Monty Don's Japanese Gardens S01e01 (2019)
Monty Don travels to Japan in spring. Amidst the cherry blossoms, he begins his journey through the iconic gardens of Japan. He visits one of 'the three great gardens of Japan' and the earliest surviving boating garden of the Heian period. He looks at the rolling green moss of a Buddhist garden and learns the secrets of creating a Zen landscape before visiting an unconventional garden created by a modern garden design legend.
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00:00The snow-clad slopes of Mount Fuji are one of the stunning images of Japan that we all recognise.
00:07But despite a fascination for the country and its culture,
00:11there remains something mysterious and intriguing.
00:16And although we may admire Japanese gardens and our own gardens are full of Japanese plants
00:21like cherries and maples and hostas,
00:24few of us really understand or know them.
00:28They remain an enigma.
00:31So I have set up to try and get to the heart of the culture
00:37that lies behind some of the most beautiful gardens in the world.
00:43I shall be visiting Japan during its two most radiant seasons,
00:48spring and autumn.
00:51I'll follow the development of stroll gardens,
00:55experience the serenity of a tea garden
00:59and learn the secrets of creating a Zen landscape.
01:04The stone said to me, it's OK.
01:07This angle, this position.
01:10The stone is talking to you? Yes.
01:13I'm setting out to relish, contemplate
01:17and hopefully learn to understand these iconic gardens of Japan.
01:25MUSIC
01:47Most of us have an idea of what a Japanese garden should contain.
01:52Cloud-bruning of azaleas,
01:55maples with their delicate leaves shimmering in the light,
01:59moss gardens, rock, gravel,
02:02water gently flowing.
02:06And this garden has it all.
02:16But this is not Japan.
02:19We're at Tatton Park in the heart of the Cheshire countryside.
02:24And there is a story behind this garden
02:26because it was inspired by an exhibition in London
02:30over 100 years ago.
02:33The Japan-British exhibition at White City in 1910
02:37lifted the curtain on a country shrouded in mystery.
02:41And this was the first chance for most people
02:44to see anything from Japan.
02:47Buildings, costumes, pottery and art
02:50all dazzled audiences with their novelty.
02:53And on top of this, two gardens have been brought over to England.
02:58This inspired a craze for building Japanese gardens.
03:06Lord Edgerton, the owner of Tatton Park, visited the exhibition,
03:10fell in love with these gardens
03:12and decided to create his own version at Tatton.
03:16A team of Japanese gardeners arrived and created what we see today.
03:22This is a lovely garden
03:24and it certainly gives you a real flavour of Japan.
03:29But I want to see the real thing.
03:32And for that, I need to go to Japan.
03:47Talk to anybody about the best time to come to Japan
03:51and they will always say spring,
03:53when the cherry blossom is at its best.
03:56Well, that's all fine and good,
03:58but the cherry blossom comes at different times,
04:02it only lasts for a few days and can be destroyed by the weather.
04:07But it looks like I've got lucky.
04:17For this handful of precious days, the blossom is gloriously everywhere
04:23and I've decided to head first to a garden in western Japan.
04:29I'm beginning my journey here, at Kenroku-en, in the town of Kanazawa,
04:34because this is one of the three great gardens of Japan.
04:39The name Kenroku-en means Garden of the Six Sublimities
04:43and refers to the legendary six qualities of the ideal garden.
04:47Spaciousness, seclusion, creativity, antiquity,
04:51water and scenic views.
04:57Kenroku-en features ponds, waterfalls, bridges
05:02and, of course, spectacular blossoms.
05:06It was originally the private garden of the local feudal lords,
05:10the hugely wealthy Maeda family.
05:16They began to create it in the 1670s
05:19as the pleasure ground for nearby Kanazawa Castle,
05:23in order that that wealth and power
05:25wouldn't attract the adverse attention of the shogun in Kyoto.
05:29And it was designed to be the perfect place
05:32and it was developed and redesigned for nearly 200 years
05:35until, in 1874, at the end of the feudal era,
05:38the garden was made into a public park.
05:43Today, Kenroku-en is meticulously tended by an army of gardeners,
05:49including the women scrupulously picking through the velvety carpet of moss,
05:54weeding out every single unwanted blade of grass.
05:58Even on a site of 28 acres, there is a fastidious attention to detail.
06:05So often when I visit a garden, people say,
06:07oh, you should have come last week, or you should come next month.
06:11But this is the first time when I can absolutely say
06:14I should be here today.
06:17This is the sublime, perfect moment.
06:22The cherry blossom, briefly, for this moment,
06:25the cherry blossom, briefly, for this one day,
06:29is at its fragile, outrageous, ecstatic best.
06:36Before I came to Japan, people said,
06:38well, you must try and see the cherries because they're really lovely.
06:41But they were wrong. They're not really lovely.
06:44They're amazing. They're mind-blowing.
06:50Although the cherry blossom lasts for just one short week,
06:53it is the horticultural mascot of Japan.
