You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
This beautifully illustrated book provides an inspirational and practical introduction to the traditions of Japanese Zen gardens, using natural materials such as wood, bamboo, rocks and pebbles. Emphasizing the value of shape in trees and shrubs with the subtlety of color through the varied greens of foliage and moss, Authentic Japanese Gardens explains how western plants and materials can be used to achieve peaceful, contemplative gardens. There are instructions and tips for selecting plants and materials that are readily available, as well as plant lists and climate zone maps to aid western gardeners. As the wealth of stunning color photographs from around the world demonstrates, Japanese garden design is concerned with a reverence for nature and the overall effect is of tranquility. Authentic Japanese Gardens will help people to create much-needed oases of calm in their own outdoor spaces.
In this fascinating and wide-ranging book, Yoko Kawaguchi explores the Western portrayal of Japanese women—and geishas in particular—from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. She argues that in the West, Japanese women have come to embody certain ideas about feminine sexuality, and she analyzes how these ideas have been expressed in diverse art forms, ranging from fiction and opera to the visual arts and music videos. Among the many works Kawaguchi discusses are the art criticism of Baudelaire and Huysmans, the opera Madama Butterfly, the sculptures of Rodin, the Broadway play Teahouse of the August Moon, and the international best seller Memoirs of a Geisha. Butterfly’s Sisters also examines the impact on early twentieth-century theatre, drama, and dance theory of the performance styles of the actresses Madame Hanako and Sadayakko, both formerly geishas.
No Marketing Blurb
'Beautifully illustrated, packed with fascinating insights' Robin Lane Fox in the Financial Times A new handbook-sized edition of Japanese Zen Gardens. Japan's iconic zen gardens are revealed in Alex Ramsay's specially commissioned photographs and their history and meaning is explored in Yoko Kawaguchi's learned text. The austere, enigmatic rock gardens of Kyoto, Japan’s ancient capital, have never ceased to fascinate garden lovers. Weather-â? beaten rocks set in an expanse of white sand raked into geometric patterns challenge the idea of a garden as a space chiefly dedicated to the cultivation and appreciation of plants. How did the taste for this kind of garden arise? What do the ston...
Yoshiro thinks he might never die. A hundred years old and counting, he is one of Japan's many 'old-elderly'; men and women who remember a time before the air and the sea were poisoned, before terrible catastrophe promted Japan to shut itself off from the rest of the world. He may live for decades yet, but he knows his beloved great-grandson - born frail and prone to sickness - might not survive to adulthood. Day after day, it takes all of Yoshiro's sagacity to keep Mumei alive. As hopes for Japan's youngest generation fade, a secretive organisation embarks on an audacious plan to find a cure - might Yoshiro's great-grandson be the key to saving the last children of Tokyo?
A catalog of color plates of both traditional and contemporary Japanese courtyard gardens is presented in this volume. Each photograph includes a description at the end of the book; it also includes architectural drawings in the form of blueprints and elevations of various Japanese gardens.
**Winner of the 2006 American Horticultural Society Book Award** The Art of the Japanese Garden is the only historical overview of Japanese gardens that covers Japanese gardening culture in one beautiful book. Japanese gardens are rooted in two traditions: an indigenous prehistoric tradition in which patches of graveled forest or pebbled beach were dedicated to nature spirits, and a tradition from China and Korea that included elements such as ponds, streams, waterfalls, rock compositions and a variety of vegetation. The Art of the Japanese Garden traces the development and blending of these two traditions, as well as the inclusion of new features as gardening reached new heights of sophistication on Japanese soil. 300 full-color Japanese garden illustrations and photographs highlight notable gardens in Japan, including graveled courtyards, early aristocratic gardens, esoteric and paradise gardens, Zen gardens, warrior gardens, tea gardens and stroll gardens. Also included are sections on modern trends and Japanese gardens in other countries.
This book, filled with gorgeous photographs, explains the theory, history, and intricacies of Japanese gardening. The creation of a Japanese garden combines respect for nature with adherence to simple principles of aesthetics and structure. In Japanese Garden Design, landscape architect Marc Peter Keane presents the history and development of the classical metaphors that underlie all Japanese gardens. Keane describes the influences of Confucian, Shinto and Buddhist principles that have linked poetry and philosophy to the tangible metaphor of the garden in Japanese culture. Creative inspiration is found in the prehistoric origin of Japanese concepts of nature; the gardens of Heian aristocrats; the world-renowned Zen garden, or rock garden; the tea garden; courtyard garden; and stroll garden. Detailed explanations of basic design concepts identify and interpret the symbolism of various garden forms and demonstrate these principles in use today in Japanese landscape architecture. Topics include: Design Principles Design Techniques Design Elements Godspirit in Nature Poetry in Paradise The Art of Emptiness Spiritual Passage Private Niches A Collector's Park
Discover how to recreate Japanese garden design and detail in either urban or country settings, with practical advice and stunning color photography.
Storefront design is a comprehensive art form, which consists of architecture, decoration, and surrounding landscape. The commercial area in Japan is a place where exchanges of culture and commerce are active between Japan and the West, and where both pop design and Japanese style can be found. Storefronts play an important role in attracting customers by adding characteristics and charms to the shops. Every detail in designs such as layout, colors, lighting, advertisement drawing logo design, or huge display cases, will directly lead to perfection and become important elements that capture fashionable Japanese styles, regardless of which kind of design styles. In this book, listed are the storefront designs of many world's top brands and distinctive stores in upscale shopping districts in Japan. The features of Japanese storefront design are summarized from the aspects of structure, materials and styles.