Transcript of Around the World in 80 Gardens🍀China and Japan

I believe that a really good way to understand a culture is through its Gardens this is an extraordinary joke to visit 80 inspiring Gardens from all over the world some are very well known like the Taj Mahal or the alhamra and I'm also challenging my idea of what a garden actually is so I'm visiting Gardens that float on the Amazon a strange fantasy in the jungle as well as the private homes of great designers and the desert flowering in a garden and wherever I go I shall be meeting people that share my own passion for Gardens my Epic Quest to see the world through 80 of its Most Fascinating and beautiful [Music] gardens this week my journey to see the world through its Gardens takes me to to the Imperial nations of the Far East I've long admired the Zen Gardens of Japan and knew that they in turn were derived from China but the deeply spiritual approach to every tiny detail of these Gardens was one that I tried hard to understand in the past but I confess that like most westerners I found them beautiful but baffling there's a door there somewhere but I just don't know how to open it and seeing this makes me hungry to know more I really want to go beyond and get inside the Garden or maybe just let the garden get inside me I do really want to try and make sense of the Japanese zen garden so the destination of my journey is taking me towards the most famous examples of Zen in the Buddhist temples of Kyoto but I'm starting out much further west and effectively much further back in time in China as one of the world's great civilizations China's religion and art has influenced the history of the entire Far East and the expression of Art and spirituality within Gardens began [Music] here my first Port of Call is suo 45 Mi west of [Music] Shanghai suo is an ancient city famous for its fine silks and the network of canals built two Millennia ago to transport them it also has a reputation for having the finest collection of historic Gardens in the whole of China suo has been an important city in China throughout its long and Incredibly complicated history but it came to prominence in the so-called spring and Autumn period That's about 450 Years BC when confucious was developing Confucianism system of thought and behavior that still influences people to this day and then 1800 years later that's about 1,400 in our own time that's during the Ming dnasty it became particularly known for its Gardens it was during this period that suo was the bureaucratic Center for Imperial China and its Gardens flourished [Music] many of these were commissioned by Scholars and the highly cultured men of the Imperial Civil Service who practi dosm a religion that reveres nature and encourages people to build [Music] Gardens I'm beginning by visiting the one that is reckoned to be the greatest of all Southern Chinese gardens [Music] this is the best known and biggest garden in Su and the fact that is called The Humble administrator's Garden is a direct clue to the Chinese approach to Gardens and life the garden was created in the 16 Century by a retired tax collector named Wang Chong Chen who wanted not unreasonably to create a garden that was exquisitely beautiful but as a doist he respected nature and Harmony above a display of his wealth and Status so he added the word humble to the title of his garden of course the humility of the title doesn't refer to the Garden but to the suitably humble and very rich Wang Chong Chen in fact the garden is very Grand and attracts vast numbers of visitors at 7:30 in the morning their doors open and the crowds pouring 3,000 visitors a day every day into the garden and all in tour groups led by Leaders with microphones so it becomes an extraordinary place the crowds are pouring in because this is the quintessential classical Chinese Garden every element of it is intended to be viewed as a work of art that captures the fleeting essence of nature so against the backdrop of white wall the garden becomes a series of calligraphic paintings and every window and door is placed to frame a seemingly natural yet highly manicured scene The Pavilions and buildings in the garden aren't just summer houses it's a strolling garden and the idea was you walk to the buildings to do calligraphy play music read poetry and this one which is one of my favorites has a view for each of the seasons so this would be for Summer with the water filled with lotus flowers and this one for Autumn with the Moonlight on the bamboos and then in Winter the snow collect on the tiles and finally this would represent spring and its freshness so you would get the inspiration of each of the seasons to write or read at the table all tied in with the architecture itself everywhere throughout the garden there are these circular Moon Gates which symbol ize heaven and Perfection with Earth Beyond them and also on just a basic aesthetic level they have the most wonderful curves that they introduced to the garden and you see those curves picked up in the lines of the plants and the trees and the branches Beyond so you have this lovely Rhythm running right through the [Music] garden water is an element that is Central to all Chinese gardens and like sujo itself with its Labyrinth of canals this is a garden of buildings buttressed by water but plants too play a significant role although they're invariably loaded with