06:56Hanami, cherry blossom festivals,
06:59have been held in Japan since the 7th century.
07:02The arrival of the blossom is the nation's top news story for days
07:06and the excuse for national celebration.
07:10Kenroku-en is a paradise of cherry blossom of every kind.
07:17To understand the cultural significance of this,
07:20I'm meeting Professor Suzuki,
07:22who is an expert on traditional Japanese gardens.
07:25Sitting here in this lovely garden
07:27that is considered to be one of the greatest in Japan.
07:31Why is that?
07:32This garden has a lot of future of landscape with water
07:37and also panoramic view towards the mountain and to the ocean.
07:45Japan itself is an island nation,
07:48so this is kind of a compacted environment of Japan.
07:54Clearly, the cherry blossom is really important.
07:57What is it about the cherry blossom that is so special?
08:01Just because we love. Yes.
08:04We celebrate spring has come.
08:08One of the aspects of Japanese gardens that is very different from the West
08:13is the huge care given to the relationship
08:16between solid objects such as the branches of a tree.
08:21One of the things that is evident is this careful control of space
08:28and also this idea of ma.
08:31Ma is a space in between.
08:35So, one branch and another branch,
08:39we have to think about the in-between.
08:43Any visitor to Japanese gardens is bound to notice
08:47the presence of a lot of rocks, wood, moss.
08:53Why is this?
08:55Because we have really naturalistic landscape gardens.
09:01So, we kind of mimic or we learn from the nature.
09:07So, you're saying it is part of the natural world.
09:10It always relates. Yes.
09:13MUSIC PLAYS
09:19Despite all the thousands of cherries
09:22that are billowing blossom everywhere,
09:25this rather scrawny tree with just a few flowers emerging
09:30is really special.
09:32It's called taihaiku, the great white cherry.
09:36In 18th century Japan, this was the most prized cherry of them all.
09:41And then it disappeared.
09:43But in 1923, in a Sussex garden in England,
09:47a man found a cherry growing that he liked very much
09:50but couldn't recognise,
09:52so he called upon the great cherry expert Captain Collingwood Ingram,
09:57who recognised it as the missing taihaiku,
10:00but couldn't work out how it got there.
10:02So, he grafted it, took the trees back to Japan,
10:06and, of course, it was acknowledged as the missing taihaiku,
10:11which means, amongst other things,
10:13that this tree here is taken from the grafts from that Sussex garden.
10:19Now, why it disappeared,
10:22and even more, why it turned up in Sussex in the 1920s,
10:26no-one knows.
10:29The most dramatic evidence of the constant desire
10:33to reflect nature at Kenroku-en
10:35is in its hundreds of majestic, sculpted pine trees.
10:40This is the Karasaki-no-matsu pine,
10:43and in a garden that is full of magnificent pines,
10:47this is probably the best of the lot.
10:51The 200-year-old pine characterises the Japanese design
10:55for trees to look as natural as possible
10:57by virtue of extreme artifice.
11:00And this isn't in any way hidden.
11:03So, the branches are propped up
11:05and held in precise place by wooden posts,
11:09which is all part of the pursuit of distilled nature.
11:14And this is something that is very particular to Japanese gardens,
11:17and the bigger and older the tree,
11:20the more prominent the pine is.
11:22The bigger and older the tree,
11:24the more prominent the props will be,
11:26but that doesn't in any way detract from the magnificence.
11:32Pines will grow in harsh mountain landscapes
11:35and survive extreme cold,
11:37and the Japanese revere them as a symbol of man's inner strength
11:41in the face of adversity.
11:44For centuries, gardeners have been trying to recreate
11:47the natural appearance of the weathered mountain pine,
11:50and to that end, have developed incredibly skilled
11:53and intricate pruning techniques.
11:58Kenrokuen's head gardener, Mr Hitoshi Shishime...
12:02Hello.
12:03..is in charge of this vast garden
12:06with his hundreds of manicured ancient trees,
12:09and he shows me what he and his team are aiming to achieve.
12:21The idea is to prune the branches into a triangular shape,
12:25creating space between them in accordance with ma.
12:30And if that seems extraordinarily precise,
12:33it is nothing compared to the next stage.
12:40Last year's needles are stripped away,
12:43leaving just the fresh new growth.
12:45You do this by hand in the trees?
12:51That must take a lot of man-hours, a lot of work.
13:02Wow!
13:06The thought of 60 gardeners in one tree stripping off the pine needles
13:11is just mind-boggling.
13:16I clearly have got a long way to go
13:18before I really get into the Japanese gardening psyche.
13:27Japan might be a crowded and often hectic country,
13:31but like its pruning, train travel involves precision and accuracy.
13:36I love the way that when you buy a train ticket,
13:39you don't just book a seat,
13:41but also an exact spot on the platform
13:44where the door nearest to your seat
13:46will inevitably open before you.
