Lit. Daoist-style gardens. A general term designating gardens which incorporated Chinese Daoist ideas or motifs. The Daoist emphasis on immortality is expressed in a number of elements which form the basic components of most Chinese and Japanese gardens. Ponds with an island usually suggest islands of immortals, shinsentō 神仙島. The most common example is Mt. Penglai, *Hōraisan 蓬莱山, which is suggested in most Japanese gardens. The equally ubiquitous crane island, *tsurujima 鶴島, and tortoise island, *kamejima 亀島, are similarly auspicious symbols of longevity. They are represented by stones in most gardens. On a deeper level, within East Asian culture, the very ideas of finding spiritual release or pleasure in the experience of nature and of recreating mountains and streams in a garden owe much to Daoist thought, dōkyōteki shisō 道教的思想.