IS YOUR garden a border of spring flowers or summer roses around a well-clipped lawn? If so, you probably live in a Western country, where a garden often consists of flower beds that change in makeup with the seasons. In Japan, however, many gardens are quite different.

What would you think of a garden composed entirely of rocks and sand? A famous dry-landscape garden exists in Kyoto, Japan. It is the rock garden of the Ryoan-ji, a type of garden known as karesan-sui. This expression means “dry mountain water.” The mountains are represented by 15 rocks of various shapes and sizes. These are carefully arranged in the “water,” represented by raked white gravel. No flowers or plants of any kind can be seen in this garden. It is a creation influenced by Zen Buddhism, with its emphasis on abstract thought and “nothingness.”

This kind of rock garden is just one form of Japanese landscape gardening. Another is the moss garden at Saiho-ji in Kyoto, where 50 different varieties of moss form a velvet carpet under the ancient trees. Many other beautiful gardens are large enough to have ponds and streams, stone bridges and lanterns, pine trees and flowering shrubs.

One reason for the permanence of these old Japanese gardens is the use of rocks, sand and stone ornaments. Trees grow old, bamboo fences and thatched roofs decay, but the rocks remain in the form of stone bridges, lanterns, water basins and stepping-stones along the paths leading to the teahouse.

A Japanese Rock Garden Design that Would Make Your Home Look Natural

Certainly, as noted above Japanese rock garden design presentations are among the most common yet the most appreciated designs in the field of global gardening. Certainly, through understanding the simplicity of putting sand, rocks, pebbles and shrubs as well as water into an effective garden presentation, the Japanese rock garden design indeed appears to be a primary practical design that brings in the reality of nature within the four walls of the house.

IT could not be denied that Japanese rock garden design actually makes the process of bringing in nature within the house a much easier task to perform. Whether it is a small Japanese garden design or a large one that you are aiming to create as part of your home’s ambiance you are sure to be able to find the right kind of Japanese rock garden design that would best fit your moods and personality.