Lit. "Treatise on Garden Making." The oldest and most revered Japanese text on garden design, it was probably…

Lit. "three-stage waterfall." One common type of garden waterfall. Through the arrangement of earth and rocks, the waterfall…

Lit. "Buddhist triad stone arrangement." The grouping of one large stone with two smaller flanking stones that lean toward…

Lit. "bamboo grass fence." A living fence or hedge made of low-growing, bamboo grass called kumazasa 熊笹, and…

Lit. "marsh crossing." A path made of stepping stones *tobi-ishi 飛石 placed in…

Limestone. A type of rock rarely used in gardens because of its soft and transient nature, although it was employed as a…

Lit. "glittering green stone." A type of stone similar to granite but containing black granules. Often containing small…

Lit. "spring water." Originally the term referred to spring water running through a garden. In Kyoto, a number of…

Lit. "borrowed scenery." The method of incorporating a distant vista into the composition of a garden. A river, the ocean,…

Also read shibakaki. A very old type of brushwood fencing, originally called fushigaki 布斯垣. Many…

Lit. "Sima Yungong type." One style of natural stone water basin *…

Lit. "brushwood mountain." A type of rustic water basin *chōzubachi…

Also called shichigosan ishigumi 七五三石組 Lit. "seven-five-three-style garden." The arrangement of 15 stones or pruned…

Lit. "shinden-style garden." The quintessential Heian period garden that was built in the central courtyard of…

Lit. "drizzle fence." A type of fence in which bunches of bamboo and bush clover are secured by the top bar of a fence so as…

Lit. "Buddhas of the four directions water basin." A type of water basin made from reused objects *…

Lit. "arrangement of branch and leg stones." One way to arrange the five types of trump stones known as *…

A garden fence with penetrating ties *nuki 貫 that run horizontally from one…

A grouping of three stones, carefully balanced to resemble the character shina 品. The stone arrangement is…

Lit. "tree of immortals." A tree associated with Mt. Penglai *Hōraisan 蓬莱山,…

Lit. "shirakawa stone." A type of granite quarried from the Shirakawa 白川 area north of Kyoto. Soft and easily…

Lit. "four guardian kings stones." Four stones placed in each corner of a garden. The stones serve the same apotropaic…

Lit. "four guardian king trees." A poetic title referring to the maiden-hair or gingko ichō 銀杏, camphor …

Lit. "natural stone water basins." A generic name for a water basin *chōzubachi…

Lit. "natural stone bridge." A type of stone bridge *ishibashi 石橋 made from…

The garden which faces or surrounds the *shoin 書院. No special features are used in shoin…

Also read seijōseki, called nozoki-ishi 覗石 or kiyome-ishi きよめ石. Lit. "pure stone."

…

Lit. "plants." The various plants, trees, bushes, and flowers placed in a garden. The term also is used to refer to gardens…

Meaning genuine tree. The term was coined in the middle Edo period to refer to the dominant or master tree in a garden.…

Originally, a waterfall in nature. With the rise of dry waterfalls *karetaki…

Lit. "master tree." The tree planted on the top, front of a garden hill *tsukiyama…

Lit. "guardian tree." One name given to the main tree planted in the middle of a flat garden hiraniwa 平庭. The term…

Lit. "shrunken scenery." The imitation of a famous scenic spot meisho 名所 in a garden through the creation of a…

Lit. "Mt. Sumeru type stone arrangement." A grouping of stones which expresses Mt. Sumeru *Shumisen…

Lit. "main stone." The stone at the center of a stone arrangement *ishigumi…

Lit. "sleeve fence." A narrow fence which may serve to screen off some garden element or may be completely ornamental.…

Lit. "sleeve shape." A type of water basin *chōzubachi 手水鉢 in…

Lit. "accompanying stones." Stones arranged near to the main stone *shuseki 主石 of a stone…

A type of six-sided lantern. The canopy is thin with half-circled bracken-shoot patterns *…

Lit. "Sōhen fence." A simple type of open fence named after tea master Yamada Sōhen 山田宗へん (1627-1708). Thin bamboo slats are…

Also pronounced sorihashi. Lit. "curved bridge." A general term for an arched bridge. Soribashi include…

Lit. "garden in the style of ink monochrome landscape painting." A modern term used for Chinese style dry gardens *…

Lit. "water ring." The spherical second story of the five-ring pagoda *gorintō…

Lit. "see-through fence." A generic term for any kind of fence through which one can see. This type of open fence is used as…

Lit. "standing water basin." A type of tall basin *chōzubachi 手水鉢 that can…

A hedge, 3 to 5 m high, planted as a wind screen or for fire control.

Lit. "bamboo and horsetail tokusa 木賊 fence."

1　A fence that has split and crushed bamboo…

Lit. "bamboo fence." A generic name for any kind of fence made with bamboo. Specific types include *…

Also written 竹柵. A roughly constructed bamboo fence with horizontal pieces placed close to the top, at the center, and at…

Lit. "waterfall stone arrangement." A type of stone arrangement used for garden waterfalls. Also pronounced taki-…

Lit. "round stone." A boulder about 15-30 cm across, which has been naturally rounded by a river or ocean waves. Often…

Lit. "jewelled edge."

1　The tip on the rear, narrow end of a half-round roof tile *…

Lit. "Tanba stone." A type of granite from the Kameoka 亀岡 region, northwest of Kyoto. High in iron, it is used for pavements…

A dominating garden stone that is set in an upright position. The term appears first in the *…

Also written 立子 or 建子, read tatego.

1　 A generic term for the vertical muntins on lattice…

Lit. "multiple-island style." More than two islands constructed in a chisen 池泉 (pond and stream) type garden.

Lit. "flat iron stone." A type of andesite quarried in the Suwa 諏訪 and Kitasaku 北佐久 regions of Nagano Prefecture. The flat,…

Lit. "musket fence." A type of *sodegaki 袖垣 or *…

Lit. "stepping stone stairs." A type of stepping stone *tobi-ishi 飛石, placed on a slope to…

Lit. "evergreen tree." A pine matsu 松, cryptomeria sugi 杉, or sakaki 榊, found in almost all types…

A type of formal fence associated with the walls surrounding nobles' homes and tearooms *…

Lit. "Commentary on Landscape Gardens."

1　A mid-Edo book written by garden designer Kitamura Enkin…

The older term is *kasan 仮山. Lit. "constructed mountain."…

Lit. "constructed spring." The artificial watercourse built to conduct spring water into a garden. The term, found in the…

Lit. "crane island." A garden island made with several stones and, usually, a pine to suggest the flight of a crane. As a…