context: gardens

a small garden at Kanshi-in, in Kyoto

Courtyard gardens

Obviously most people don't have the land for the kind of large gardens that have taken up most of this section; and indeed even large complexes of buildings and gardens have some small interstitial spaces as well as larger expanses. The small courtyard garden, known as tsubo-niwa, is an artform in its own right. (It also includes rooftop and balcony gardens.) These became important in merchants' urban houses from the late 15th Century, and are common in modern Japanese cities. The most common model is the dry garden, but there is a lot of variety and originality.

backwards: strolling gardens

forwards: modern gardens