Are you a nature lover? Do you actually desire to bring nature itself inside your home? If you are this particular type of person, there is no wonder that a Japanese garden design idea would be best for your home. Why would this be actually the best choice?

Understanding the Origins and Developments of Japanese Garden Design Ideas

The earliest account of Japanese gardens is found in the Nihon-shoki (Chronicles of Japan) written in the eighth century C.E. There we are told about a bridge and the representation of a mountain made in the southern court of the palace of Empress Suiko in the year 612. This seems to have been one of the first steps toward the development of landscape gardening as we know it today.

Later, from 1185 until the restoration of Emperor Meiji in 1868, the country was under the rule of successive shoguns, or war lords. These men, though fighting bitter battles with one another, took great interest in landscape gardening. In some gardens the ponds and streams were enlarged to such an extent that the guests could enjoy a boat ride and admire the scenery from various vantage points. Some of these splendid gardens remain to the present day.

One striking example is the garden of the famous Kinkaku-ji, or Golden Pavilion, in Kyoto. This was built in 1397 by Yoshimitsu, third shogun of the Ashikaga family. Though the pavilion was destroyed by fire in 1950, it has since been restored. The pond and surrounding garden are reminders of the splendor enjoyed by the then-existing ruling class.

On the other side of the Sea of Japan, Japanese gardens developed their own style, where form takes precedence over color and every item has its precise place. In an attempt to capture, in a limited area, nature’s aesthetics and diversity, the gardener places his rocks with care and plants and trains his garden meticulously. This is evident in bonsai (meaning “potted plant”), the art of training a miniature tree or perhaps a grove of trees into precise form and proportion.

Certainly, from the most featured to the most common Japanese garden design ideas that were used even by royalties in history, you could certainly pick one particular Japanese garden design idea that would best fit your own need for natural ambiance within your own home. From the Japanese rock garden design to the different use of trees and bonsai gardening applied it the system, you would surely be able to create a Japanese garden design idea that would fit your satisfaction.