There's a new book with this title by Motomo Oguchi (& illustrated by Joseph Cali) that the latest issue of the Journal of Japanese Gardening describes as probably the best Japanese garden book to be published in English in the past half decade.
I'm all the more eager to see it on the shelves of our local bookstore because the JOJG mentions that it concentrates on residential gardens.
Has anybody else seen it yet? I think I'm probably going to buy it.
Bert
Create Your Own Japanese Garden
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George Nesfield
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Hi George,
No, I haven't seen Niwaki yet. The name rang a bell though, so I checked back in the JOJG & I see they reviewed Jake Hobson's book in issue No.57, though they gave it a less favourable review than they give Motomi Oguchi's.
I'm going to keep an eye open for both books - it'll be interesting to compare them.
Bert
No, I haven't seen Niwaki yet. The name rang a bell though, so I checked back in the JOJG & I see they reviewed Jake Hobson's book in issue No.57, though they gave it a less favourable review than they give Motomi Oguchi's.
I'm going to keep an eye open for both books - it'll be interesting to compare them.
Bert
Japanese Garden books
I've just checked our local bookstore & it has both Niwaki and Motomi Oguchi's book, Create your own Japanese Garden. As well I saw one by Herb Gustafson called The Art of Japanese Gardens.
While I enjoyed looking at all three, they appear to be aimed at somewhat different readerships. Niwaki and Herb Gustafson's book are full of beautiful pictures, but they seemed to me to show what you might see in really large gardens.
The introduction to Motomi Oguchi's Create Your Own Japanese Garden on the other hand reads "The Intimate Relationship of House and Garden" and this & the rest of the book deal mostly with the kinds of garden that are suited to residences. One section, headed "A Modest Sukiya-Style Environment for a Sukiya-Style House" is something that I expect the JOJG regards with special approval. Especially interesting to me, & probably to many other westerners, is a section headed "Harmonious blend of Japanese and Western Style".
I would enjoy owning all three books, but I felt that for me, the most useful one would be Motomi Oguchi's book, so I bought it.
While I enjoyed looking at all three, they appear to be aimed at somewhat different readerships. Niwaki and Herb Gustafson's book are full of beautiful pictures, but they seemed to me to show what you might see in really large gardens.
The introduction to Motomi Oguchi's Create Your Own Japanese Garden on the other hand reads "The Intimate Relationship of House and Garden" and this & the rest of the book deal mostly with the kinds of garden that are suited to residences. One section, headed "A Modest Sukiya-Style Environment for a Sukiya-Style House" is something that I expect the JOJG regards with special approval. Especially interesting to me, & probably to many other westerners, is a section headed "Harmonious blend of Japanese and Western Style".
I would enjoy owning all three books, but I felt that for me, the most useful one would be Motomi Oguchi's book, so I bought it.