored over by celebrities and fashionistas to the expression a "Zen moment" can be tiresome. Zen Gardens and Temples of Kyoto, by John Dougill, Photography by John Einarsen. 144 pages TUTTLE PUBLISHING, ...
Travel Dec 15, 2017
Leave ordinary life behind at a Japanese garden in Oregon
by Kajsa Skarsgard
Visitors to the Portland Japanese Garden are invited to engage their senses in the subtleties of nature.
Books / Reviews May 20, 2017
'Japanese Garden Notes': An informative photo book
by Iain Maloney
"Japanese Garden Notes" is a gorgeous photo book that introduces aspects of traditional Japanese garden design. It walks the reader through the philosophy of "space and passage," "function and art" and "intent and time," explaining why certain details recur and the emotions they are ...
Travel Nov 21, 2015
The Hiroshima art triangle: a space to get lost in thought
by Steve John Powell
'It's Tokyo minus the stress." That's how one Japanese colleague described Hiroshima to us shortly after my wife, Angeles, and I arrived here, near the end of the last millennium. So, what's its secret? Well, there's its size for a start. And having six ...
Travel Nov 29, 2014
Mirei Shigemori: at home with stone
by Stephen Mansfield
Between the years 1924 and 1975, Mirei Shigemori (1896-1975) designed more than 180 gardens in Japan, an extraordinary creative output by any standard. If Shigemori was best known as a landscape designer, an artist in the placement of stones, it is worth noting that his ...
Environment Jun 28, 2014
Forget the world in a peaceful Okinawan island garden
by Stephen Mansfield
First came the Ishigaki-teien, a mass of soaring limestone rocks, judiciously placed cycads and two lines of highly concentrated fukugi, the closely-matted leaves of the trees traditionally used in Okinawa as typhoon barriers. Owned by the Ishigaki family, who have lived on the island ...
Travel Sep 28, 2013
Stroll through 1,000 years of history in one Nikko garden
by Stephen Mansfield
Even before seeing the great sights of Nikko, the visitor cannot fail to be impressed by the luxuriance of the area's moss. Towering cryptomeria trees, allowing filtered light to penetrate ground cover, provide ideal incubation zones and levels of exposure and protection for the ...