Ryoan-ji
Kyoto, Japan. Muromachi Period, Japan. 1480 C.E.; current design most likely dates to the 18th century. Rock garden
Kyoto's most famous Zen garden is Ryoan-ji. Its raked gravel and 15 carefully placed stones make it the world's most recognisable garden image. I love Ryoan-ji, which, despite the hoards of visitors adding their own snaps to the image load of the garden, still manages to instil a mood of mystery and quiet reflection. It was made by an unnamed monk in the 15th century and was the template for a dry stone Zen garden for four centuries - until Mirei Shigemori brought the Zen garden into the 20th century and introduced it to modernism.
Form
- Zen Buddhism temple
- A complex of 23 sub-temples
- Built under the patronage of the Hosokawa family (a Japanese clan that held power during the 15th century)
- Zen dry garden
- serve as centers for meditation; encourage contemplation
- zen = meditation
- Different theories to what the garden represents:
- An island floating on an ocean
- A mother tiger carrying her cubs over the sea
- Symbol of the Japanese aesthetic concept of wabi (refined austerity) & sabi (subdued taste)
- The fundamental ideal of Zen philosophy
- An expression of a pure form of abstract composition to incite meditation
- Officially: interpreted as islands in a floating sea; mountain peaks above clouds; constellations in the sky
- Zen dry garden
- Japanese rock gardens - characterized by minimalistic perspectives & abstracted forms
- Enclosed courtyard filled with small stones / white sand with a series of moss islands from which rocks protrude
- Meant to be viewed from a veranda in a nearby building
- Asymmetrical arrangement
- Finding beauty in what is worn / aged
- Reminiscent of a Japanese painting: the rocks function as mountain ranges & the two-dimensional wall functions as an atmospheric space
- ^^reflects the Japanese aesthetic of a mountain obscured by the mist, rather than a mountain on a clear day
- The white sand racked in wavy patterns
- Acts as water / reflective of the waves > a tranquil sea
- Wet Garden
- Contains a tea house
- Seemingly arbitrary placement, the plants are actually placed in a highly organized & structured environment symbolizing the natural world
- Water symbolizes purification - used in rituals
- Hojo = main building of the monastery, the abbot’s residence
- The rock garden is located in front of the hojo
- Divided into 6 rooms by sliding doors (fusama)
- Paintings in this study space that show rocky crags emerging out of a sea of mist > a reflection of the garden itself
- Ryoan-ji = Peaceful Dragon Temple
- A great Zen center for the cultural activities of the elite during the 16th/17th centuries
- The garden
- Symbol of Zen Buddhism & Japanese culture
- stones surrounded by white gravel - ironically little use of plants
- This garden is one of the most famous examples of a rock garden
- Inspired by aspects of Japanese & Chinese culture
- Shinto (Japanese indigenous religion)
- Worship of deities in nature
- Zen Buddhism
- Emphasizes meditation as a path toward enlightenment
- Aesthetic values of rustic simplicity, spontaneity, & truth to materials >> came to characterize Zen art
- “The sea of gravel, rocks, and moss of the rock garden and the earthy tones of the clay walls contrast with the blossoming foliage beyond - evoking stillness and contemplation suitable for meditation” (khan academy)
- Unclear to exactly what it originally looked like / the designers of the garden
- Though some of the laborers’ names are inscribed in the stones (ie, Kotaro & Hikojiro)
- Kyoto, Japan
- Japan’s cultural center & capital city until 1868
- Zen rock gardens
- Renowned for their simplicity & serenity
- Intended to evoke peace & beauty
- The most famous is the Ryoan-ji
- Time is being communicated through the medium of rock
Cross-cultural comparisons: people & nature
Weiwei, Sunflower Seeds
Velasco, Valley of Mexico
Turner, The Slave Ship
