Marc Peter Keane has published several books based on his landscape architecture degree from Cornell University and the 18 years he spent in Kyoto designing gardens. “Japanese Garden Design,” his earliest, has stood the test of time.
The first section is a well-illustrated introduction to broad concepts such as Zen gardens, tea gardens, and stroll gardens. The author emphasizes the context that led garden designers to create these “new forms of gardens and, more importantly, new ways of perceiving what a garden is” (author’s emphasis).
The final third of the book is about design: the principles, techniques, and elements. I wouldn’t recommend relying on this book for developing your own garden but rather for understanding the intentions of the creators of established gardens. In those intentions, Keane sees a myriad of perceptions, including the garden “as a living entity with a spirit, or by perceiving the garden as a painting, an object of contemplation, a spiritual passageway, or as a work of religious art.”
Excerpted from the Summer 2020 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin