The Japanese Garden in Foreign Countries

Its History before World War II

Abstract

The appreciation of the Japanese garden among foreigners is making headway in recent years toward the quest of the very essence of Japanese Garden. The fact is proved well by the nomber of examples built in Europe such as one in Vienna (1970, 1973), Karlsruhe (1967), Hamburg (1963, 1973), Diisseldorf (1975), Bonn (1979), Miinchen (1983), Augsburg (1985) or the Japanese Garden at the International Garden Festival, Liverpool (1984), as well as those built recently in U. S. A., Canada, Brazil, Singapore and elsewhere.
While there should be some causes which have brought about such increment of interest in the Japanese Garden, it must be noted that there had been two preceding constructions of Japanese gardens of earlier days which doubtless gave the impetus to such mood. One of them was the exhibits of Japanese Garden in the international expositions abroad as one feature of the Japanese culture, and the other was the gardens built by foreign persons who either had stayed in Japan or else those who visited Japan as travellers and were impressed by the Japanese garden, and built their gardens at their homes simulating the Japanese garden, the style different from their own. This article attempts to explain the point at issue by two out-standing examples in some details. The writer believes that the histories of these gardens would supplement a protion of the history of the Japanese Garden.