13:50Japan's gardening culture dates back over 1,500 years,
13:55making it one of the oldest in the world.
13:59So I am now heading to its garden capital,
14:03the ancient city of Kyoto.
14:17For 1,000 years, from the 8th century to the middle of the 19th century,
14:23Kyoto was the capital of Japan,
14:26the centre of government, of the military and the arts.
14:30And there are hundreds of gardens down there in amongst the city.
14:35So if you want to see all the different styles
14:38that evolved throughout that 1,000-year history,
14:42this is the place to come.
14:46MUSIC PLAYS
15:04Kyoto is unique in Japan because even in quiet back streets,
15:08there are temples, one after the other,
15:11and most of them have gardens,
15:13but the net effect of that is that there are hundreds of gardens.
15:23Nori Hamamoto is a local garden designer,
15:27and I'm meeting her over tea and green tea ice cream
15:30to find out just why gardens are so important.
15:34Kyoto is a city full of gardens.
15:37Why is that?
15:39Kyoto city is surrounded by mountains
15:42and a lot of river came from old mountains,
15:45so natural circumstances was very good for making gardens in Kyoto.
15:51Japanese gardens have a kind of reverence about them.
15:55Is this directed at gardens or just part of a reverence for nature?
16:00Attitude to the nature, yes.
16:03Nature of Japan is sometimes very strong,
16:07sometimes too strong, like a volcano or things like that,
16:10so Japanese people traditionally think, admire and respect the nature.
16:17I've seen the most fabulous cherry blossom in the last few days.
16:22So many people enjoy cherry blossom party, viewing party.
16:28What is it that people are celebrating?
16:30I know the flowers are beautiful, but what does it mean?
16:33It's drinking party, I think. Drinking?
16:36Yes, and so gathering with neighbours and friends,
16:40excuse to go out and drink, and especially outside.
16:45Well, that explains quite a lot.
16:53The cherry blossom inspires a release from the daily grind,
16:57and there is a real sense of celebration and pride.
17:02Shops rent out kimonos for photo opportunities
17:05and the whole nation celebrates with a carnival spirit.
17:11Although the cherry-lined streets of Kyoto are packed,
17:15there is an atmosphere of gentle delight.
17:19Romance fills the petal-strewn air,
17:22and the amazing blossom is the ideal backdrop for wedding photos.
17:29This is an unforgettable experience,
17:31quite unlike anything I have ever seen before.
17:35It gives me a fresh insight into the importance of this spring flowering.
17:42It's a mistake to think of the cherry blossom
17:46as being essentially a transient, fragile beauty.
17:50It's much more robust than that.
17:53It's about renewal and refreshing the world.
17:56This is April 1st today, the beginning of the financial year,
18:00the beginning of a new term, a new job,
18:03new resolutions and a new life.
18:06And it's that and the energy of that
18:09that the blossom symbolises and celebrates.
18:16However beautiful and important it may be,
18:19I've come to Kyoto for more than just the cherry blossom.
18:24Nowhere in Japan has more garden history.
18:27And on the edge of the city,
18:29on the grounds of the vast Daikaku-ji Temple,
18:32is the Asawa Pond.
18:34The temple was originally a palace
18:37constructed for the Emperor Saga in the 9th century.
18:40And he created the garden based around a large artificial lake
18:44made by damming a nearby waterfall.
18:47Imperial gardens of the Heian period like this one
18:50were all essentially water gardens,
18:53made to be enjoyed not just from the banks
18:56but from on the water itself.
19:00This is one of the earliest of all surviving Japanese gardens
19:05and certainly the earliest water garden.
19:07It's a style known as a pond-spring boating garden,
19:11which pretty much describes it.
19:13And the idea was that you both looked out onto the water
19:17and saw the reflection of the mountains,
19:19enjoyed the water itself, and also took to it on boats.
19:23And there are stories of parties and games enjoyed by the court.
19:30The 11th-century Tale of Genji
19:33beautifully describes these garden frolics,
19:37detailing the floating orchestras and seductions
19:41that took place on the water.
19:45We're all very familiar with the red bridge in a Japanese garden
19:50as being a really distinctive feature.
19:53And they're often very beautiful.
19:55But they lead somewhere.
19:57In this case, they lead to islands set in the lake.
20:00And islands are really important in Japanese culture.
20:03It's very aware of itself as an island nation.
20:06More importantly, the gods resided on islands.
20:12On this one is an ancient oak that is believed to contain spirits.
20:17Now, in Shintoism, the indigenous religion of Japan,
20:20many kinds of natural objects have this property
20:23and they are all revered.
20:26It could be a tree, it could be a rock, it could even be a building.
20:29And to protect those spirits, the object is wrapped in rope,
20:34hence this wonderful thick rope bound around the oak tree.
20:46The essence of this early style of garden is open.
20:50The light is reflected on this great expanse of water.
20:55But I now want to move on to see a style of garden
21:00that is different in that it is intimate and enclosed, even hidden.
