The Hidden Gardens of Kyoto

ForeWord Magazine's BOOK OF THE YEAR Awards, Silver Medal Winner, Home & Garden

Supreme examples of the art of Japanese gardens, not easily accessible to the public.

The Hidden Gardens of Kyoto is the attractive sequel to Landscapes for Small Spaces by the same photographer, Katsuhiko Mizuno. In this new book, Mizuno introduces the gardens of Kyoto that are not easily accessible or are totally closed to the public.

Mizuno was born in Kyoto and has spent most of his life in this old capital, established in the eighth century. Kyoto is not susceptible to short-term fashions, and this rigidness can be seen in the way it has kept the tradition of garden art alive over the centuries in public and private spaces. Thanks to his familiarity with the city, Mizuno has been able to penetrate its hidden corners and capture the beauty of unknown gardens with his cameras.

The Hidden Gardens of Kyoto displays more than fifty gardens, from private dwellings to the Imperial Palaces and Villas, temples, tea schools and shrines. The elements and structure of each garden are explained by Masaaki Ono, who studied under the greatest twentieth-century garden designer, Mirei Shigemori. Plans drawn by Ono also accompany some of the garden descriptions.

Some Japanese gardens are planned so as to be seen from one vantage point, but many are designed for viewing from multiple angles. In his previous book, Mizuno only showed us one aspect per garden, but this time we are given various views as we explore the stroll gardens or look down from the verandas of the buildings surrounding enclosed gardens. This three-dimensional approach will help both professional and amateur garden designers and landscape architects to understand the structure as well as the diverse vegetation used in one garden.