PED’s Takaya Kurimoto gave a talk on “Water in Japanese Gardens” at the Jay Heritage Center for the annual meeting of the Japan Society of Fairfield County (JSFC). Water has been one of the most important elements of Japanese gardens. Even Japanese “dry” gardens have imaginary water. It is the
We are thrilled to announce our upcoming talk/webinar on Tuesday, June 29, from 5 PM to 6 PM (ET) hosted by the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia. The talk is on Michiyuki: Japanese Time-Space Concept for Mindfulness of Everyone Everyday. It will be broadcasted live from Shofuso and its
Do you work at home and feel stressed and enprisoned? Your home should help you. I’d like to share some tips on how you could use it in creative ways to stay well while working at home. I learned these tips over the years from two resources. One is my
Hashi in motion A secondary concept of Ma is hashi. Generally, hashi means “edge.” The origin of this pronunciation of hashi comes from the Japanese word hashike, meaning a boat, or a barge. Therefore, saying the word hashi unconsciously carries an image of a boat moving between two borders. In this example,
Michiyuki: Traveling and Beyond Being under water blurs the self/space boundary because you are always in motion. Michiyuki, the Japanese spatial concept for “moving self,” means traveling from once place to another. It specifically refers to the space you covered and the time you spent while traveling. But by translating
庭屋一如 (tei-oku-ichi-nyo) – This is the word expressing a harmonious condition of a garden and a house. I think that many Japanese garden designers consider it a fundamental principle. Traditionally, houses in Japan were designed to achieve comfort in hot summer. This kind of house is a post and beam
“The flow of the river never ceases, and the water never stays the same…” This is the opening phrase of Hojoki, a famous Japanese essay by Kamono Chomei in the 13 century. Almost all Japanese children learn this in their schools. I think that transience is something that many Japanese
The world feels heavy with conflict right now, from the war in Ukraine to the ongoing struggles in Gaza. Amidst this tension, the concept of peace can seem distant. However, there are beautiful and unexpected ways to cultivate peace, and one such avenue lies in the art of Japanese garden
Shishi-Odoshi, or scare-deer is a device to frighten deer away. It is a unique garden element that you can see in residential gardens in Japan now. As you see in the photo below, a bamboo tube is set like a seesaw. when the open cut side has water in, the
PED’s Takaya Kurimoto gave a talk on “Water in Japanese Gardens” at the Jay Heritage Center for the annual meeting of the Japan Society of Fairfield County (JSFC). Water has been one of the most important elements of Japanese gardens. Even Japanese “dry” gardens have imaginary water. It is the
