| architecture |
| calligraphy |
| ceramics |
| clothing |
| comics |
| gardens |
| lacquerwork |
| literature |
| movies |
| music |
| painting |
| poetry |
| sculpture |
| tea ceremony |
| television |
| theatre |
| weaponry |
| thematic routes |
| timeline |
| the site |
context: gardens
General Points
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water and rocks at Tenryu-ji |
I think this is the single most important thing about Japanese gardens: the word sansui is written with the characters for mountains and water. It also means 'landscape' (it's used for this in painting), and can be used for 'garden' too. This says a great deal about how the Japanese thought of gardens: as landscapes, as part of the landscape, as centring around stone and water.