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The Roots of Japanese Gardens

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This article is about the influence of Chinese gardens on early Japanese gardens, and how early Japanese gardens differed from Chinese gardens. It will be helpful if you read my article on Classical Chinese Gardens before you read this article.

In 612 AD, according to the Nihonshoki (or Nihongi), a sailor from Paekche was shipwrecked on the coast of the state of Yamato. In the Nihonshoki, this sailor is given a Japanese name, Michinoku no Takumi. He had blotchy skin, so the Japanese also called him the name Shikomaro (the ugly artisan). Because of his skin, the Japanese wanted to confine him on a small island, like a leper. His response to this was, "If you dislike my spotted skin, you should not breed cattle and horses which are spotted with white. Morever, I have a small talent. I can make the figures of hills and mountains. If you keep me and make use of me, it would be to the advantage of your country, Why should you waste me by casting me away on an island in the sea?"

In 613, Shikomaro created a garden in the southern courtyard, or "oniwa", of the palace of the Empress Suiko. This is the earliest known ornamental garden created in Japan. This garden had a lake which was spanned by a Chinese style bridge, made of wood and finished in red laquer, and it featured a small mountain in the form of Mount Shumisen (Mount Sumeru).

While the Japanese adopted the basic elements of Chinese gardens, they grafted these elements onto ideas which were already a part of Japanese culture. The Japanese garden is rooted in the concept of niwa. According to Shinto beliefs, the world was full of spirits, any of which could be harmful. The word niwa means open space, it was a purified space in front of their dwellings, a space protected from harmful spirits. In this purified space, the Japanese planted trees and brought in stones, to serve as dwellings for beneficial spirits.

In the Nihonshoki, niwa is the term used for the open space in front of Shinto shrines and the Imperial Palace. According to this document, "....a group of maidens walked elegantly in the yuniwa of the Asakura Palace". The literal translation of the word Yuniwa is "a purified piece of ground". From the 4th to 6th Centuries AD, the graveled courtyard of the Imperial Palace was called yuniwa when used for Shinto rites and oniwa when used for state ceremonies. When the Japanese adopted the Chinese ornamental garden, they grafted it onto this Shinto concept of niwa.

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