symbolism there are three plants that the Chinese call the three friends of good character the pine because it has strength and is long lived the winter plum because it dares to flow and nothing else will and the bamboo because it grows tall T upright and is steadfast however there are far more rocks than plants in the garden they're mounted on plins like statues or presented on tables for close appreciation the stone here in the humble administrators Garden is clearly really dominant and most of it is placed in such a way as they occupy the space around them and they hold great significance and Poise and they clearly are saying something the trouble is I don't know what they're [Music] saying so I need an interpreter who will translate for me the language of Chinese rocks I've arranged to meet Mr Wei who will do the rock speak and Joe who will do the Chinese part between them they explained to me the significance of stones in the Chinese Garden over a glass of tea if you visit Chinese gardens you will see rocks everywhere because the reason for building a garden for Chinese is related to Nature if you look from that direction to here it's completely just like a mountain shape and there are three pigs each one of Mr Way's rocks sits on its own specially carved pedestal the stores only looks like the mountain there are Stones looks like animal like birds looks like human being like people looks like calligraphy just like a painting yes itself like painting so it's old trees without leaves so he said that I will make a joke of your guys I myself giving uh this Stones a name is called westernness the differ the biggest difference between Western and Chinese people is the nose so Westerner has very big nose and then the very deep eyes beside yes I can see that Mr we then made what I think was a joke he said that if it didn't resemble an Englishman and perhaps it would pass for a German no I didn't get it either but what or whoever they look like these stones are valued because they are completely natural we want to leave some space for the imagin Nations that's a Chinese thinking of beauty not clear they don't let you see all the things in one time I'm beginning to learn that here in China hints and suggestions are considered better guides than obvious directions as Mr wey put it in every work of art there should be space for the mind to travel between like and dislike he suggested to me that before I leave SU I should visit a nearby Garden that is given over entirely to the celebration of rocks and [Music] stone the lion Grove Garden was built in 1342 and is the oldest Buddhist temple Garden in suo once inside the main gate I then enter a series of small Courtyards amongst beautiful buildings filled with Works celebrating the natural world in every guise [Music] the source of inspiration for the gardens is exactly the same one as you see in the paintings you see in calligraphic poems it's always the country side the natural the trees just and of course brilliantly just slices of tree and then then here amazingly is probably the most valuable thing of the lot which is just a slab of marble but it's revered because it looks like the watercolor of mountains and that actually to me makes more sense than anything else because you realize that the this happy accident of things that are just hinted at that makes sense to me of the gardens and of paintings and then this Ms fantastic panel just of the tops of trees [Music] in true Chinese oblique fashion the L grve Garden was originally created to look like a mountain that look like a lion niled pitted and contorted rocks pile on top of each other and every one is supposed to resemble a lion or some part of its Anatomy although at times I had to fear very hard to see a likeness now what I'm supposed to do to get the most out of this Garden is to let myself go to try and lose myself in it and I think that's meant literally so that gradually you get confused you feel lost displaced disorientated and then when your self disappears you become one with nature and that way the garden will reveal itself as a spiritual experience um the crowds and the noise are fairly unspiritual but I'll give it a go [Music] this kind of garden is known as a stroll garden with its winding path representing the Buddhist road to [Applause] Enlightenment oh look wasn't expecting that how bizarre is that [Music] this deeply surreal landscape is made from Limestone dredged from the bottom of a local Lake and was created by a Buddhist monk whose teacher according to Mr wey who told me the story rode a lion to the site of the garden where it promly laid down and refused to move then it shook its man and the hairs flew out and when they touched the ground each one turned into a Lon C and the monks felt that this was a very auspicious thing so they created this Lion's Grove garden with all these Lions growing out of the stone to celebrate [Music] [Applause] [Music] that all plants are carefully train trained and pruned to mimic the weather-beaten Trees of the wild and despite the odd splash of yellow jasmine the effect is overwhelmingly gray it's like bone on a Shore that's being bleached by sea and Sun but it's not dreary at all the monochrome is actually rather good it looks like a really nice black and white picture to my very Western eye this is a wonderfully kitch extravaganza whose seed visually at least falls from the