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Gardens of Gravel and Sand
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Book Description
A simple and provocative book offering a revisionist photo-essay on the ever-popular Japanese "dry landscape" or "rock" gardens. Not Zen, possibly art, more like "meta-gardens," gravel and sand compositions reject nature, yet are made of omnipresent natural dust. Quick to crumble, they are defiantly maintained by priest/rakers. Credited with philosophical p ...more
A simple and provocative book offering a revisionist photo-essay on the ever-popular Japanese "dry landscape" or "rock" gardens. Not Zen, possibly art, more like "meta-gardens," gravel and sand compositions reject nature, yet are made of omnipresent natural dust. Quick to crumble, they are defiantly maintained by priest/rakers. Credited with philosophical p ...more
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Paperback, 96 pages
Published
April 1st 2000
by Stone Bridge Press
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A simple, beautiful book.
My first introduction to Japanese sand gardens. We're all familiar with these as a cultural reference but this book gives them an introductory context and theory. Previously I would have associated these gardens with Zen but Koren makes the point that this link is relatively new. Instead, these 'meta-gardens' have an interesting value and history quite distinct from any Zen mode of thought.
The images Koren shot are a great accompaniment to his short essays. The footnot ...more
My first introduction to Japanese sand gardens. We're all familiar with these as a cultural reference but this book gives them an introductory context and theory. Previously I would have associated these gardens with Zen but Koren makes the point that this link is relatively new. Instead, these 'meta-gardens' have an interesting value and history quite distinct from any Zen mode of thought.
The images Koren shot are a great accompaniment to his short essays. The footnot ...more
In half an hour, looking through this book and reading Koren's text will have you rethinking what you think you know about rock gardens. It is a pragmatic look at gravel and sand as "possibly art," and while that may not seem very enticing, it is arguably a more valuable exploration of these gardens than all the new age, Zen, and run-of-the-mill garden books put together. Koren argues that many of the gardens "were not even designed or constructed by Zen practitioners at all by by gardeners/gard
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