Japan's Master Gardens - by Stephen Mansfield (Hardcover)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><b>Presenting twenty-five master gardens, this landscape design book explores the ingenuity and range of Japanese landscaping, from the self-imposed confines of courtyard designs to the open expanses of the stroll garden.</b> <p/>No two Japanese gardens are ever the same. The Japanese Zen garden is a work of art equivalent in scale to an installation, but it is also an urban refuge, a setting where we can attain composure and equipoise. It is a place to collect our thoughts, examine deeper feelings, and ponder our responses to managed nature. Zen gardens comprise a sensory as much as a cultural experience. They are multifaceted, satisfying both our personal and intellectual yearnings. <p/>This beautifully-photographed book illustrates a tradition that benefits from a thousand years of applied knowledge. It also demonstrates how contemporary landscaping draws from its history and reflects on why ancient gardening should be relevant to the lives of people in the twenty-first century. <p/>In this beautifully illustrated book, Japanese gardening specialist Stephen Mansfield takes readers on an exploration of the outward forms, underpinning principles, sophisticated use of metaphor and allusion, and beauty and depth that set the Zen garden apart. Readers of his previous book, <i>Japanese Stone Gardens</i>, will find in this new work a worthy companion volume. <p/><i>Japan's Master Gardens</i> is an inspiring, thought-provoking tribute to the landscape design wisdom of the Japanese.<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>A poetic homage to the Japanese garden--not just for its artistry and grandeur, but also as the locus of our desire for balance and equanimity. <b>--Leza Lowitz, author of <i>Green Tea to Go: Stories from Tokyo</i></b><br><br>Mansfield accompanies his striking photographs with a spare text that combines history, poetry, and thoughtful meditations on each space. It's a wonderful balance of insight and visual delight. --<b><i>Publishers Weekly</i></b><br><br>Mansfield's elegant photographs artfully capture each garden's essence, from the tightly controlled symmetry of dry landscape gardens of the temple at Sekizo-ji to the serene majesty of early-seventeenth-century stroll gardens at Kumamoto. Teeming with historical, cultural, and design insights, Mansfield's treatise succinctly defines the extraordinary variety and beauty of gardens throughout Japan. --<b><i>Booklist</i></b><br><br>Such are the magnificent artifices of the Japanese garden, these <i>pas de deux</i> of man and nature, that while drinking in Mansfield's beautiful images you may fall under the illusion you are viewing the painterly landscapes of Hayao Miyazaki and pinch yourself and glance at the fine print for locations and assurance the gardens are indeed real and visitable. <b>--Burritt Sabin, author of <i>A Historical Guide to Yokohama</i></b><br><br>This book is as close as one could get to understanding the function of Japan's timeless gardens as the embodiment of the 'separate one-ness' of nature and human existence. <b>--Hans Brinckmann, author of <i>Showa Japan</i></b><br><br>While very attractive visually, this is no mere coffee table book. A wealth of knowledge and information is put across in an instructive yet highly readable fashion. The attention to detail is thoughtful, from the map inside the front cover to the font used in the titles. This book offers both intellectual and visual appeal to any reader, whether familiar with Japanese gardens or new to their aesthetic and traditions. --<b><i>Garden Design Magazine</i></b><br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>Stephen Mansfield</b>, an author and freelance photojournalist based in Japan, has contributed to over 60 magazines, newspapers and journals worldwide. His books include <i>Japanese Stone Gardens: Origins, Meaning, Form</i> and <i>Tokyo: A Cultural and Literary History</i>. A specialist in the field, he has visited over two hundred gardens in Japan, written extensively on the topic and designed a Japanese garden of his own.
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