Sakutei-ki: "The Classic of Garden-Making"

The Sakutei-ki opens with an excellent introduction to the ground rules of garden architecture in the Heian period:

„The main points to be observed when erecting rocks are:

- Design the pond with respect to its position in the land, follow its request; when you encounter a poten tial site, consider its atmosphere; think of the moun tains and waters of living nature and reflect constantly upon such settings;

- When copying the gardens of famous masters of old, bear in mind the intention of your patron and de sign your version according to your own taste.

-When recreating in your garden the famous natu ral sights of other parts of the world, assimilate such places of beauty so that they become truly your own. Let your garden express their overall effect. Rocks should thus be erected and harmoniously interrelated."

I have translated the first words of the scroll, ishi wo tateru, as "to erect rocks". This literal, perhaps unusual rendering is based on T Tamura's revised version of the Sakutei-ki. Tamura believes that the expression ishi wo tateru, and hence the practice of erecting rocks, lies at the heart of Japanese garden architecture of the Heian period. The author of the Sakutei-ki himself seems rather baffled by the concept, and observes: "It is gen erally speaking rare to erect rocks. Rocks are usually laid. We do not seem to use the phrase to lay rocks' in Japanese, however." I see this as just another example of the very concrete and direct language of historical texts. Abstractions such as "landscape", "scenery" or even "garden" were not yet common currency in Heian times. Instead, words which described a con crete, central activity within the garden-making process were used to denote garden design as a whole. Ishi wo tateru is thus used in other contemporary Heian sources as a synonym for garden architecture perse.³⁰ The elements within a garden are not seen as inani mate objects but as beings with their own character and even their own faces. The Sakutei-ki states: „When erecting rocks you should first carry big and small rocks into the garden and assemble them at one spot. Then you should place the standing rocks head up­wards, and the lying rocks face upwards, and distribute them across the garden..."

The design principles discussed within the Sakutei-ki fall into two types, reflecting two parallel attitudes to garden architecture. The first type are principles im ported from China; they clearly reflect the relatively strict precepts of Chinese geomancy, employ the mythological metaphors of crane and turtle and the Buddhist triad - all proof of the Heian "craze" for things Chinese. Principles of the second type describe -in considerably vaguer terms - the somewhat more in tuitional approaches appropriate to garden architec ture. According to Japanese scholar Masahiro Tanaka, this second type of principle reveals the "Japanese soul" of the Sakutei-ki.

Amongst these principles Tanaka identifies four con stantly recurring expressions, which are examined be low; they are also italicized in the translation above.

- Shotoku no sansui: literally "mountain-water of liv ing nature". To be borne in mind when erecting rocks, building waterfalls or creating streams and ponds. The expression implies that a garden should be created in the likeness of real nature.

- Kohan nishitagau: literally "following the request". When building a garden stream, an island or a water fall, it is vital to "follow" the "request" of rocks already existing on the site. The concept is frequently expressed simply with the word "follow". Heian gardeners saw rocks not as inorganic matter, but as beings with their own personalities to be treated with love and respect. A precondition of true creativity was the ability to achieve an inner stillness and emptiness within which their "requests" could be heard.

-Suchigaete: "asymmetrical" or "off-balance". Rocks, islands and ponds should always be placed asymmetrically within the otherwise highly symmetrical framework of Shinden-style palaces. The asymmetry of

nature is thereby set against the symmetry of the man-made artefact.

-Fuzei: literally "a breeze of feeling". In Heian times this term was used to describe the genius loci, the aes thetic spirit of a particular place. Fuzei may be discov ered in nature or created in the garden. Confusingly, perhaps, the same word is used to denote the personal artistic taste of the garden architect or his client. Fuzei somehow unites in one concept two apparent oppo-sites: the objectively-given aesthetic spirit of a place, and the subjectively-experienced aesthetic taste of the gardener or his patron.

Tanaka takes these four expressions as proof that the garden architects of the Heian period strove to become one with nature and then to follow its requests. Their aims naturally went far beyond merely copying nature. Their final compositions inevitably reflected the "tastes" of the garden-maker and client, themselves the subjects of cultural conditioning. The gardens most popular in the Heian period are gardens of islands in a pond, based as closely as possible on a natural scene. Often designed to illustrate the charms of the four sea sons or famous natural sights, their lyrical themes are the same of those of Heian poetry and yamato paint ing. The garden architecture of the Heian period is the art of the empathetic imitation of the external forms of nature.