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…

Lit. "bush warbler fence." A common type of rustic sleeve fence *sodegaki…

Also *chūdai 中台. Middle base.

Lit. "sea stone." A generic name for stones found in the ocean or along the seashore. Because sea stones contain salt, and…

Lit. "scale pavement."
One style of *shiki-ishi 敷石 made of…

The placement of primary and secondary rocks in a group, so that the secondary ones are diagonally right and left and to the…

The interval between the vertical slats *tateko 竪子 and horizontal…

Lit. "eightfold fence." A type of double-screen sleeve fence *sodegaki 袖垣 in…

Also read yakugi. The allocation of shrubbery in a garden, particularly applied to trees which set the mood of a…

Lit. "roles of branches." The branches of a flower or tree that are given a name based on their "role" in the structure of…

Lit. "mountain stone." A generic name for stones found or quarried in the mountains. Unlike sea stones *…

Lit. "gardens in the style of Japanese painting." Also called sakuteikiryū 作庭記流 (gardens in the lineage of the…

A fence made of widths of bleached bamboo spaced about 45 cm apart and held in place by bark. This type of fence is used in…

Lit. "water course." An archaic term for a shallow, curving garden stream. The term, found in the 11th-century garden manual…

Lit. "the character eight 八 yatsu." The practice of propping three or four posts around a newly replanted tree. The…

Lit. "whistle shape." A type of water basin *chōzubachi 手水鉢 which resembles…

Lit. "four-eyed fence." A generic name for a bamboo lattice fence. The poetic name derives from the quadrant of lozenge…

Lit. "bow and arrow branches." The arrangement of a tree trunk and branches in which one branch grows up from the trunk then…

Lit. "seated appreciation style garden." A modern term designating gardens meant to be seen or "appreciated" from a fixed…

Lit. "stone for seated meditation." A large, flat-topped stone which is used for, or thought to be appropriate for…

Lit. "Zen 禅 temple style gardens." A modern term designating the various types of gardens associated with Zen sect temples…

Lit. "coin shape water basin." A type of round water basins *chōzubachi 手水鉢…

Lit. "early style dry landscape." The Heian period arrangement of stones in areas with neither a pond nor stream. The 11th-…

Lit. "front garden." A general term referring to the garden in front of a building. In contrast to the main garden which is…