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Demy folio, [27.75cm./11in.], Full vanilla cloth with mylar-protected dust jacket, pp. 94. Fully illustrated with b-w halftones and color plates. In Japanese with English subtitles. During the Edo Period,(1615 1867), power was won and consolidated by the Tokugawa clan, who became the Shoguns, and moved the capital to Edo, which became Tokyo. During this time, Japan, except for the port of Nagasaki, was virtually closed to foreigners, and Japanese were not allowed to travel to any country except China or the Netherlands. The Emperor remained in Kyoto as a figurehead leader, with authority only over cultural and religious affairs. While the political center of Japan was now Tokyo, Kyoto remained the cultural capital, the center for religion and art. The Shoguns provided the Emperors with little power, but with generous subsidies for building gardens. Most of the gardens of the Edo Period were either promenade gardens or dry rock zen gardens, and they were usually much larger than earlier gardens. The promenade gardens of the period made extensive use of shakkei, the borrowing of landscapes in the distance, such as mountains, and integrating them into the garden; or, even better, building the garden on the side of a mountain and using the different elevations. Edo promenade gardens were often composed of a series of meisho, or "famous views", similar to postcards. These could be imitations of famous natural landscapes, like Mount Fuji, or scenes from Taoist or Buddhist legends, or landscapes illustrating verses of poetry. Unlike zen gardens, they were designed to portray nature as it appeared, not the internal rules of nature. Please feel free to inquire as to particulars and/or additional photographs. (x10168) In exceptionally good condition. Seller Inventory # 23395
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Bibliographic Details
Title: Japanese Gardens Early Edo Period II Volume ...
Publisher: Unspecified Publisher circa 2000, Tokyo
Publication Date: 2000
Binding: Hardcover
Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
Edition: First Impression [?].
