Tag: WABI

Aspects of Japanese gardens

What makes the Japanese gardens so different? What are the main aspects of Japanese gardens that characterize them and at the same time distinguish them from Western garden architecture?

The gardens were always associated with spiritual life in Japan. Using its own symbolism and poetic narrature, they formed an ideal landscape for calming the mind. Among other things, they are characterized by harmony and balance, space, specific lines, the feeling of Wabi and Sabi, enclosed by the privacy of the garden and own beauty in every season.

Balance

One of the most important aspects highlighted in all Japanese gardens is a balance. Everything fits together. Everything in the garden should be balanced, but not necessarily even. This balance is more focused on space and how individual elements of the garden together form a whole, less emphasis on symmetry. Space should be used as an element in its own way, just like any other element in the garden. The individual components of the garden should be carefully selected and included in odd numbers, such as one or three or five stones, trees or other elements. There should be no even number of items.

Space

Space is another element used differently in the Japanese garden than in our gardens. Our gardens are often full of greenery and colourful flower plants. Japanese gardens use space and balance to create a complete look. In this style of gardens, it is true that less is more. With fewer components, each component means more and each has greater weight and greater impact on overall appearance. One thing that all Western people notice when looking at Japanese gardens is that gardens often seem empty. But in a Japanese-style garden space is a part that helps define the elements that surround it. This again relates to the idea of balance. Space defines the elements inside and is defined by the things inside it.

 Line of the garden

In the Japanese garden, the linearity is an important part of the garden design. Squares or lines that are too straight and rough angles are very artificial. The lines and angles are therefore rather rounded and organic. Garden components should work together as well as in nature. This is the reason why things should come in odd numbers because it contributes to a natural asymmetry.

Wabi and Sabi in the garden

One component of Japanese gardening philosophy, which is sometimes difficult to understand, is the Wabi and Sabi. These two terms cannot be easily translated. Wabi is literally translated to “lonely” (more on the meaning of the word Wabi here), but in the case of Japanese gardens, it rather expresses “unique” or “special”. If an item in your garden is Wabi, it will act as a contrast component while still containing the spirit of your space. Many Japanese gardens used to form the sense of Wabi, for example, stone lanterns.

Sabi, on the other hand, translates to something like “patina” (more about the meaning of the word Sabi here). When creating a Japanese garden, it is used more as a way of expressing that something has an ideal idea; or in the case of balancing Wabi and Sabi, it means that your distinctive piece should reflect the idea/appearance of your space. Often it also involves some wear and age because old and worn pieces have a natural and narrative appearance. The new stone lantern can be Wabi, but there is no Sabi, and the stone wrapped in moss can create Sabi while missing Wabi. There are many ways to balance this. A special tree, a lantern, or a particularly interesting stone, all of this with a patina and a reflective spirit of the garden, is a great example of a well-balanced wabi-sabi.

In a simplified manner, wabi-sabi element in the garden can be described as acceptance and perhaps as a celebration of an impermanence of life around.

Garden behind walls

Japanese gardens are mostly closed, private. Having a garden open to the rest of the world is very rare in Japanese gardens. On the contrary, it is quite common that a Japanese garden is surrounded by a wall as if enclosed in its own microcosm. It protects from an outside world disturbing the carefully designed balance.

The beauty of the garden all year round

Japanese gardens are designed and maintained so that the owner or visitor can enjoy such gardens at all seasons. Each season brings a slightly different scene, a slightly different beauty.

Please follow and like us:

Japanese gardens

 

Japanese gardens have been inspiring more and more garden architects as well as gardeners themselves in the last century all over the world. Purity, simplicity, symbolism, harmony. All of us can evoke a pleasant feeling of peace. And above all, tranquillity and a slowdown in the flow of time is what in today’s increasingly hectic times we all, at least sometimes, want, look for, need.

In Japanese culture, the creation of gardens is considered a high and prestigious art that has evolved over centuries. It was influenced by philosophies, such as Shintoism, Buddhism and Taoism. And, of course, the art of the tea ceremony. Japanese gardens have their laws, traditions, philosophies, specific elements. Understanding all the aspects and the symbolism of  Japanese gardens requires a lot of knowledge.

Types of Japanese Gardens

Under the term of Japanese Garden, many people still imagine a garden full of bonsais and a very high demand for maintenance.

The styles of Japanese gardens are, however, quite diverse. Nevertheless, we can say that they are all made up to a certain conception of representing an ideal landscape. And that is through a certain symbolism and poetic narration. Even a way of looking at the expression of this ideal landscape divides traditional Japanese gardens into different styles. These styles are often combined and intertwined.

