Focusing on the term of Borrowed Scenery, this paper probes into the historic evolvement and variety of this term in Japanese gardening, in other words how this term started, evolved and changed from classical to modern times. The study here is mainly based on the literature survey on the topic of Borrowed Scenery. As a result of the survey into classical treatises before Meiji, the treatise of Cyocyukou of Muromachi is treated as the origin of the term. And then various concepts since modern times are reviewed. At the same time, the typical examples of gardens of Borrowed Scenery are summed up and the space composition is analyzed. Besides, the diffusion of the treatise of Yuan Ye in Japan is examined. Consequently, it is concluded that the term of Borrowed Scenery has been transmitted from China to Japan as the latest in Muromachi, in the field of gardening the term was obtained from Yuan Ye in Meiji, but afterward the concept of this term gradually departed from the origin and was summarized according to the character of Japanese gardens.
