Japanese Garden of Monaco

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Japanese Garden of Monaco

Author: Laura Ciocan

Article:
Have you ever seen an authentic Japanese garden? Well, I had
the chance of seeing the one in Monaco and was really impressed
too. Wanna taste a little Japanese culture? Stepping on this
ground is escaping from the real world into a fantasy land. You
suddenly find yourself in a typical Japanese natural setting
like the ones you see in marvelous paintings. The only thing
that's missing is the fog. Instead, the Mediterranean sun
reveals all minute details in a warm light.

With Japanese gardens, what you see is not all; the surface of
things is the mere reflection of the psyche of an ancient
culture. One really needs to be literally "cultured" in this
direction to best appreciate the value of this art. (which I
myself was not at the time of my visit! And it was a pitty as I
did not know what to look for and what to analyse better!) One
can speak of a philosophy of gardening coming from the ancient
Japan. Japanese gardening is an art fetched beyond the
arrangements of vegetation, water and stone but is full of
symbols:

* Koko - the veneration of timeless age;
* Shizen - the
avoidance of the artificial;
* Yugen, or darkness - imply
the mysterious or subtle;
* Miegakure - the avoidance of
full expression

The perception of nature is different in the Japanese culture
from that of the European one. Instead of viewing nature only as
something to be subjugated and transformed according to men-made
ideal of beauty, Japanese developed a close connection to
nature, considering it sacred, an ally in putting food on the
table and an ideal of beauty in itself. That is why the Japanese
gardens are the synthesis of nature in miniature instead of
correction of nature as with European gardens.

Actually, the design of Japanese gardens come from the Chinese
model. The history goes back in time, around year 100BC when the
emperor of China, Wu Di of the Han Dynasty established a garden
that contained three small islands, mimicking the Isles of the
Immortals, who were the principle Taoist deities. An envoy of
Japan saw it and took the idea to Japan, improving the existing
Japanese practices.

The Japanese Garden of Monaco was designed at the request of
Prince Rainier who thus fulfilled a desire Princesse Grace had
expressed during her life-time. The garden was designed by the
landscape-architect Yasuo Beppu, has 7,000 square meter, its
construction took 3 years and it was inaugurated in 1994.

There are some specific elements:

* The wall (Heï) with an intermediary bamboo fencing (Takégaki)
that stands for fragility and simplicity.
* The main gate
(Shô-mon)
* The stone lanterns (Tôrô) - each having special
different characteristics;
* The lake (Iké) with large
swishing gold fish.
* The stone fountain (Fusen-Ishi)
*
The covered terrace (Kyukeïjo)
* The islands (Shima) -
represent two long-living animals - the tortoise and the crane,
symbols of complementarity expressed
* The Tea house
(Chatshitsu)- named the Garden of Grace (Ga-én)
* The dry
landscape (Karésansui) - quintessence of Cosmos
* The
Belvedere (Azumaya) - a house on a hill allowing view in all
four corners
* The waterfall (Taki) - symbolizes the
strength of Man and Nature, contrasting to the horizontality of
the lake.
* The arched red bridge (Taïkobashi) - is red, the
color of happiness and is narrow so as to make access to the
divine island more difficult.

There are olive trees, cherry trees, conifers, azaleas,
rhododendrons and camellias, a varried, rich vegetation of
Mediterranean, South American, Australia, African and Asian
origin, pruned according to the Japanese tradition.

Walking in the crowded Monaco, with all its stone, steel and
glass, you can find in the Japanese Garden a peaceful, green
oasis where even the great number of tourists passes unnoticed,
wandering on the winding paths, through the thicket of the
garden.

About the author:
<b>Laura Ciocan</b> writes for
<b>http://www.ilovemontecarlo.com /</b> where you can find all
you want to know about <a
href="http://www.ilovemontecarlo.com /learn">living in Monaco</a>

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