Japanese Rock Garden

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This photo was taken at the Japanese Rock Garden at the Huntington Library. According to Wikipedia:

A Japanese rock garden (枯山水, karesansui?), sometimes mistakenly called a Zen garden, is an enclosed shallow sandpit containing sand, gravel, rocks, and occasionally grass or other natural elements. The main elements of karesansui are rocks and sand, with the sea symbolized not by water but by sand raked in patterns that suggest rippling water. Plants are much less important (and sometimes nonexistent) in many karesansui gardens. Karesansui gardens are often, but not always, meant to be viewed from a single, seated position. Some Westerners believe that karesansui gardens can be used to calm human minds, but they were not intended for such in their native Japanese settings.

There have been many attempts to explain the karesansui garden's layout. Some of these are:

* The gravel represents ocean and the rocks represent the islands of Japan
* The rocks represent a mother tiger with her cubs, swimming to a dragon
* The rocks form part of the kanji for heart or mind

See Ryōan-ji for a mathematical analysis of a rock garden.

A recent suggestion by Gert van Tonder of Kyoto University and Michael Lyons, of Ritsumeikan University, is that the rocks form the subliminal image of a tree. This image cannot be consciously perceived when looking at them; the researchers claim the subconscious mind is able to see a subtle association between the rocks. They believe this is responsible for the calming effect of the garden and is also made to have a quiet place for meditation, however their comments are speculation and not supported by Japanese traditions.

In the West, Japanese rock gardens are sometimes called Zen gardens, but most well-informed experts shun the term. The term was probably first used in 1935, by the American writer Loraine Kuck in her book 100 Gardens of Kyoto.