The most famous types of traditional Japanese gardens include:

  • Karesansui, or a dry / rock garden, better known as Zen Garden – a classic type of meditation garden with minimal plant life.
  • Tsukiyama (Garden of ponds and hills) – features a miniature of natural sceneries that include ponds and streams with fish, hills and stones, bridges and paths, trees and mosses, flowers and small plants.
  • Roji, Chaniwa (Tea Garden) – Garden with quite a complicated structure and strict rules. It is designed to tune in its visititors to a tea ceremony in a tearoom built next to or inside the garden.
  • Paradise garden – representing paradise or “pure land” – Jōdo. Originally designed for Buddhist monks to meditate and reflect in the beauty of the garden.

Aspects of Japanese gardens

Japanese gardens, regardless of the particular style, certainly have aspects, common features that characterize them. These include:

  • Balance and harmony – everything fits together, everything is balanced, but not necessarily even.
  • Space in the Japanese garden is used differently than in our gardens. Space is a component that helps define the elements that surround it. This again relates to the idea of balance. Space defines the elements inside and is defined by the things inside it. Here you can definitely say that less is more. With fewer components, each component has more meaning and has a greater weight and greater impact on overall appearance.
  • The line of the garden – the lines and angles are rather rounded and organic to act as natural as possible – as in a real and natural landscape.
  • Wabi and Sabi in the garden – uniqueness and patine, acceptance and perhaps a celebration of an impermanence of life generally (what is wabi-sabi here).
  • Garden behind walls – Japanese gardens are often surrounded by walls as if enclosed in its own microcosm. It protects from an outside world disturbing the carefully designed balance.
  • The beauty of garden throughout the year – the gardens are designed and maintained to bring beauty and a meditative feeling in all seasons.

Elements and Symbolism of Japanese Gardens

To achieve harmony, linearity, a sense of Wabi and Sabi and the meditative feeling in the garden space, a combination of elements and accessories typical of Japanese gardens are also used. Such elements include water (lakes, streams, waterfalls), stones, gravel, sand, islands and bridges, brick or bamboo fences and gates, teahouses and pavilions. With Japanese garden are connected also stepping stones, stone lanterns and statues, bamboo fountains and other (see more elements) are connected with the Japanese garden. Each element has different meanings and can symbolize many things.

In the Japanese garden, there is nothing accidental, everything has its substantiation.

Please follow and like us:

Wabi-Sabi Home

domovThe home should always be a place where you can forget about the difficulties of the surrounding world. A home based on wabi-sabi should be a place where you feel absolutely free and unrestrained, to relax, to meditate, but also to create and develop your creativity.

Just like the philosophy itself, the interior according to wabi-sabi is characterized by simplicity, purity, naturality, asymmetry, and the appreciation of the flowing of time. More about wabi-sabi interior here.

Purity and simplicity, space and light. It can be said that for the wabi-sabi home, this is the most desired decoration.

For an at least partial transformation of our home into the wabi-sabi style we do not need great finance or even a designer work. A few little steps might just be enough.

However, before proceeding to the first basic step, i.e. opening space as much as possible, cleaning up, rearranging rooms, or then decorating them yourselves, take a zero step:

Magazines inundate us with images of perfect flawless interiors according to recent trends, describing how correctly and contemporarily everything should look. So often we can get to succumb to the feeling, that at home we can see things that are not exactly the way we think it would be right according to some kind of rigid perceptions of the current habitation.
Is our kitchen or bathroom too small, old, dark? Do planks on the floor have a slightly larger joint in one place? Is the plaster on the wall after the work of the electrician and even still bulging after repairs? Does the third stair after stepping on squeak a little bit? Is there a small, unclean stain on the couch that is not visible, but you know about it?

No house or apartment where someone really lives is not without any flaws.
So, step zero:
Look at your home with a slightly more tolerant attitude towards its mistakes and imperfections.

 

Do not give up on your home, but also do not look at your dwelling as a list of imperfections. Let’s simply just love our home. Even with its minor faults, behind which there’s often a story.

Step One:

As already mentioned – space, light, purity and simplicity – these are the fundamental principles of wabi-sabi interior. You probably won’t enlarge your room by any magic wand, but sometimes it’s enough to just move a piece of furniture into the corner or to think about the necessity of having some of our stuff. Cleanliness (purity) is practised not only figuratively, but literally. With the cleanliness of our home, we express our respect for our visitors, but above all that we respect ourselves. By keeping surfaces free of dust and dirt we deliver to our space the desired feeling of peace and order.

So, therefore, the first and indispensable step in creating a wabi-sabi style space is cleaning or getting rid of the disorder and things that have gradually accumulated. It sounds simple, but maybe you also have a problem with throwing out all those small or big gifts from your loved ones, a collection of travel souvenirs, a family heirloom. Maybe you would even like to throw some of them away, but for another member of your family, they are valuables, that he/she would not want to lose. And even though you have restrictions, what to do when you want to relieve your home?

