“karesansui” is a type of garden style that is used in Zen Gardens in Japan. This style uses a “dry landscape with rocks and gravel” with absolutely no vegetation at all. The garden is usually made with gravel, sand and rocks. The visitors are not allowed inside the garden but there is a pavilion next to the garden from where visitors can watch the garden.
The garden at Ryoanji temple is a world famous example of this type of zen gardens. The simple yet remarkable garden measures only twenty five meters from east to west and ten meters from south to north. The rectangular zen garden contains only fifteen rocks and white gravel. It is up to each visitor to find out for himself what this unique garden signifies. The longer you gaze at it, the more varied your imagination becomes.
This garden at Ryoanji temple is said to be created at the end of Muromachi Period (around 1500) by a highly respected Zen monk Tokuho Zenketsu.
Enjoy.
2 Comments
that garden looks so lonely, it kinda makes me feel sad.
They say no one can work out what this garden is trying to say…Well there are 15 stones and you can only ever see 14 at one time…Well maybe the designer was trying to say The journey of life is never complete…