Interviews
Important features of Japanese gardens
It’s just your own feeling – how you would perceive a garden the way you wanted it and what type of plants you’re going to put in it. So it’s an art. It’s like you’re drawing a picture. So if it looks beautiful to you, it must be pleasing to the eye. So Japanese garden is something where you build, where it’s peaceful. You do not make a pathway in a straight line. You zig-zag it. So you have to come to a corner of the zig-zag. You have to sort of stop and look and you walk again and you turn again. You stop and look. So a Japanese garden, a Chinese garden, it’s something that’s supposed to be very relaxing, very pleasing to the eye, and it’s like meditation. That’s what Japanese gardens are.
Date: December 1, 2005
Location: California, US
Interviewer: Daniel Lee
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum
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