Japan 2006

For all those who think that size really matters, Japan is the place to have your ideas realigned. Carefully designed and restrained gardens are everywhere--decorating a small front yard, eased into a courtyard, commanding a bonsai planter, or beckoning outside the sliding walls of your room. The elements, shapes, and textures are perfectly balanced.

Here are some of my favorites . . .

The stroll garden at the Ginkaku-ji, the Temple of the Silver Pavilion, in Kyoto merges water, earth, and sky.



I love
My hut
At the foot of the Moon-awaiting Mountain
And the reflection
Of the sinking sky
Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1436-1490)



Water mirrors the Golden Pavilion at Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto.



At Koyasan, we stayed in a Buddhist monastery. One wall of our rooms was truly a landscape picture.



Dry gardens, like the famous Zen garden at the Ryoan-ji Temple in Tokyo, demand meditation.



Yes, it's clearly not how much you have but how good it is that counts. Even certain mosses are Very Important!