This Japanese Garden Tradition Can Transform Outdoor Spaces Into Places of Ritual, Mindfulness and Calm, Say Designers
Embrace the traditions, rituals and design details of the Japanese teahouse-garden relationship, and the serenity they can bring to your yard
Step into a Japanese tea house garden and you will instantly feel lighter, calmer, with your senses sharpened taking in every exquisite detail. This is no coincidence, as from the moment you enter the green, leafy sanctuary the space has been carefully curated to echo nature, celebrate the fleeting moment and to take the visitor on a physical and spiritually cleansing experience.
Japanese teahouses were purpose built for the tea sharing ceremony. A practise deeply rooted in Zen Buddhism, this is a carefully choreographed ritual that emphasizes mindfulness, hospitality, respect and an appreciation of the aesthetic. The elegant and simply designed buildings are enveloped by meticulously designed gardens full of distinctive features.
This carefully curated relationship between garden and teahouse has evolved gracefully overtime and informs many of the small Japanese garden ideas we can use and benefit from today in our own outdoor spaces.
What We Can Learn From the Japanese Teahouse and Garden Relationship?
Evolving over centuries and brimming with serene and exquisite detail, the interplay between Japanese teahouse and garden has many poignant design principals that are relevant to our backyards today.
Here we delve into the meaning and symbolism behind the ritual, and explore how you can embrace elements of it in your garden.
Creating a Space of Solace
The plant filled space surrounding a Japanese teahouse, acts as a buffer zone. Filtering out everyday reality and readying the visitor for the peace, purity and harmony found within the tearoom, it follows a specific winding path, that slows the feet and mind, passing by several poignant features along its route.
Each possessing a different character, the outer and inner gardens are separated by a simple rustic gate, often made from bamboo.
The outer garden tends to be open and formal with plenty of clipped shrubs, specimen trees and elements such as the waiting bench – where the guests wait to be met by their host.
The inner garden has a more rustic feel, with imposing boulders and windblown, wild style planting representing a rugged and remote mountainside retreat.
The Japanese Garden within the Frederik Meiger Gardens and Scupture Park in Michigan is home to a traditional teahouse, which embodies the same such symbolism and serenity.
A Spiritual Approach
A single pathway, just wide enough for one person, winds through the inner and outer garden to the teahouse itself.
Following a meandering route, the stone path weaves between clipped shrubs, trees and rocks lengthening the physical and spiritual experience, 'cleansing’ the visitor before their arrival.
‘The historic tea house and its surrounding garden were never meant to be separate experiences; they’re a single, continuous journey toward mindfulness,' says Jim Fucetola, President of Moss Acres. 'The pathway is intentionally narrow and slightly irregular, encouraging a slower, thoughtful pace.’
Made from stone laid as both continuous paving and as individual stepping stones, the landscape design subtly shapes the guest’s complete experience.
‘A quality Japanese tea house relies on the surrounding garden to provide the full restorative experience to interact and enjoy the garden,’ explains landscape designer Scott Solomonson.
‘The stepping stones are small, so the visitor is forced to slow down and focus on every step, relax and allow the garden and its elements to engage all the senses and enjoy being in the moment.’
Jim Fucetola has spent more than 25 years working with live moss, supplying homeowners nationwide, partnering with garden centers, and providing specialty moss to zoos across the country. A pioneer in biophilic moss wall design, he created his first indoor moss wall over 15 years ago, well before the trend took hold.
Scott has worked in the horticulture, nursery and landscape industry since the 1980s. He lived in Portland Oregon for several years learning the art of Japanese Gardens and has worked with experienced Japanese garden builders in Portland.
The Importance of Planting
Planting in a teahouse garden features a mix of simple and symbolic trees, shrubs and ground cover plants with contrasting foliage.
Although some of the best plants for a Japanese Garden such as Japanese Maples, Azaleas, Camellias and Magnolia are included for their spectacular, seasonal bursts of color, the planting is predominantly evergreen.
‘Plantings are simple and restrained, favoring textures over flowers,’ explains Jim Fucetola. ‘Moss is often used to blur the distinction between the built environment and nature, grounding the visitor in the present moment. Standing at a tea house with moss at your feet and natural materials around you, you’re reminded that beauty doesn’t need to shout, it simply needs space.’
Amongst the best trees for Japanese garden, pine, fir and Kusamaki – Podocarpus macrophyllus – are synonymous with Japanese garden design. Their sinewy, scaly branches bristling with spear-like leaves, bring texture and detail to pots and borders. Often clipped or trained into formal or contorted shapes that frame a view, they become an integral part of these carefully curated landscapes.
You can find Kusamaki and other suitable live trees at Walmart.
A sharp and sturdy pair of bypass secateurs, such as these from Walmart, are perfect for keeping these trees in shape.
Purposeful Design
Successfully planning and arranging a Japanese teahouse garden relies on a designer's intuition of reading the natural landscape and exercising restraint, firmly believing that less is more.
‘The genius of Japanese garden design lies in adaptation. Nature is adapted into the human space,’ says Landscape Designer Pete Putnicki.
‘Any adaptation is based on careful observation, and good adaptation strives to understand the reality and relationships of stone and water in nature. A waterfall in the middle of a flat plain would be as out of place as a marsh on a jagged mountain top. When incorporating these elements into a garden, even in a representational or symbolic fashion, rocks and water must harmonize with their surroundings.’
Pete Putnicki is a garden maker specializing in Japanese aesthetics and techniques. Currently the Senior Gardener at Seattle Japanese Garden, he has spent over thirty years working on residential and commercial garden installation and maintenance, with an increasing emphasis on design, construction, and arboriculture.
If you are inspired to go out and bring some Japanese inspired design into your yard, be sure to include these best trees for a Japanese garden and make sure you are up to speed on the latest garden bento box trend.
