Foto:  our japanese garden in Pisarzowice , May 2009


Japanese gardens are supposed to imitate environment, at the same time neither do they intend to subdue, nor destroy it. They need to be nurtured so that human undertakings are as invisible as it is possible. Relaxation among wild nature is the ideal that motivates Japanese gardeners. One of the texts concerning the arrangement of Japanese gardens (from the XI century) says: learn from the nature, but do not copy it.

There are a few types of Japanese gardens, however, harmony, simplicity, asymmetry and elegance characterize all of them. The following are the two fundamental garden styles: TSUKIYAMA with small hills, stones that symbolize mountains, ponds that imitate seas and lakes, and KARESANSUI – style of a dry garden with gravel that stands for water, boulders that represent islands and raked sand that imitates waves, which pound them.

Water is an indispensable element of a classical Japanese garden - it brings life and motion to the garden. It is sometimes replaced with an irregular patch of light gravel. Stone is another vital element in a Japanese garden – it symbolizes unchangeability and environment permanence. Boulders, used to decorate the garden, should have a natural form, the same concerns their colour and texture. Flora is dominated by green colour. Flowers are used just as a single element there. Japanese azaleas, Japanese maples, magnolias and cherries, as well as peonies are among the most frequently used plants. Stone lamp posts and paths arranged with the use of single flat stones can also be found in a Japanese garden. Najczęściej używane rośliny to: azalie japońskie, klony palmowe, magnolie i wiśnie oraz peonie. W japońskim ogrodzie znajdziemy także kamienne latarnie i ścieżki ułożone z pojedynczych płaskich kamieni.