How oriental gardens can relax the stressed and grumpy traveller

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This was published 8 years ago

How oriental gardens can relax the stressed and grumpy traveller

By Brian Johnston
Tranquil, nurturing and encouraging contemplation: A Japanese garden.

Tranquil, nurturing and encouraging contemplation: A Japanese garden.Credit: iStock

Little rivers of moss run between well placed stones. A wandering pathway is shaded by a bamboo thicket, and leaves rustle in the breeze. In spring, a spray of delicate plum blossoms might display snowy petals, while in autumn, fiery maple leaves command attention. Vines creep like thieves, dragonflies flit. And in a quiet courtyard, a monk in sandals and a conical straw hat rakes leaves, the sound of scratching a background to meditation and visual delight.

The travel world is full of people who find cathedrals, museums or shopping malls uninteresting, at least some of the time. I've yet to find anyone who doesn't appreciate a garden, however. Walk into a garden and your shoulders unknot. You start doing unexpected things: humming to yourself, throwing Pooh sticks, cooing over butterflies. Gardens relax the stressed and cheer the grumpy, and their pleasures never pall. As a Chinese proverb goes, a bottle of wine gives you pleasure for an hour, marriage pleasure for a year. But plant a garden and you have pleasure for a lifetime.

I don't have the opportunity to plant a garden but, as I grow older, strolling in gardens seems infinitely preferable to ticking off more tourist sights. Sure, I'll miss out on a castle or temple, but I can instead sit by a trickling stream, admire the sky through maple branches, and sip green tea under a weeping willow. I can't picnic in a museum, or play chess, or kiss, or smell things.

The meditative surrounds of an oriental garden van offer the ultimate holiday slowdown. Illustration: Michael Mucci

The meditative surrounds of an oriental garden van offer the ultimate holiday slowdown. Illustration: Michael Mucci

You can have fun in a garden but, just like museums, they also tell you something about the cultural aspirations and society from which they arise. There isn't much in an oriental garden that resembles an Islamic garden or a European one. You won't find fountains or lawns, patios or parterres, and not even many flowers. But I reckon for the ultimate holiday slowdown, an oriental garden is where you need to be, breathing deep and unfurling the mind as waterlilies unfurl their waxy pink petals.

I've long been entranced by oriental gardens, though it took me years to fully understand and appreciate them, because they're petite and rather subtle. Unlike Western gardens, oriental gardens don't symbolise human domination and control of nature, nor are they statements of wealth. Don't look for the fountains and flamboyance you find in the palace gardens of Europe. Oriental gardens – even aristocratic ones – are small, intimate and contemplative, and profoundly influenced by the three philosophies of Confucianism (moderation and harmony), Taoism (integration with the rhythms of nature) and Buddhism (mystical calm). These are the things to consider in oriental gardens, instead of admiring the flowers or worrying about the need to impress the neighbours.

Oriental gardens are carefully planned, yet give the illusion of an irregular and spontaneous landscape. They imitate nature by recreating its idyllic landscapes in miniature; "piling rocks and digging ponds" is a colloquial Chinese expression for creating a garden. Meandering paths, pavilions and seats are placed for maximum effect, leaving gardens full of little visual surprises and vantage points that aim to evoke lofty thoughts.

Water lies at the heart of oriental gardens. Its waterways are meandering, mossy and full of fat fish, with reflections helping to give small gardens an illusion of greater size. Tranquil, nurturing and encouraging contemplation, water represents the feminine principles of yin. Surrounding the water are masculine yang rocks, piled together to suggest cliffs and soaring peaks. Rocks that have a tortured, convoluted appearance are appreciated. So is moss, especially in Japan. Kokedera garden at Saiho Temple in Kyoto, a World Heritage site, boasts some 120 varieties of moss, fragile and ephemeral, and a sheer delight.

Oriental gardens can seem rather monochrome to those used to the gaudiness of tulips and roses. Plants aren't for show but have important symbolic roles, with many cultural and literary references. Bamboo, which bends but doesn't break, represents honour. Pine and cypress trees symbolise longevity and strength; lotus purity and truth. Winter plum (vitality) and peach (immortality) are among the few flowering plants, and are so admired, they appear frequently in gardens, as well as traditional painting and poetry.

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Orchids represent the character of a true gentleman. As Confucius explains: "A solitary orchid adorns the side of a mountain and perfumes the air even in the absence of appreciation. A true scholar, learned in morality and philosophy, is always a gentleman, even in the absence of wealth."