21:25Around the same time as the Azawa pond was made,
21:29Japanese monks travelled to China and returned with Buddhist teachings.
21:35The first Buddhist temples in Japan
21:37were built in isolated spots on hills and mountains
21:41to provide quiet places for the monks to study.
21:46CHANTING
21:52Half an hour north of Kyoto is the Sanzen-in temple
21:56built in the mountainous village of Ahara in 1156.
22:01The garden within its walls couldn't be more different
22:04from both the open expanse of water at Asawa
22:08or the blousy, blossom-decked streets of the city.
22:13Because here, all is a glowing, velvety green,
22:18created by a plant that we in the West vilify,
22:21of which the Japanese revere.
22:24Moss.
22:26I've never seen moss like this.
22:29It is extraordinary the way that it's sort of slightly rolling
22:32and bubbling and lapping up the trunks of the Japanese cedars.
22:37And when you walk in, it has a kind of green intensity
22:43that's like walking into a vast cathedral-like building.
22:49In fact, the actual temple buildings are completely surrounded
22:54by giant trees growing out of the sea of moss,
22:59which grow slowly and can take years to cover a large area.
23:04So in Japan, it has become a symbol
23:07of the patient virtues of tradition and antiquity.
23:12As it's intolerant of air pollution or too much sun,
23:16it's also valued for its sensitive nature,
23:19because only precisely suitable conditions will allow it to thrive.
23:25Although I know that many British people see moss
23:29as a particularly pernicious weed sent to blight their lawns,
23:33in fact, it's treasured in Japan.
23:36There are over 2,500 different types of moss,
23:40and a moss garden typically will have a number of different ones
23:44which will be very carefully manicured and tweaked
23:47for their contrast and effect.
23:50So it is very highly prized.
23:56The combination of the moss and the trees
23:59inevitably creates a reverential air,
24:02but that's punctured by these little round faces
24:06appearing out of the moss,
24:08and that lightens the whole atmosphere.
24:11In fact, there is a slightly more serious side to it,
24:14because these are bodhisattvas,
24:16and they're there to protect the souls of children that have died,
24:20young or died before birth.
24:28Taikan Uda is a monk at the temple.
24:32What is the relationship between Buddhism and gardens?
24:57Yes, absolutely.
25:03This garden captures perfectly the spirit of the Buddhism
25:08that came to Japan in the 8th century.
25:11But then, 400 years later, a new brand of Buddhism came here,
25:15and with it, a brand-new style of garden.
25:27This is Kodai-ji Temple in central Kyoto.
25:32And outside, like most Buddhist temples,
25:35there are stalls selling omamori,
25:38which are amulets dedicated to Buddhist figures.
25:42These are good luck charms, and they're very specific,
25:46so you have good luck and social success.
25:50Protection against traffic accidents.
25:52Good health, there.
25:57And the red one is pass exams.
26:02Work luck. Probably need that.
26:05Love fortune.
26:07So, really, all your needs are sorted.
26:13The temple was originally built in 1606 as a memorial
26:17and remains very calm and beautiful today.
26:22Kodai-ji was founded by the widow of a warlord.
26:26She spent the rest of her life here mourning her fallen husband.
26:30And as well as this spectacular covered bridge of water
26:34and carefully placed stones,
26:36there was another, completely new element to the garden.
26:43Known in Japanese as kare-sansui,
26:46which literally translates as dry mountain water,
26:49this is a zen garden.
26:52And this style of gardening, with its carefully placed rocks,
26:55raked gravel and minimalist planting,
26:58has come to exemplify the austerity and intellectual rigour of zen Buddhism.
27:03These were intended for quiet contemplation,
27:07having first, of course, removed your boots.
27:12This garden does have some of the recognisable features
27:16of trees and moss,
27:19but that moss very quickly runs out
27:22and laps against a shore of raked gravel.
27:26A great expanse of empty space.
27:29You arrive at a couple of very precise features,
27:33circles with mini cones on it, and that's it.
27:38And that does seem like no kind of garden at all.
27:43But when you think about zen Buddhism
27:47and how monks were trained, very rigorously,
27:50to empty their minds,
27:52to completely remove everything,
27:55in order that there might be space for enlightenment
27:59and a full appreciation of the world to come in,
28:02then you see that these gardens are examples of that.
28:07They are, if you like, pictures of the zen mind.
28:16Zen is really difficult to understand
28:20and practically impossible for the Western mind.
28:23But zen gardens have to be tended, and as a gardener,
28:27I think I can probably relate best to them in practical terms.
28:31So I'm going to learn a little piece of zen gardening.
28:37And my lesson is taking place next door in the sister temple,
28:41En Tokyuen, with the monk Hiroshi Kitayama.
28:50The rake draws rills in the special river gravel
28:54so that the lines flow with the surrounding boundaries,
28:58curving as they bend and keeping dead parallel to straight edges.
