Zen Principles of Japanese Garden Design | 7 Design Tips

Niwa, or Japanese garden, actually means pure place. It's meant to represent a pure and beautiful place that you can always come to regardless of what chaotic things are going on in the world or what your busy life is like. And it's not an escape, but it's more of a place to recenter and refresh. According to Japanese art specialist Dr. Lennox Tierney, there are seven Zen principles related to the Niwa, or Japanese garden. All of these concepts are interdependent, which means they feed off of each other, so no one Japanese philosophy can be used to sum up the Japanese garden. The more we can familiarize ourselves with these Zen concepts, the deeper the appreciation we can have for the Japanese garden. Ultimately, this leads to a deeper experience we can have in the garden, where the lines between humans and nature gets blurred. Yugen, hinting at or alluding to the profound, not obvious. Yugen is a principle often seen in Japanese gardens where the design is encouraging the viewer to engage and use their imagination. There is a power in being subtle that conjures up curiosity and introspection. It's making use of the power of suggestion. It's not revealing something profound, but it's alluding to or hinting at it. Think of it in terms of when strong shadows hide what's going on in the background, or a path deliberately twists and turns, keeping you anticipating what's around the bend. Shizen, natural without pretense. Shizen, or naturalness, is a favorite principle of mine, so much so that the channel name Shizen Style derives from this aesthetic principle. Shizen is the combination of human creativity and nature. Shizen is a true naturalness though, and it shouldn't be confused with raw nature. It allows for the creative and spontaneous elements to be added to a garden. There must be room for creative intent, but not push to the boundaries of becoming pretentious or unnatural. Kansou, simplicity. The next Zen principle for Japanese garden design is Kansou, and this relates to basic simplicity and cleanliness. It's similar to minimalism in that it involves the elimination of the ornate. Japanese gardens tend to shy away from bold statements of color from flowers and large plants, and lean more toward the reserved and austere. Just like Marie Kondo promotes, first declutter, then rebuild with only the essential in mind. Fukinze, asymmetry and irregularity. Culturally in the West, we've been trained over the years to appreciate equal balance, even numbers, precise mirror images, etc. Even stemming back to Greek concepts, like there being a symmetry in all things. Eastern ideas of space, though, almost always lean toward an odd division of things, creating irregularities and unevenness. Look at the numerous dry rock garden examples that are usually comprised of formations of three, five, and seven. In the Japanese garden, irregularity and asymmetry evoke beauty that is intriguing, as well as engaging and dynamic. It is a display of the unexpected. When you are designing a Japanese garden, or even when you are just observing one, take note of the spaces that intrigue you, and see how asymmetry plays a role in that. Koko, mature, weathered, stoic. This principle involves the feeling of stoicism, wisdom, and maturity. It is something weathered over time, enhancing its qualities with age. I believe wabi-sabi and the beauty of imperfection is also a closely related aesthetic principle, proudly displaying the history of a stone, the worn bark of a tree, the moss that blankets the garden floor, are all ways the Japanese garden embraces Koko. Datsuzoku, surprise, and breaking from the routine. This Zen principle pushes you towards appreciating and exploring the unexpected things that come up. Things don't always go as planned, and this is where creativity should be allowed to fill in the gaps to create something new and interesting. Datsuzoku shows that there is a hidden potential that emerges when we break away from convention, routine, and established tradition. A great Japanese garden is usually designed and sketched out beforehand, but it is never built with blinders on. Seijaku, solitude, tranquility. Seijaku is a feeling that the Japanese garden aims to evoke. It's a space of solitude, tranquility, silence, and deep reflection. A garden should bring you to a place of Zanshin, or calm awareness. If the Japanese garden creates this Seijaku, it can become a place where the flow state is fostered. There is energetic calmness, there is movement, there's open awareness and no distractions, you have mental clarity, and creative inspiration is free to spring up. Although I do have a few favorites in here, I should reiterate that Japanese gardens are built with a number of these principles in mind. If you really go through and make effort to understand and relate to these philosophies, then you'll be able to apply them to other areas of design as well as your overall lifestyle. A closely related aesthetic principle is Wabi-Sabi, and I encourage you to subscribe to that playlist to do a little deep dive in yet another influential Japanese aesthetic principle. Of course, if you haven't done so yet, please subscribe and turn on notifications for the Japanese garden playlist that I have also.