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| Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Yachiyo Sent 16 Feb 2012, Traveled 3,022 km |
This rock Zen garden is of The Temple of the Dragon at Peace (Ryoan-ji). This garden and the temple are listed as one of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
On this postcard, the garden is viewed at a seated position on the veranda of the abbott of the monastery/temple. There has been plenty of attempts to explain the careful placement of stones in the garden. According to a Garden historian, Gunter Nitschke, "The garden at Ryoan-ji does not symbolize anything, or more precisely, to avoid any misunderstanding, the garden at Ryoan-ji does not symbolize, nor does it have the value of reproducing a natural beauty that one can find in the real or mythical world. I consider it to be an abstract composition of natural objects in space, a composition whose function is to incite meditation."
Wishing you all a calm and peaceful weekend,
~maria
I love this postcard, and I would like to get something like that from Japan. I had the chance to visit once a Japanese garden (in Montreal). It was a guided visit, and the keeper explained some interesting facts and history about these gardens. Curiously, one of my vivid memories from the month I spent in Canada!
ReplyDeleteSounds a bit like an 'art installation' ;)
ReplyDelete