same plant as the Victorian Stumpy or the Georgian Grotto it is odd Barac and culturally confusing well if I seem slightly less than enthusiastic about this Garden it's not because I don't like it it's bafflement more than anything else thinking about what Mr wayy was saying about Stones how that they're valued because they suggest the natural world they hinted it I think the next place that I need to go is the natural world itself and go out into the Chinese Countryside in order that I can understand these Gardens a bit [Music] better so next morning I take a bus trip 70 Mi West to the city of hang Shan in an an area revered by Chinese artists for its natural beauty [Music] I visit the old neighborhood of tongi and meet up with a local guide named Johnson who told me that the area is famous for its calligraphers and watercolor painters he introduces me to a highly acclaimed local artist whose work is directly inspired by the same landscape that I've come to see Chinese gardens seem to have been inspired by painting perhaps you can tell me a bit about [Music] this the garden according to my understanding is a kind of wish for people to have a better environment for example in some of the gardens were designed first by the painters and defitely they are closely related one of the very important guideline trans is the harmony between nature and the human beings the same is true with the gardens and for example this is just an ordinary pine tree right actually this Pine Tre is a nationalwide famous tree it's called the welcoming guest Pine just like you meet a old friend who's giv you a big hug something and we'll find almost the same element in the Chinese gardens so there seems to be a clear line from Hanan to the art to the to the Garden I agree with you 100% [Music] so if the Ancient Gardens were inspired by even older paintings of a particular landscape that remains a profound inspiration to artist to the present day I had to go and see it for myself these are the yellow mountains arranged with 77 peaks in its 60 square miles it is amazing you see the way the trees are going out of solid rock see look at that tree that looks exactly like the trees pruned in the gardens in Su that is the effect that they're going for with such art and Care reproducing that explains everything [Music] [Applause] [Music] how about [Music] [Applause] that that's as staggering a piece of landscape as I've ever seen in my life you see you see the paintings and you see the gardens and they they seem to be a caricature almost almost a cartoon image of mountains and you realize that you haven't seen the half of it that's it blimy blimy blimy this Pine is the the welcome Pine that's in Mr U's painting in fact this seam of the steps going up is exactly what he's painted and I honestly think if you want to understand the gardens You' got to come here which makes it a bit tricky for the average Garden visitor but that's the way it has to be I think [Music] oh wow look at that tree you see seeing that growing out of the rock like that immediately I understand what they call pening here in China or Bonsai in Japan the sort of stunted growth that is probably hundreds of years old completely make sense on why they go to such trouble to reproduce that why they're so valuable they are called the yellow mountains because in the 8th Century it was thought that the yellow Emperor Shen Juan had become an immortal here so as well as being beautiful this landscape inspires right-mindedness and spiritual purity all these padlocks are rather bizarre strung out in swags like this but there's a very sweet story behind them lovers come here with this fantastic View and they put a padlock on with both their names engraved onto the padlock lock it and throw away the key and the union can't be broken until they find that same key and unlock the padlock and it's a hell of a drop down there so it's a big [Music] commitment when you come up here and see this for yourself you realize instantly why this has had such a profound influence on Chinese art and culture to look back up at the mountains and know this is here would be like treasure and you'd want to capture it you'd want to paint it all your life you'd want to make a garden that held that secret of this place because it is magical I've never seen anything like it on this [Music] planet my visit to the yellow mountains has provided me with a key to unlock Chinese gardens and now before I go on to my destination in Japan I want to visit perhaps the grandest of them all so I head north to the Chinese Capital [Music] Beijing Beijing is a city that has seen much change and turmoil over the centuries including Waring Imperial dynasties the Japanese invasion in the second world war and the cultural revolution of the 60s when the communist government under chairman now systematically destroyed much of the country's cultural heritage I was 21 when Ma died and so was a boy and a teenager throughout the cultural revolution and the thought of visiting China then was impossible it was so remote and and rather a frightening hostile place and although it's 30 years ago now it seems like yesterday so just to be here is astonishing today China is going through a very different cultural revolution one of intense industrialization massive economic growth with the city hosting the 2008 Olympics the entire country has become much more accessible