Zen Garden Design. Shunmyo Masuno
contrasting green color and lush texture. A kutsunugi-ishi, a stone used for changing into outdoor sandals before entering the garden, and stepping stones lead from the engawa through the pea gravel and moss to a stone tsukubai water basin and tōrō stone lantern.
Masuno reused stones from the previous garden for the kutsunugi-ishi and stepping stones, and the client himself went to Kyoto to pick out the tsukubai and tōrō. The Satsuma stone tsukubai is in a natural shape and pairs well with the hexagonal lantern carved from Kitagishima granite by the father and son team of Nishimura Kinzō and Daizō. Set into the thick moss, these two elements, the tsukubai and tōrō, serve as important focal points in the garden. The stepping stones lead the eye, as well as the feet, through the gravel and moss to these hand-carved features. This is the only area that can be entered, as the garden is mainly meant to be enjoyed from seated viewing.
The view down onto the garden from the second-story balcony gives a clear image of the contrast of the white pea gravel against the green moss, expressing yohaku no bi, or beauty in emptiness.
To make the garden feel larger, Masuno designed a tsukiyama, or artificial hill, which grows in height as it moves toward the far corner of the garden. The lush moss covers the hill and is punctuated here and there with landscape rocks and plants of differing species. At the back corner of the garden, in order to block the view of the windows and laundry of the adjacent house, a row of kometsuga, northern Japanese hemlock, serves as a screening element and forever green backdrop for the garden. Aiming for an overall simple planting design, Masuno utilized azaleas and maples for their coloration, creating focal points that can be viewed and enjoyed as they change throughout the four seasons. Together, these elements create a garden that is tranquil and quiet, where the sight of trees moving slowly in the breeze and the sound of water dripping into the tsukubai lull the viewer into taking a deep breath and pausing for a moment of calm reflection.
Stepping stones lead through the lush moss to the stone tsukubai basin with its bamboo water spout, and the adjacent stone tōrō lantern, both carved by Nishimura Kinzō and his son Daizō in Kyoto.
In the main part of the garden, Shunmyo Masuno constructed a tsukiyama, or artificial hill, to give the sense of extending space. The trees and shrubs planted on the tsukiyama block the view of neighboring houses.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE
BLANKNESS OR EMPTINESS 余白 yohaku
The concept of the beauty of blankness or emptiness, or yohaku no bi (literally “beauty in extra white”), is prevalent in calligraphic paintings, where the “empty” or white space formed by the brushstrokes is as important as the calligraphy itself. In Japanese gardens, this blankness or emptiness is present as beds of raked pea gravel or background walls finished in white plaster, which serve to contrast and set off other garden elements.
六根清浄の庭
ROKKONSHŌJŌ NO NIWA
Private Residence Tokyo, Japan, 2017
A tall wood fence separates the garden from the adjacent properties and acts as a gentle backdrop to layered garden elements, which increase in height from the stone patio in the foreground to the tsukiyama artifical hill at the back.
Shunmyo Masuno designed the compact garden on the south side of the residence to stimulate all the senses, with views from both inside the house and out, as well as to function as a space to practice yoga.
A bamboo spout provides a steady stream of water into the shihōbutsu chōzubachi water basin, with its four faces carved with images of the Buddha by the Kyoto-based master carver Nishimura Daizō.
IN A DENSE RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD in Tokyo, Shunmyo Masuno designed the Rokkonshōjō no Niwa, “The Garden of Six Pure Senses,” for a client who inherited the fifty-year-old house and garden. Planning a complete interior and exterior renovation, the client commissioned Masuno to renew the garden, which despite being on the south side of the house, was dark and very damp. An overgrown kaizukaibuki, or Hollywood juniper, completely covered the entire garden and also impeded the ventilation and daylighting for the living room and butsuma Buddhist altar room facing the garden. After removing the kaizukaibuki, the garden and adjacent rooms were opened up to light and air.
The design concept for the small garden was not only to provide a beautiful landscape for viewing but also to serve as a practical and useful place that fit the client’s lifestyle. Specifically, the client wanted a space to practice yoga outside, with an area set apart for the yoga instructor. Using granite paving stones in a random pattern, Masuno covered the ground surface next to the house, creating a functional flat area that is also a beautiful mosaic of large flat stones. Some of the stones have an intentionally pock-marked finish, while others have a natural surface. A single broad cylindrical stone set into the edge of the random paving contrasts with the flat area and provides a raised platform for the yoga instructor.
A few stepping stones lead from the front paved area through a river of pea gravel to a carved stone shihōbutsu chōzubachi water basin made especially for this garden by the stone carver Nishimura Daizō from Kyoto. Shihōbutsu means “Buddhist figures in the four cardinal directions,” and each of the four faces of the cube-shaped water basin features a Buddha image. The top of the basin has a perfect circle carved out to hold water dripping from the bamboo spout. The two circles in the garden—the carved top of the chōzubachi and the cylindrical platform stone—seem to be in quiet dialogue across the space of the garden. Small river stones surround the base of the chōzubachi and also fill in the space behind the cylindrical platform, creating another subtle connection between the two geometric elements within the garden.
From inside the residence, a framed view of water dripping from the bamboo spout into the carved stone shihōbutsu chōzubachi water basin and its surrounding greenery offers a serene scene.
Floor-to-ceiling glass doors capture a view of the miniature hill-and-stream garden, bringing the nature of the garden into the residence, while also sliding open to allow the owner to move directly into the space of the garden.
Landscape rocks of many shapes, sizes, and textures hold back a moss-covered mound at the edge of the gravel river. The height of the mound grows as it moves toward the far corner of the garden, giving a sense of spatial depth and suggesting the undulation of hills and valleys. A tall wooden perimeter fence, which is layered in front of a wall with a brushed plaster finish, serves as a backdrop for the garden. In front of this, Masuno planted six trees that would grow tall and four bushes that would grow wide. In addition to creating a lush green backdrop, together with the wall and fence, the trees and bushes add layers of space to the garden.
The trees that Masuno chose comprise different varieties to give texture and color to the garden throughout the seasons. The aodama, or Chinese flowering ash, has delicate branches with soft clouds of fragrant lacy white flowers in the spring. The tsubaki, or common camellia, features deep red blossoms in late winter and early spring, while the trunk of the himeshara, or tall stewartia, exhibits very visual patterning, and