The Beauty and the Meaning of Aging in Japanese Gardens

Abstract

The beauty and the meaning of “aging” in Japanese gardens have been argued to be primarily in “beauty based on space” such as colours, forms etc. However the characteristics of mentality such as “Wabi and Sabi” which is a chracteristic of Japanese gardens is found in “beauty based on time”. Natural rocks and trees rot and/or becom musty with time under the monsoon climate. Therefore in Japanese gardens which are mainly made with natural materials, it is found an essential characteristic of beauty to be the “aging”, that is, changing of the features of materials which we see. Though this tendency is not so outstanding in European gardens, garden ornaments such as “manmade ruins” in European gardens have been constructed. The idea, which takes “aging with time” as one of the elements of beauty of landscape is therefore considered inherent in humanbeing.