for tourists and this is why I can easily come here to visit one of China's most spectacular Gardens [Music] the reason why I've chosen to come to this particular Garden is because I want to see if that line to me was so clear from the yellow mountains to The Gardens of suo runs to the Imperial Gardens cuz after all Imperial China was the dominant Force you can't ignore that whether you're talking about Gardens or any other aspect of China in fact come through the gate the first thing I see is a rock with pine branches coming down straight from the yellow mountains I think the new Imperial Summer Palace is the largest Imperial Garden in China it was built just outside the city as a summer Retreat for the Imperial family away from the Heat and noise of the Forbidden City right in the middle of Beijing in the 21st century that Retreat is now visited by over 5 million visitors mostly Chinese every year my first impressions of of this in this pearly Winter's morning absolutely beautiful a lovely place but it is vast and um I bought on my way in a map so I think I need to get my bearings um o Stone's cold let me just see if I pop my notebook on there okay here we are I am there and you can see that's just one tiny part the garden is 700 acres big at least uh of which the lake is 34s so you can see that compared to the sujo gardens it's unimaginably vast um but I've got all day [Music] the first Garden was made here in the beginning of the 12th century about 50 years after the Norman conquest of England and it is an accretion of over 800 years of use and misuse big in space time and concept this bridge spans the canal the Kuan built to link the palace to the Forbidden City and the the emperor would have come from the Forbidden City down the canal which looks pretty worldly under this extraordinary bridge and enter the Fairy Land the magical space of the palace [Music] like The Gardens of sujo the Summer Palace was built on Buddhist and DST beliefs but everything here is on an almost unimaginably Grand scale especially the lake this was enlarged in the Ching Dynasty round about 1750 by the emperor Chang Long and he employed 10,000 laborers to dig it out and turn it into a peach shape to celebrate his mother's 60th birthday the peach being a Chinese symbol of longevity and with the spoil from the lake he created three islands which represent famous mythical mountains and to the side he heightened a mound and named that longevity Hill again to symbolize long life on this Earth and after death well this is it this is the big Viewpoint to see the whole garden except for the day that I come to see the garden there's a thick fog the cold air thick with pollution might not have been healthy but it did give the Summer Palace a ghostly Beauty Sun would have made it all too tangible what I can't see I don't know and what I can see looks exactly like some of the paintings showing the mountains just coming out of the cloud [Music] in the 19th century a long Corridor was built to view the Garden in wet weather and it's covered in an altogether less ethereal art and it's 728 M long with 273 of these individual sections with this idea that every single section frames a view and all the way along it's painted there are over 8,000 paintings each one of which is telling a story now clearly a 700 acre Garden can't be encapsulated in a single visit especially if it's shrouded in enveloping Haze but the impression of it is Unforgettable even if that is made up of snatched glimpses through the Mist you know in a way I'm glad that it's been such a gray wintry day on my visit to the Summer Palace because all day long the sky and the water have merged and the bare branches and the reflection and sowet of the buildings have created that kind of accidental Beauty which seems to me the essence of what is trying to be achieved in Chinese gardens and that's been a big Revelation for me and I feel it's equipped me much better now to go to Japan and then see the way that they've developed their Gardens from the same influences but on Parallel Lines to arrive at aight different [Music] place so I'm off heading east this time Bound for Kyoto in Japan to see some of its Gardens with the fresh experience of China hopefully equipping me to come a little closer to the bewildering but beautiful emptiness of Zen and although the Chinese influence was profound and initiated gardening in Japan the Japanese took what they wanted from it and quickly developed their own distinct style if you want to see the great Zen Gardens and Koto is where you have to go it was founded in 794 and Buddhism one of those key new influences was flourishing in China Koto was the Imperial City the capital of Japan until 1868 as well as the cultural and artistic heart of the country where the high Arts of theater music and gardening were widely practiced [Music] now Kyoto is known for its wonderful range of gardens many of which are genuinely ancient and venerable but you arrive in a big very contemporary bustling city which of course there's no reason why it shouldn't be but uh it's not quite what I'd imagined [Music] however there are over 2,000 temples and shrines here today almost all of which have Gardens but in this densely populated city which is squeezed between the mountains buildings and Gardens are scaled right down not an inch of space is wasted and even the tiniest nooks and crannies are all planted up in Exquisite detail look at this a little garden with a pwn look goldfish goldfish in a pond on the street just outside the shop and it overflows into the drain such attention to detail it's Charming there are still indications of the Chinese influences everywhere pine trees the Chinese symbol of strength and Longevity are common pruned and trained to the last pine needle this Pine with its very carefully trained head seems beautiful but not that significant Until you realize that the branch which runs right along the frontage is a welcome [Music] Branch but it is the enigmatic Zen Gardens that I have really come to visit and as a result of what I have already seen on this journey I hope that they might now make a kind of sense having seen the yellow mountains and having visited China it's fallen into place it sounds arrogant to say that I understand it and I'm not pretending I've had a moment of profound Enlightenment but I feel I don't need to explain it on one level these are the yellow mountains appearing outter a layer of cloud and it just captures that Essence that precious fragile reduction and so beautifully holds it in space on another level I can see that the gravel represents the empty mind and the stones and the Moss is just moments of perception appearing through it and that's all you can do in life but in a way all that intellectualizing doesn't matter that's not what it's about it just is and when you're here it feels [Music] right I made my visit at dawn and had a precious half hour or so on my own there but it wasn't long before the crowds poured in and the spell was [Music] broken heon your Quirk of Fate that this or any of the Kyoto Gardens survived today it was the intended target for one of the American atom bombs in the second world war but was spared thanks to the lobbying of the American Secretary of State for war Harry Stimson who' visited the city and seen its exceptional cultural richness so the bomb was diverted to Nagasaki so that I can see some of the Zen Gardens with more peace and quiet I take a lucky clover taxi to an ancient Temple complex which is one of the less well-known Treasures of [Music] Kyoto oh look that is stunning on the way there we pass through a Grove of enormous bamboos I have to stop the cab and have a look [Music] [Applause] [Music] that is so beautiful bamboo grows freely right across China and Korea and Japan and dominates the cultures wherever it grows N More so here than in Japan now there are a thousand different species and they say in Japan there are a thousand different uses of it and certainly you see it everywhere it's just part of life it's fencing it's gutters every tree is supported by bamboo and the Tea Ceremony has the labels made out of bamboo so clearly it's it's immensely useful but it's more than that because it's revered for its qualities of uprightness and steadfastness and strength so a Grove like this which is obviously very beautiful is also a place filled with all those qualities and walking through it you absorb something [Music] duly fortified by a healthy dose of uprightness steadfastness and strength I continue my journey going to the dooki temple complex which is the destination of my next Garden this map gives an idea of the Colossal size of the temple complex if I'm there all the area with its 24 subtles covers the whole of of this vast area these subtles contain hundreds of Zen Gardens which were mostly created during the most violent period in Coy's history the first truly Japanese style of garden the dry garden were commissioned and occasionally created by the Samurai Warriors of medieval Japanese Society who practice Zen Buddhism and used the gardens as an aid to contemplation and an expression of Zen enlightenment [Music] I'm visiting the oldest group in this complex Rio [Music] geni however my own spiritual journey has to begin by trying to squeeze my size 11 fet into dainty Japanese slippers that's not going to fit is it I think this is a moment for [Music] socks R Genji subtle was completed in 1505 and contains five Gardens which surround the central building this is isian the rock garden and immediately there's that incredible energy created by the gravel that's intended to represent the sea and the Rocks Rising like Islands out of the sea you can almost feel it bashing and swirling around them and also these Stones although to us they are very beautiful they're completely abstract in fact they represent the tortoise then that group over there with the taller stone is the crane both of which are symbols of longevity and therefore great good luck and then the middle Mount horay the legendary Mountain three Elements which you find again and again in dry Gardens I love it I absolutely love [Music] it all these Gardens are designed to be viewed from the building and the buildings are up on platforms and so there is this walkway this very beautiful wooden walkway around the outside from which to view the gardens and you'd never walk out into them unless you're a monk and it's your job to tend them and the word for this style of gardening is kensui which literally means a dried up Landscape which of course doesn't mean to say that they only use rock and stone but there is no water in their element at [Music] [Applause] all this moss garden has a rock emerging from the center that represents the sacred mountain of schizen which is