The Hidden Gardens of Kyoto

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About The Hidden Gardens Of Kyoto

Product Description 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. From Booklist Kyoto gardens epitomize the austere yet visually potent elements of Japanese garden design. Mizuno's exquisite photography reveals the essential attributes of Japan's primary garden styles, offering breathtaking glimpses of private landscapes where refined textural effects are achieved in vast ponds surrounded by emerald evergreens, dry gravel waterfalls, and mossy expanses. Although the text accompanying each image is brief, Ono deftly explicates the consequence of a rock's placement or the calligraphic potency of raked stone, and clearly delineates the significant aspects of the pond, dry landscape, and tea garden. From the dynamic asymmetry governing a composition of shapely trees to the transitory response engendered by falling leaves, an ethereal perfection comes to pass in Mizuno and Ono's melding of words and pictures. Alice Joyce Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Review "This is one of the most finely photographed books of gardens I have seen.... If you favor Japanese garden styles, you will be impressed by the sweeps, use of stone, meticulous attention to detail and feel for nature the text and images convey." — Washington Post "Between these elegant covers...readers are treated to some of Kyoto's most exquisite gardens that never open to the public." — Los Angeles Times "From the dynamic asymmetry governing a composition of shapely trees to the transitory response engendered by falling leaves, an ethereal perfection comes to pass in Mizuno and Ono's melding of words and pictures." — Booklist "Anyone on your gift list who loves Japanese style will be delighted to receive The Hidden Gardens of Kyoto." — Metropolitan Home "Don't miss the Hidden Gardens of Kyoto. ...The timeless elegance of such gardens is extraordinary. ...This newly-released masterpiece demonstrates the Japanese esthetic that blends utility and ornamentation which for centuries has provided a sanctuary where inhabitants can stroll, boat, sip tea and meditate on all of life's possibilities. The utmost attention to detail translates into the precision with which inanimate objects are integrated into their