29:02OK. OK. Shall I have a go? Go.
29:15No stop, go. No stop. No stop, go.
29:18You've got to breathe.
29:20I've raked many a furrow in my time, but never quite like this.
29:25The rake is very heavy. There's a lot of weight on it.
29:28And the teeth are bamboo. Rather beautiful.
29:33OK.
29:35So, eventually, remembering to breathe, I do get the hang of it.
29:41Hey. Great. Beautiful.
29:46The raking is a form of meditation.
29:49And the monks would do this daily.
29:52So the breathing is very important.
29:54So I breathe in and slowly breathe out.
29:59In zen Buddhism, every human activity is potentially an act of prayer,
30:04even raking.
30:06So the process becomes just as important
30:09as the garden that it results in.
30:12Focusing completely on what you're doing
30:16not only makes you aware of the process,
30:20but actually is very calming.
30:24And the truth is, I often find this in my own garden,
30:27whether you're raking or mowing or sweeping leaves,
30:31it's very calming.
30:33Raking or mowing or sweeping leaves is a form of liberation
30:38that I suspect most gardeners would recognise.
30:43Zen gardens were designed as a way of translating
30:46fashionable 12th-century Chinese ink paintings
30:49into three-dimensional reality.
30:52Misty landscapes became white sand
30:54and jagged mountains and islands were turned into stones.
30:59Zen gardens were also a practical response
31:02to the conditions of 15th-century Japan.
31:06Master designer Yasuo Kitayama explains.
31:28Mr Kitayama also has advice on how best to appreciate zen gardens.
31:59The biggest problem for the Western visitor
32:02is that there is so much to find out
32:05before you can really work out what you think or feel.
32:10But these gardens are definitely still relevant today
32:14and in modern Japan they can be found in some unlikely places.
32:23Tsurumi Station in Greater Tokyo
32:25Tsurumi Station in Greater Tokyo is probably not the first place
32:28you'd expect to find a garden designed for quiet contemplation.
32:34And yet here, amongst the city bustle and the crowds,
32:37is a garden on the station rooftop,
32:39every bit as peaceful as a temple.
32:44And I'm keen to know how this is used by contemporary city dwellers,
32:48so I'm meeting its designer, the Buddhist monk Shunmyo Masuno.
32:53Tell me how relevant a garden like this is in 21st-century Japan.
33:02This society, many people work on a very busy day,
33:09so I hope that people should have a good time
33:14to feel the fresh air and to see the beautiful sky.
33:21So tell me why you've chosen the elements you have
33:24and how that relates to zen philosophy.
33:28Zen is very simple and not decorative,
33:32so I thought to use only stone and soil.
33:37Things like you have the concrete and the wood.
33:40This is not concrete. It is soil.
33:42It is soil?
33:44Well, there you are. There you are.
33:47I thought humans should feel the natural materials,
33:55so that's why I used stone and wood and soil.
34:00No artificial...
34:02So no artificial at all.
34:04And how do you feel about things like the vending machine in your garden?
34:08You don't mind? I accept.
34:10You accept it? OK, that's fine.
34:14The rooftop also has a more traditional gravel garden.
34:19Tell me about this garden. What is happening in here?
34:22These stone arrangements, it is to make not perfection.
34:29Imperfection is our beauty.
34:32All right, so that does seem to be the key,
34:35that if imperfection is the beauty,
34:37that allows room for movement and change.
34:41Another concept that's illustrated here is mu,
34:46the expression of emptiness.
34:49This space is just vacant.
34:53We say mu, mu, mu.
34:55I understand, yes. Nothing, yes.
34:58We can't express everything.
35:01That's why to keep vacant space...
35:06How do you set about doing this?
35:09And how do you know when it is right?
35:13I always communicate with each stone.
35:16My expression is the stone said to me,
35:20it's OK, this angle, this position.
35:24The stone is talking to you? Yes.
35:27Well, thank you very much indeed for talking to me.
35:30Thank you very much. It's my pleasure. Thank you very much.
35:33I'm not sure who's supposed to stop bowing first.
35:38There's no question that for the average Western gardener,
35:42it's quite demanding to come in here
35:44and see it as just a place of beauty.
35:47But this combination of very natural materials
35:51with these very modern sort of intrusions of 21st-century life
35:57need not be mutually exclusive.
36:00They can work together.
36:04And it does create a place for quiet reflection
36:08in the middle of a frenetically busy city.
36:15MUSIC PLAYS
36:33Zen gardens can be found right across Japan,
36:36and with their characteristic elements of gravel and stone,
36:40they've largely remained the same
36:42since their initial creation in the 15th century.
36:46But in 1939, one designer working in the grounds
36:50of Tofukuji Temple in Kyoto challenged that status quo.
36:59To many modern visitors,
37:01this is just another fascinating rock and gravel garden.
37:05But when this was first made, it caused an uproar.
37:09Mirei Shigemori, now reckoned to be one of the great landscape designers
37:14of the 20th century, was commissioned by the abbot
37:18to create gardens around his hall.
37:21This is the result.
37:28The way that the stones were laid on edge
37:31and gathered in large groups was considered shocking.
37:36One of the reasons why there was such a furore
37:39when this garden was made
37:41was because it overturned conventions and traditions
37:44that had lasted for over 1,000 years.
37:47It began with a book called Sakuteki, Notes On Garden Making,
37:51which outlined all aspects of gardening.
37:54Amongst other things, it said in regard to stones
37:57that if you placed a stone the wrong way up
38:00or grouped them badly together,
38:02it would bring bad luck to the household.
38:17I first visited this garden over ten years ago now.
38:21I kept thinking about it in that time,
38:24but it's not the rocks and the gravel that keep nagging away at me.
38:28It's the moss and the way that Shigemori used it.
38:33Instead of just stone,
38:36Shigemori used moss to create islands.
38:42And on the west side of the hall,
38:44waves of moss run into clipped azalea bushes,
38:48creating an abstract design.
38:52Round the corner, past this lovely fresh green of the maple leaves,
38:57is the garden that has haunted me.
39:03It consists of a simple checkerboard of paving stones and moss
39:08in a pattern that begins geometrically uniform,
39:12but as it moves along, starts to unravel.
39:16Quite soon after I visited this garden,
39:19I had a bout of ill health
39:21and I had a lot of time to think when I was recovering.
39:25And, amongst other things, I thought about my own mortality.
39:30And this garden was one of the things that kept coming back,
39:34and particularly the way that this pattern of life
39:39that seems so regular and predictable
39:43breaks down and dissolves and disappears.
39:48And yet, despite all that, retain its vitality,
39:53retain that sense of life running through all things.
39:57And for a garden to do that so simply and beautifully
40:03is, I believe, a work of genius.
40:08One thing that unites all styles of Zen gardens
40:12is their use of stone.
40:14And I've now come to the town of Okazaki,
40:18on Japan's east coast,
40:20which is famous for its stonemasons.
40:23The Okazaki family,
40:25the Okazaki family,
40:27the Okazaki family,
40:29the Okazaki family,
40:31the Okazaki family,
40:33the Okazaki family,
40:35is famous for its stonemasons.
40:40Nicknamed the stone capital of Japan,
40:43with a chisel as its musket,
40:45it's been the centre of the craft since the 16th century,
40:48and at one time was the hub for over 350 individual craftsmen.
40:55Today I'm meeting one of Japan's few female stonemasons,
40:59Azusa Moendo.
41:01Hello. Hello. Nice to meet you.
41:03Nice to meet you.
41:04This is fascinating.
41:06How old were you when you began to learn stonemason crafts?
41:11I started when I was 18.
41:15And how long does it take to become a master?
41:18It's said to take 10 years.
41:21I would very much like to see a few techniques.
41:24Could I try?
41:25Sure, let's try.
41:26Thank you.
41:28Hello.
41:31Hello.
41:33When you're striking it, is the angle relevant?
41:38The angle is important, and the force of the strike is also important.
41:43I think it's easier to hit where it's concave.
41:47Place it like this.
41:50Right, the moment has come.
41:53I noticed they put their foot up like that, so it's just...
42:02Is this right? Am I doing it badly?
42:04You're very good at it.
42:07If I were them, I'd be very worried about me ruining their work.
42:11I wouldn't let someone come in and work in my garden like that.
42:21I love all crafts and skills, and to be allowed to do it,
42:27and importantly, to use their tools, was a great privilege.
42:30But also because it gets you closer to the heart of these objects.
42:35It's not just knowledge, it's feeling, too.
42:44Now, if there's one type of Japanese garden
42:46that is almost the complete opposite to a Zen rock landscape,
42:50it is the traditional tea garden.
42:54Tea arrived from China in the 9th century,
42:57when Buddhist monks drank it to keep them awake
43:00during long meditation sessions.
43:02But over the centuries, the drinking of it became highly ritualised,
43:06and samurai, monks and geishas served tea
43:09in elaborately formal ceremonies.
43:14Today, it's as popular as ever,
43:17harvested, traded and enjoyed in cafes and ceremonies
43:20right across the country.
43:22A style of garden dedicated to tea drinking emerged in the 16th century
43:27and was soon to be found up and down the nation.
43:31Tea gardens were built around tea houses,
43:34with the approach very carefully controlled and planted
43:38to be an essential part of the experience.
43:42Today, I've come to visit the tea garden at Kenin-ji Temple in Kyoto.
43:47The temple was originally founded by a 12th-century monk named Eisai,
43:51who's famed for first spreading tea culture across the country.
43:57As people approached the tea house,
44:00they had to get rid of all the status and grandeur of office
44:04so that they entered in as equals.
44:08And this is where it began.