Try the old Japanese method of ROTATING PRECIOUS ITEMS. Japanese hid their valuables and were displayed just a few of them in a specially designated area or in a special niche – tokonoma. After a certain time, they realigned them. Assuming we have storage space, we just hide these little things and our valuable belongings and display only a few of them at a time. After some time, we replace them with another from our “warehouse”. This method is far less painful than just getting rid of our “valuables.” Moreover, after some time when we do not have them all the time in our eyes, they will seemingly come off as even rarer or on the contrary, suitable for throwing out or handing over.

Wabi-sabi home does not have to look like a monastic dwelling without any ornaments or few fancy items. But also it should not be overcrowded with external details.

But we’re already at the next step:

Step Two: Interior Equipment

The wabi-sabi style is not suitable for supporters of consumerism. On the contrary, it is inclining towards a sustainable environmental approach. Things and equipment made of quality natural materials and in good quality design are not hurt by time or a gentle usage. Getting a patina of time often rather benefits them. And we do not change such things so often.

As mentioned in the Wabi-Sabi Interior post,  with the wabi-sabi interior, they are related:

  • colours –  rather subtle and matte;
  • materials – as natural as possible, coarse and patina;
  • shapes – round, rounded edges, non-rectangular;
  • furniture less so it would not occupy the whole space and at least some piece of “attic”, ie., such as one that has already implied a certain age
  • art and decoration – abstract paintings and photographs, sketches expressing incompleteness – perhaps from our children, accessories of interesting shapes, colours and structures.

To make our home really a place where we feel absolutely free, freely, fetterless, we should listen to our feelings and take heed of our intuitions when arranging it. In that way, we use colours, materials, and objects that we love and that are pleasing to us.

 

Please follow and like us:

Wabi-Sabi Interior

A look at a wabi-sabi interior can remind us of the austerity of the industrial style, perhaps a little bit in celebration of the old times in a Provençal or a rural rustic style. But just like the philosophy itself, the interior according to wabi-sabi is characterized by simplicity, purity, naturality, asymmetry, and the appreciation of the flowing of time.

Unlike other interior design concepts, the wabi-sabi interior is not about an equipment with a specific style or a carefully set colour palette. It’s the art of appreciating space and what’s possibly already there from the past. It’s about the art of matching what we really need to buy with what we already have. It is certainly true that LESS IS MORE.

The wabi-sabi style is not suitable for supporters of consumerism. On the contrary, it is inclining towards a sustainable environmental approach. Things and equipment made of quality natural materials and in good quality design are not hurt by time or a gentle usage. Getting a patina of time often rather benefits them. And we do not change such things so often.

The interior in the spirit of wabi-sabi is not a place that you want to show off or impress other people with. Much more important than the appearance itself, is how you are feeling in it.

The home is conceived as a shrine of peace and tranquillity. A place where you can forget about the difficulties of the surrounding world, to relax, to meditate, but also to create and develop your creativity. A home based on wabi-sabi should be a place where you feel absolutely free and unrestrained.

If you’ve recently found demonstrations of interiors in the style of wabi-sabi in magazines, they were often very expensive residences. And often they are also homes of more or less well-known people (see the Robert Niro residence in New York). Recently, however, it is possible to see at least small signs of wabi-sabi inspiration even with Czech interior designers in arranging “normal” houses and flats. Whether for renovations of old apartment flats or family houses or also for new buildings.

But for an at least partial transformation of our home into the wabi-sabi style we do not need great finance or even a designer work. More on Wabi-Sabi Home.

Please follow and like us:

What is the meaning of the words WABI and SABI?

translation of wabi sabiWhen I found out about wabi-sabi, I haven’t thought that much about what these words meant in a translation. I was ok with the abbreviated explanation of the principles of Japanese aesthetics. I perceived wabi-sabi as its name. I just liked the words and I liked their sound. Especially what they represent today.

However, it is true that these words had and do have some sort of original meaning in Japanese (not a single word and nor easily translatable), which has evolved and changed over the centuries.

The historical meaning of the words Wabi and Sabi

Once upon a long time ago the meaning of these words was very gloomy: “Wabi” indicated the misery of a lonely life in nature, sadness and dejection. “Sabi” meant cold, poor or even withered. At the end of 14th century, these words began to shift towards a somewhat more positive and poetic meaning – the voluntary loneliness and poverty of hermits and ascetics were taken as an opportunity for spiritual enrichment as a basis for new and pure beauty.

What do the words Wabi and Sabi mean today

 “Wabi” today means something like simple, non-materialistic, modest, humble of his own volition, in accordance with nature, perceptive. “Sabi” can be literally translated as “blossom of time”-or a nice patina, it’s something that has been going on for some time. At present, both these words are often perceived by many Japanese as having more or less the same meaning.

Please follow and like us: