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Title: Secret Teachings in the Art of Japanese Gardens by David A. Slawson ISBN: 4-7700-1541-0 Publisher: Kodansha International Pub. Date: April, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Too dense!
Comment: This book is too dense for my needs. If you need to read liquid platinum about Japanese gardens, go for this book. If you need a quicker hitter, go elsewhere.
Rating: 5
Summary: An invaluable and in-depth resource
Comment: I have, over the years, collected a number of books on the art of Japanese Gardens. Most rely on glossy photos and provide very little written content on the complexities of Japanese garden composition. What sets this work apart is its depth and focus on unraveling the underlying design principles and its intent on providing a deeper understanding into the art of Japanese gardening. If you were looking for a purely visual reference I would advise you not purchase this book. If however you were searching for a scholarly study in the design aesthetics of Japanese gardens, I would give this book my strongest recommendation. Slawson begins with his experiences as a master gardener's apprentice in Japan and ends with a full translation of an ancient gardening manual used by Buddhist monks. Each page overflows with background, details and inspiration. He urges and inspires you not to transplant an existing garden design, but gives the reader the foundation to evolve a plan reflective of your own individual location and taste. By clearly dissecting the aesthetic principal behind Japanese garden design, the book succeeds in creating a truly inspirational guide. Have a highlighter and note pad ready from the first page of the acknowledgements to the comprehensive bibliography.
Rating: 5
Summary: Inspiration and perspiration for an aspiring garden designer
Comment: Of all the books we consulted, read, and reread before we began to design and create our own Japanese-style garden -- really, just a small front yard of a rowhouse on a pretty street on Capitol Hill -- Slawson's book was the most useful. Why? Not because it's easy reading! Understanding what the author is trying to say requires careful and slow reading (and rereading) of almost every sentence. It's effort well spent! Unlike so many pretty-picture books about Japanese garden design, which amaze the reader with their photos but leave him/her dumbfounded as to how one would go about designing a garden from scratch (as opposed to merely copying some handsome garden pictured on one of the book's pages!), Slawson's book unlocks -- to the persistent reader -- the fundamentals (secrets, if you insist) of what makes a garden Japanese. As the preceding reviewer already pointed out, this essentially boils down to being able to express one's own experience and impression of nature. Once you're at this stage, the selection of rocks and other materials and their harmonious placement in the space at hand, is almost a piece of cake. (OK, it's still a lot of work to implement one's design, but at least you know what you're supposed to be doing!)
In case you're wondering about the outcome of our design effort: we've gotten lots of praise from neighbors and from total strangers, from American and from Japanese friends, for our little Japanese-style rock garden. And everybody who looks at our front yard gets what we were trying to express artistically! I have no doubts that we could never had this type of success without having had access to Slawson's remarkable book.
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Title: Sakuteiki: Visions of the Japanese Garden by Jiro Takei, Marc Peter Keane ISBN: 0804832943 Publisher: Tuttle Publishing Pub. Date: September, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Art of Setting Stones: And Other Writings from the Japanese Garden by Marc Peter Keane ISBN: 1880656701 Publisher: Stone Bridge Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Japanese Garden Design by Haruzo Ohashi, Marc Peter Keane, Haruso Ohashi ISBN: 0804820716 Publisher: Charles E Tuttle Co Pub. Date: March, 1997 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Creating Your Own Japanese Garden by Takashi Sawano ISBN: 087040962X Publisher: Japan Publications Pub. Date: 01 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $32.00 |
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Title: Japanese Touch for Your Garden by Kiyoshi Seike, Masanobu Kudo, Haruzo Ohashi, David H. Engel ISBN: 4770016611 Publisher: Kodansha International Pub. Date: February, 1993 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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