Dried water is very common in Japanese gardens and also draws a lot of attention. Wait a minute, I can hear you questioning the term ‘dry water’. It’s a contradiction in terms, isn’t it? Well YES and NO! And it is the part NOT that I am going to concentrate on in this little article. But let me clarify the rules of water sources and the characteristics of these specific types of gardens.
Water features in these types of gardens should look as natural as possible and blend in with the surroundings. Fountains do not exist in Japanese gardens, waterfalls do, but fountains do not. They are man-made and not ‘natural’ in appearance. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a ‘fountainist’, it’s just that with Japanese gardens there are certain rules that need to be observed. If you really wanted a fountain in a Japanese garden, it’s not a heinous crime, but your garden wouldn’t be quite authentic!
Streams, almost always man-made, are a big part of Japanese landscaping, often built with curves that give them a more natural appearance. The placement of the lanterns is more frequent in streams or ponds within a garden. This represents the feminine and masculine elements of ‘water’ and ‘fire’.
This concept is known in the Japanese tradition as YIN and YANG. Any stream in a Japanese garden will have deliberate imperfections designed to give the ‘water’ a ‘natural’ look and organic feel. The shapes of the ponds should also look natural for this reason.
Water is never placed in the center of the garden, especially in ponds. these will often have larger stones within them to simulate islands. Sometimes it is common for them to have a small waterfall. The use of stones is always very structural and symmetrical. This also applies to all varieties of oriental gardens.
OK, those are the wet things out of the way. Let’s move on to the concept and use of ‘Dry Water’ in Zen gardens. In Zen gardens it’s pretty straightforward: sand is used to replicate water and this makes smaller landscape reproductions much easier. Most of the time, a zen garden will show a miniature landscape with mounds for mountains and sand to represent water. The sand is raked to give it a ‘watery’ appearance and can be raked in different styles over and over again.
In Japanese gardens, ‘dry water’ appears most often in ‘Karesansui’ gardens. It is one of the most popular types that you can visit or try to design and build, and in English it means ‘dry mountain stream’. These types of Japanese gardens are known simply as “dry” gardens and are heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism. They are peaceful, simple and waterless: rocks are used to symbolize landmasses and ‘dry water’ -or- SAND/GRAVEL is raked to look like the sea or a large body of water. Brilliantly intelligent and meaningful too.
Many hundreds of years ago, this type of garden was built by ‘Senzui Kawarami’ in a simple English translation meaning ‘people of the mountain, stream and river bed’. They were master craftsmen by trade and vocation and specialized in building these impressive Zen-influenced gardens. It is generally accepted by scholars that this type of garden design originated in China, as did much of the history and influences of Japanese gardens. But that is another story…
Zen-style gardens are becoming increasingly popular in the Western world. People love the idea of gravel, rocks, some low-lying plants, and an ornate Japanese stone lantern that adds peace and quiet to their patio or garden at home. They are not that difficult to create and my book ’11 easy ways to turn your Japanese garden’ it will give you lots of ideas that you can put into practice almost immediately. You can claim a free copy on my website:
http://www.turnyourgardenjapanese.com
