A Cultural Interpretation of the Features of a Japanese Garden
A Cultural Interpretation of the Features of a Japanese Garden

Summary/Abstract: In this paper we aim to make explicit the features of the Japanese garden as they appear from an analysis of the basic structure of three main types of garden: "kaiyūshiki," roji and "kanshōshiki". We show that their structure is based on the "movement space" perception – a concept introduced by Mitsuo Inoue as the Japanese specific perception of architectural space. After checking the structure of the "kaiyūshiki" garden, we have seen that it is a representative example of this Japanese space perception. Analysis of the structure of roji and "kanshōshiki" garden revealed that they are also expressions of "movement space",which lends them a fundamental Japanese character, common with "kaiyūshiki"gardens, but each has its own specificity that determine creating from the same base of a different structure. For each type analyzed, we indicated some practical hints for garden appreciation taking into consideration the features observed herein.

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