the core of the Buddhist [Music] universe so you have this enormous idea the universe and the sort of vast complexity displayed in a relatively small garden using moss and stone and in itself the ambition of that is staggering these Gardens are microcosms of Buddhist philosophy and the underlying belie is that no matter how big the concept it can be expressed in a tiny space this is the smallest stone garden in Japan toiko it is a Sublime space and obviously these marvelous floorboards and the stanions and the roof it's all part of the garden and the symbolism is all about the stone dropping in the water and spreading a ripple and the ripples spread underneath there and you can imagine it would be a caper doing that one of the difficult aspects of Zen is you really can't talk about it in the end words are not the appropriate medium but this little garden is an almost perfect description of Zen it displays the fact that every tiny act has a consequence every drop in in the Water cast a ripple and if all your life are a series of incidents however small everything affects you and everybody else and that's all here that's all here in this Garden the dry Gardens are designed specifically to Aid contemplation but over on the other side of Kyoto is a another kind of zen garden that I want to visit that involves a more physical engagement through the sharing of ritual on my way there I find myself in the middle of Japan's biggest annual Horticultural Jamboree the cherry blossom is just starting to bloom this is a moment of great joy because it signifies the arrival of spring I it rather a chilly one and an optimistic symbol of new beginnings had Hanami means cherry blossom viewing which is the traditional Japanese celebration of the flowering of the spring season Hanami has been widely practiced since the 8th century when Japanese Nobles would recite poetry beneath the flowering canopies [Music] having paid my respects to The Wonder of cherry blossom I travel on to a garden created for the best known of Japan's Zen rituals the Tea Ceremony The Gardens of the Tea Ceremony began to appear in kioto at the beginning of the peaceful Edo period which began in 16003 [Music] hello tea was introduced to Japan from China in the 9th century and was first used in religious rituals in Buddhist monasteries the samurai took this up with other aspects of Zen and the Tea Ceremony evolved as a ritualistic practice of its own oseni is one of the three founding schools which perform this ritual called chadow which is the way of tea and their Garden is designed to induce the right frame of mind in which to take part in the [Music] [Music] ceremony for [Music] [Music] the Tea Garden is quite small about the same size in fact as many a British back garden and the layout is designed around a winding path which is intended to reshape your sense of time and the slippery regularly spaced stepping stones are deliberately intended to slow down your Advance into the Garden in Britain Moss is one of The Gardener's major headaches here it is nurtured and cultivated down the years as carefully as any prize [Music] lawn every tiny detail DET has meaning paths that are not to be followed are marked by a rock tied with thick black twine even these are elegant works of art the wash basin is for the host and his guests to wash their hands and mouths to purify themselves before entering the Tea [Music] House for [Music] once inside the daunting the sober and refined Tea Ceremony takes place it can't be exaggerated how particular the attention to detail is within the ritual or how much my knees were hurting at this stage green powdered tea is whisk to a precise froth and then hand it to the guests to drink and while this is happening the path is being sprinkled again this preing continues throughout the guest's day because a slipping presentation could be misread as an insult and mindful of that sensitivity I tried to hide the fact that the tea tastes well awful it is strange but but interesting everything in this Garden is controlled and constrained every plant is clipped tied and twisted every stone is positioned but it's as though there's a great tension between the Japanese reverence for ritual and the old and their love of the new and their love of innovation because of course plants keep growing they're always renewing themselves and that tension that you feel if the pressure was taken off it would burst apart is what gives this place and perhaps Japanese culture a sort of suppressed energy it's certainly [Music] fascinating so far I've glimpsed some of the origins of Japanese Gardens traced their unbroken tradition that is much older than any surviving European garden but I would also like to see a modern zen garden something that relates to Japan's love of innovation as well as its ancient Traditions I thought this was nice it is beautiful in the city center I meet up with Yukiko a Japanese interpreter who says that she will show me a temple that did dare to try something different and modern but before that I'm hungry and as an antidote to the slow ritual of the Tea Ceremony we decide to grab some Japanese fast food that's fabulous would you say that this was traditional food yes very traditional everybody has it because it's a very easy lunch food oh yes go ahead and you can slurp it okay men to show masculin so you show your masculinity by having a good slurp that's IA