Traditionally, oriental gardens have always had a courtyard devoted to the cultivation of miniature trees known as penjing, literally "scenery in a pot". It's another aspect of oriental gardens that asks you to slow down and be appreciative. The creation of miniature landscapes in shallow pots has been part of the Taoist tradition in China since at least the 1st century, and by the 3rd century was a well developed art. Although penjing attempt to capture scenes in miniature, there is much more to them than simple imitation. This is an art form that reflects the patience and ingenuity of the grower, and provides a source of delight and contemplation for the viewer. Some have called them living sculptures or three-dimensional poems: compact, beautiful and intended to provoke quiet contemplation.

From the penjing of China two other traditions emerged. In Vietnam hon non bo came to focus on creating entire miniature landscapes of mountains and islands decorated with a variety of small plants and trees, and often also containing model figures and buildings. Japan also developed its own sense of aesthetics and tradition. Penjing were brought to Japan as early as the 6th century, and in the 14th century Japan was producing the first truly Japanese bonsai. They were widely admired and kept by the samurai class. The oldest bonsai in Japan, a five-needle pine tree at least 500 years old, is part of the imperial palace collection in Tokyo. Bonsai focus on single plants rather than landscape settings. They're designed to make the viewer pause in admiration at the sight of a beautiful branch of autumn foliage or the twisted elegance of a tree trunk.

Oriental gardens are poetic places, but there is no point in getting too carried away. It is said the gardens of Nijo Castle in Kyoto were originally treeless because one resident samurai became too melancholy when watching leaves falling from autumn trees; he was reminded of his mortality. Today, though, gnarly pine trees lean drunkenly from the remaining defensive walls, and maple trees droop over trickling streams. There is also a fine teahouse.

Another notable difference between Western and Eastern traditions is that architecture, not plants, is at the fore in an oriental garden. Western gardens might do with a pergola or folly, but architecture is everywhere in an oriental garden. It provides vantage points and views, but also shapes the garden and is a focus in itself. You don't plant a Chinese garden as much as build it. Walls form barriers rather like the rooms of a house, with a series of walkways, moon gates and pavilions linking one courtyard "room" to another, and latticed windows allowing glimpses beyond. An oriental garden is also furnished with objects such as humped bridges, stone "boats", lion statues, inscriptions on rocks and calligraphic scrolls that provide literary comments on nature's beauty.

The garden is generally topped with a multi-storey pagoda that provides views over the garden and, symbolically, elevates the onlooker above the clouds and into the home of the immortals. Look down on a Chinese garden and imagine flying in a plane over a landscape, and you'll get the idea. The top storey of such pagodas in private gardens often contained a library in classical times, an indication that the scholar could rise to heaven through the attainment of philosophy and wisdom.

Charge through an oriental garden and you'll be left wondering what it's all about. The secret is to slow down and take time for contemplation. You don't have to know about Chinese culture any more than you have to know about plate tectonics to admire the Himalayas. Just sit for a while, and appreciate the moonlight on the water, the sound of wind through a stand of bamboo, or a beautiful branch of autumn foliage. If that makes you feel philosophical about life, you've understood what an oriental garden is all about. As the Chinese saying goes, keep a green tree in your heart, and perhaps a singing bird will come.

TOP CHINESE GARDENS

• In China, public parks with traditional landscaping include West Lake in Hangzhou (www.en.gotohz.com), West Lake in Yangzhou, and Daming Lake in Jinan (www.travelshandong.com). Shanghai Botanic Garden (www.shbg.org) has a fine penjing collection.

• Private gardens are particularly renowned in Yangzhou (www.yangzhou.gov.cn) and Suzhou (www.ylj.suzhou.gov.cn), where numerous ancient gardens are designated World Heritage sites.

• During the imperial era, some gardens were reserved for the emperor, such as those at the Summer Palace (www.summerpalace-china.com), Beihai Park (www.beihaipark.com.cn) and the Forbidden City (www.dpm.org.cn) in Beijing. Gardens at the Imperial Summer Resort in Chengde (www.bishushanzhuang.com.cn) are the largest in the country, covering 540 hectares.

• Hong Kong lacks a good oriental garden, but Ocean Park amusement complex (www.oceanpark.com.hk) has a Goldfish Pagoda garden complete with pond of imperial goldfish, and a Japanese-style garden.

• In Taiwan, Zhi Shan Garden in Taipei (www.npm.gov.tw), part of the fabulous National Palace Museum, has fine Song- and Ming-Dynasty landscaping. Also worth visiting is Lin Family Mansion and Garden in Panchiao just south-west of Taipei (www.linfamily.ntpc.gov.tw).

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