Garden, the “hide and reveal” technique helps
us to see what is immediately before us, inviting
us to experience the space slowly and mindfully.
My hope is that each visitor’s journey evolves into
a personal dialogue with our unfolding, everchanging
Garden.
Corinne Kennedy is a retired garden designer,
Seattle Japanese Garden guide, Elisabeth C.
Miller Library volunteer, and member of the
“Bulletin” Editorial Board. She’s also a frequent
contributor to the Japanese Garden’s blog.
REFERENCES
“A Guide to the Gardens of Kyoto,” by Marc Treib and Ron Herman. 1980. Kodansha USA
“The Gardens of Japan,” by Teiji Itoh. 1984. Kodansha USA
The Power of Stone
A moss-covered stone lantern, overlooking the pond.
(Photo by David Rosen/Slick Pix Photography)
Stone is essential to Japanese gardens—arguably
more important than any other garden element.
Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion, saw gods
(kami) in all of nature, residing in stones as well
as plants and animals.
Similarly, visitors to the Seattle Japanese
Garden experience the structure, power and
energy that stone brings to the landscape. Used
both symbolically, and for practical purposes,
stones represent mountains, waterfalls, streams,
islands and other elements of nature. Important
garden ornaments, such as lanterns and an
eleven-story tower, are made of stone.
Stones are also essential to the Garden’s
construction, maintenance and renovation.
Used to create paths and stairs, they also hold
back the soil behind the fishing village, and
at the edges of the pond. Varying in size, shape,
color, texture and use, stones are nonetheless a
unifying aesthetic element.
The photo above shows a moss-covered
lantern overlooking the pond. Together with
the stone it rests upon, it unites water, plant
and stone. Yet even this small detail, like the
Garden’s monumental waterfall, embodies the
beauty and power we experience as we journey
through the Garden. m
Summer 2020 v 7