he wouldn't go down where with Mrs Dawn I can tell you watching someone they there he how's that s plastic that was very good that was very good that was very Japanese it is delicious and I happily slurp it all then we head for a temple Garden where the Creator had the courage to break with tradition and modernize the concept of the dry landscape garden now in its time this was truly revolutionary [Music] tofukuji is the head Temple of the rinai sect of Zen Buddhism and although built in 1236 is renowned for its controversial 20th century Zen [Music] Gardens in 1939 these were designed and built by the late Mir shikimori a landscape architect and Scholar whose work retained the traditional Japanese forms and yet eagerly embraced Western modernity [Music] the first thing that hits me is the scale is magnificent and that's helped by the context the buildings in this Temple complex are huge clean scalloping lines with very powerful uprights and the stones match that with strength and vigor although to the uninformed Western eye the garden seems conventional it created an uproar the stones were unusually numerous most shocking of all to the traditionalists many are lying on their sides instead of vertically this might seem slight but it was a dramatic break with tradition after a fire in the 1930s Mir shamori designed the gardens free of charge to help fund the new Landscaping on the understanding that his work wouldn't be altered in any way and the temple agreed as long as the materials reclaimed from the fire were recycled [Music] although the Abbott and monks accepted his designs the public were traumatized some Stones were not natural but have been worked by hand aelas were clipped into man-made shapes and the mosque grows in geometric rather than organic patterns why did this upset so many people sugam Mor's grandson a well-known Garden designer in his own right has come to tofukuji to explain the background to his grandfather's intriguing G what was the reaction to his design actually the response was awful because T is a very old traditional historical Temple as you can see you know he made a garden which has lots of new ideas implanted especially the garden one in the back people thought he created a western garden because they had the design like a checken board that chabo design is actually a traditional Japanese design but the general people didn't know and as so the reputation was awful then [Music] the real reason why people were so upset is because he introduced Western techniques into sacred Temple space but shorei believed that contemporary Japanese Gardens of his day had become meaningless imitations of the past he wanted to create a new Temple Garden that was relevant to Modern Life just exactly as the venerated old ones had been in their day [Music] you can see why his designs may have been misinterpreted by some Japanese critics as being too Western which was a terrible rebuke back then however this checkerboard pattern is actually traditional found on kimonos paper screens and tea houses and the big symbolic ideas of Zen are still inherent in the design which I think is just fabulous and the squares continue picking up the traditional pattern which had never been seen in a garden in a temple Garden but gradually the regularity dissipates and if you look carefully you see the Moss gets lower and lower and merges into the gravel the grids are lost and then they just blow apart into nothingness but of course the nothingness is just as much something as the ordered World well whatever interpretation you put on it I do think that it is inspiring it's beautiful and seems to me to be completely in place in this Temple [Music] setting this moss garden effectively broke Japanese garden design free from the shackles of tradition at first it was considered profoundly shocking but now is the most famous 20th century Japanese garden but what of the 21st century can you see somebody like your grandfather coming along and designing a garden in a temple that would be as radical and as thought-provoking as this one um yes I think that can happen and it should happen already this Garden here is 70 years and at that time it might have been modern and temp but now it's 70 years and things are changing there's probably new ideas that should be incorporated unfortunately there hasn't been anything done so far yet so far there hasn't been much changes but it should now you yes I'll try my best I set out on this journey confident that I would admire and enjoy The Gardens of China and Japan but also feeling that they were a riddle that I didn't have the answer to the yellow mountains changed everything for me and helped to explain how via painters and Poets Chinese gardens are created to distill the pure essence of nature the Zen Gardens of Japan are still an enigma and there is no easy answer but perhaps no hard one either and I think I'm missing the point if I struggle to interpret these Gardens the best way to explain them seems to be like this when you're working in the garden and there's just a moment of bird song or a shaft of light well sometimes you're just planting something and all feels well with the world you know that just for a few seconds it's Perfection well that seems to me what Zen is all about and it's very accessible we all know it it's finding it that's the trouble 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