Abstract Scale

In comparison to many Chinese gardens, Japanese gardens are somewhat more abstract and simple in form and representation. Many of the features in these gardens serve as small scale representations for important scenes or real life areas found across Japan. Amanohashidate, a natural land bridge and one of Japans most famous scenic views, is represented by a small land bridge across a pond in the Katsura Imperial Villa, which is just one of many specific views which appear throughout the stroll garden.

Such stroll gardens also incorporate miniature installations, such as small lanterns along the edge of a pond to represent lighthouses at the edge of the sea, or bonsai trees to form small landscapes, while larger trees in the background represent the mountains in distant landscapes.

Japanese zen rock gardens like this one at Ryoan-ji are perhaps the most abstract version of garden design, with their calm raked white gravel representing water in which one may only enter through their mind and lose themselves in deep meditation. A series of rocks litter these rock gardens in an abstract, yet purposeful way which hints at an organization which is not obvious or controllable. These stones represent the solid in the void, or the land in the sea and provide a static contrast to the carefully raked and rippled stones to create a calming, peaceful scene.