Teiji Itoh Kodansha, 1984. Hardcover. 244 pages.
The Gardens of Japan
Reviewed by William Will
As a monograph on the Japanese garden this book contains a wealth of some of the best color photographs currently in print. Although the text gives a general overview of garden history and design elements, I find it somewhat lacking in structure and completeness.
This book does contain an excellent description of the origins of the garden at Saiho-ji, also known as the Moss Temple garden, and it is a varied collection of material that will amuse the reader, especially the anecdotal accounts of the lives and statements of the more legendary figures of Japanese garden design.
The Japanese have created a wealth of myths surrounding these figures, that have gained a special place in their cultural history, but in recent years most scholars have started to question the extent to which they were involved in the actual design and building of the gardens that are attributed to them.
