Dry Landscape Garden (Karesansui)
In Edo times, a daimyo (feudal lord) or aristocrat telegraphed wealth via his estate and gardens. This elegant, cedar-shingled gate indicates that the garden beyond is large and grand.
The roof tiles are called ichimonji because they are shaped like the Japanese character for the number one.
Beyond the gate is a dry garden, an abstraction of nature: smooth gravel represents calm water, while raked rippled patterns suggest waves breaking on a shore.
chicagobotanic.org/walk/tours/japanese_garden