44:11Immediately, you find yourself on a path made out of stones
44:15that are not straight, they're not even, they're not evenly spaced,
44:20so they're tricky to walk on, it's difficult,
44:22and you have to concentrate.
44:27This slows and focuses the mind
44:31and the body of the mind,
44:32and the body of the mind is the mind of the mind.
44:35It's the mind of the mind.
44:37This slows and focuses the mind away from the busy world.
44:43In fact, the tea ceremony itself
44:46is the culmination of the approach through the garden.
44:51The plants and rocks along the way are meant to look as natural as possible,
44:55creating the image of a winding path
44:58deep in the mountains, leading to a hermit's hut.
45:02There are few flowers, lest they distract the visitor.
45:08As you carefully teeter along this awkward path,
45:12you're surrounded by green.
45:14There's the green of the foliage, the green of the moss on the ground,
45:17and you get glimpses of the garden.
45:19It's planted and pruned so that your view is obscured.
45:24And the effect of this is to envelop you and make you concentrate,
45:30and all the cares fall away.
45:32Everything becomes focused on what is to come,
45:36which is the tea ceremony itself.
45:42Every tea garden had stone basins at strategic points,
45:47so you could stop and wash your hands and cleanse yourself.
45:51And then you go and sit and wait.
45:55And finally, when you're called,
45:58you have to come in and crawl through this very low opening
46:03so the last traces of self-importance are left behind.
46:13I have previously attended a formal tea ceremony in Japan,
46:17but today I'm going for something a little bit more relaxed.
46:24Thank you.
46:29This form of tea is incredibly intense.
46:33It's like a sort of double espresso of tea.
46:36As part of the tea ceremony,
46:38you have a little taste of something sweet...
46:45..before drinking the very bitter tea.
46:54Which is an acquired taste, but will certainly keep you awake.
47:03But in contemporary Japan, not all tea gardens are quite so traditional.
47:12Behind this modern-looking gatehouse...
47:17..I'm told that there is an unusual take on the teahouse.
47:24And I'm curious to see what it is.
47:26I'm going to go and have a look.
47:32Let's see what it looks like.
47:40This old-fashioned temple is also the beautiful home of Mr and Mrs Inoue.
47:46Thank you. Thank you.
47:49But it is their garden that I've come to see.
47:52The previous one was destroyed by an earthquake in 1995,
47:57they asked their famous architect friend, Terunobu Fujimori,
48:01to design a teahouse and garden in its place.
48:06The smell of green tea is so distinctive.
48:11But this tea garden is anything but traditional.
48:18It is completely unique.
48:23A traditional tea garden is clothed in green plants,
48:26but, as with all the work of Fujimori, this one is totally different.
48:33Here, there isn't much planty at all,
48:35but an enormous great arch and what looks like a snake.
48:39But, in fact, that relates to the building.
48:41This is a Buddhist temple.
48:43And the arch is the arch to heaven that you have to pass through.
48:48And what might be seen as a snake, in fact, is the river
48:52that you have to cross to get to heaven.
48:55And then you approach the teahouse itself.
49:04Now, like all teahouses, this has a conventionally low opening,
49:08so you have to embrace yourself.
49:10It's very small, so that you crawl in.
49:13But, unlike any other, this is a teahouse and a treehouse.
49:25MUSIC
49:39And inside here is everything you need for a proper tea ceremony.
49:47MUSIC
49:55I really like the way that modernity and wit
50:00mingles with the traditional.
50:03And it's a really clever way of keeping those old traditions
50:08alive in the modern world.
50:11That compact design is evocative of one thing
50:15that unites the country today.
50:17Space. Or, rather, the lack of it.
50:22Although that was a tiny teahouse and a tiny garden,
50:27actually, by Japanese standards, it was a luxury.
50:30Most people have no space at all.
50:32And yet that desire to grow things is evident everywhere you go.
50:36There are pots on the street, there are pots outside shops and houses.
50:40And, actually, that desire has been channelled
50:44into a very traditional art and craft.
50:48And it's called ikebana.
50:54Today, there are over 1,000 schools in the world
50:58teaching ikebana, or flower arranging.
51:01But the oldest, and perhaps the most famous, is Ikenobo,
51:05set amidst a Kyoto temple.
51:09The art of flower arranging dates back to the 7th century,
51:13when flowers were left as offerings to gods.
51:16The eighth shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, a great patron of the arts,
51:21decreed that flowers left on altars should be placed in a way
51:24that showed thought in their preparation.
51:29I've been invited to a class here at Ikenobo.
51:33But, as it's for the advanced flower arranger,
51:36it isn't deemed suitable for a ranked novice like myself.
51:40But just watching is fascinating enough.
51:44The class takes place in almost total silence,
51:48which is a mark of their respect for the art.
51:53However, I do have a private lesson lined up,
51:57although I first need to buy all my materials in the school shop.
52:04MUSIC PLAYS
52:11The idea is that you wander around,
52:14see what you like and select it,
52:17and then that's wrapped up for you
52:19and then you can go and do your flower arranging.
52:22What I'm thinking is it would be nice to do some sort of arrangement
52:26that got the essence of the cherry blossom,
52:29the essence of spring here in Japan.
52:32No doubt it's been done before, but not by me.
52:35And here is cherry blossom.
52:40See, this is absolutely lovely. It's beautiful.
52:45OK. Give it a go.
52:53It's a good job I put on my best socks
52:57because I'm meeting the deputy headmistress, Senko Ikenobo.
53:02Hello. Hello. Hello, nice to meet you.
53:06I've chosen these stems. Yes.
53:09So please, any advice you can give me
53:11in the spirit of ikebana would be very interesting.
53:14OK. First of all, because you choose only this cherry blossom
53:19and only one kind. Yes.
53:21So I think it's very unique
53:23because when we arrange ikebana,
53:25we usually pick up flowers and leaves
53:29and we try to make a good harmony between them.
53:32But the reason, I'm not sure the reason why you choose only one kind,
53:38but it's really very artistic.
53:41I think you're being polite.
53:43I clearly failed at the first hurdle, but let's push on nevertheless.
53:47And also the very important thing about ikebana
53:50is we have to focus on each branch.
53:55Right. The individual beauty.
53:57I mean, the less is the more. Right.
54:00First of all, we have to check which angle is the best.
54:04This way or this way or like this or like that.
54:08What do you think? So you will have to...
54:10Oh, it's you. OK, it's me.
54:12Because it depends on person.
54:15Is elegance and sophistication important?
54:18Yes, yes, it's also important
54:20because when we look at the ikebana,
54:22people feel, oh, the wind blowing.
54:25Right, the wind blowing.
54:27Blowing, it's very important.
54:29So you're trying to capture the wind blowing through the branches
54:34and capturing it at a sort of perfect moment.
54:37Yes. It's a lot to ask, isn't it?
54:39It's that perfect moment.
54:41It's a very high ideal.
54:43Yes. Can I start cutting?
54:45Yeah, yeah, please. Please.
54:47Yeah, I mean, I would just take that out there.
54:51Is that right? Yeah. Can I do that? Yes.
54:54At least take that off to start with.
54:56We could take that out.
54:59You have better cut from the wrist point, this point.
55:02Yeah. I tried.
55:04Yeah. Please be careful.
55:06Don't worry.
55:08And for example, if you find it's a little bit too flat,
55:12looks too flat, so you can bend very softly.
55:16Right. You have to be very, very careful.
55:19Yes.
55:21And...
55:23You just bend, for example, this branch,
55:26you like a little bit up.
55:28OK. I would say that was a little bit busy,
55:31so we cut that off.
55:38You just bend like this.
55:40You just bend it without breaking.
55:42Yeah, without breaking.
55:44You have to be very careful, careful.
55:47You need a very high technique in bending
55:50because if you cut all, it looks a little bit empty.
55:53I have a suspicion that she doesn't approve.
55:56Oh, yes. No, no.
55:58I think you had better try bending.
56:01OK, I better try bending.
56:03Because cutting is easy, but easier,
56:06but you have better use the technique of bending.
56:09So we're bending...
56:11I think take that.
56:15I hope to stop cutting.
56:18I'm going to stop cutting. Don't worry.
56:20I'm going to stop cutting.
56:22And it's been so, so interesting, actually,
56:24that I've learnt a lot.
56:26So thank you. Thank you very much indeed.
56:28It's my pleasure.
56:30And your arrangement, ikebana, very good.
56:32Thank you.
56:34She was being very polite,
56:36but clearly I was profound disappointment.
56:39But I enjoyed myself enormously.
56:41Although, like everything to do with Japanese gardens,
56:44ikebana is so much more than first impressions may imply.
56:48It is essentially
56:50the carefully modulated control of space or mark,
56:54and that captures a specific moment in time.
56:57And you can see this everywhere you look,
57:01just as clearly as you can in a vase of flowers.
57:14LAUGHTER
57:24I've seen so much and crammed so much in
57:27that I think I need to take a break.
57:29Japanese culture is very different in lots of ways.
57:33The more you learn, the more you realise.
57:37The meticulous attention to detail
57:39is as evident in their sushi as it is in their gardens.
57:43I'm struck just how deliberate everything is.
57:46Nothing is done by accident.
57:49And everything has reference points
57:53that you really do need to know about
57:55in order to fully appreciate them.
57:58So I'm going to go away, think about it,
58:01but I shall come back.
58:05Next time, amongst the autumn colours,
58:08I will explore the many forms of stroll garden.
58:11So you should see the garden as a stroll,
58:13you move along like that.
58:15And the ways the Japanese are bringing nature
58:18to their concrete jungle.
58:21Playing with this idea of the inside, the outside.
58:25With a few unexpected detours along the way.
58:28This is not what you would expect to see
58:31in the middle of Tokyo.