Product Description

Hidden Gardens Of Kyoto is a Kodansha International publication.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #537072 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 128 pages

From Booklist
Kyoto gardens epitomize the austere yet visually potent elements of Japanese garden design. Mizuno's exquisite photography reveals the essential attributes of Japan's primary garden styles, offering breathtaking glimpses of private landscapes where refined textural effects are achieved in vast ponds surrounded by emerald evergreens, dry gravel waterfalls, and mossy expanses. Although the text accompanying each image is brief, Ono deftly explicates the consequence of a rock's placement or the calligraphic potency of raked stone, and clearly delineates the significant aspects of the pond, dry landscape, and tea garden. From the dynamic asymmetry governing a composition of shapely trees to the transitory response engendered by falling leaves, an ethereal perfection comes to pass in Mizuno and Ono's melding of words and pictures. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"This is one of the most finely photographed books of gardens I have seen.... If you favor Japanese garden styles, you will be impressed by the sweeps, use of stone, meticulous attention to detail and feel for nature the text and images convey." -Washington Post

"Between these elegant covers...readers are treated to some of Kyoto's most exquisite gardens that never open to the public." -Los Angeles Times

"From the dynamic asymmetry governing a composition of shapely trees to the transitory response engendered by falling leaves, an ethereal perfection comes to pass in Mizuno and Ono's melding of words and pictures." -Booklist

"Anyone on your gift list who loves Japanese style will be delighted to receive The Hidden Gardens of Kyoto." -Metropolitan Home

"Don't miss the Hidden Gardens of Kyoto. ...The timeless elegance of such gardens is extraordinary. ...This newly-released masterpiece demonstrates the Japanese esthetic that blends utility and ornamentation which for centuries has provided a sanctuary where inhabitants can stroll, boat, sip tea and meditate on all of life's possibilities. The utmost attention to detail translates into the precision with which inanimate objects are integrated into their natural surroundings." -Renovation & Decor

"The Hidden Gardens of Kyoto is devoted to resplendent photographs of the gardens themselves. A singularly beautiful treasury." -Midwest Book Review

"This luscious volume opens the raffia-tied bamboo gate to reveal a world of gardens both ancient and surprisingly contemporary." -Seattle Times

"This book can provide many moments of pleasure and inspiration." -Post and Courier

"[The book] gives much insight of the various garden elements in traditional Japanese gardens." -Juneau Empire

"An elegant visual and textual introduction to Japanese gardens." -Asahi Herald

"With these details, Mizuno and Ono give readers a new appreciation of the traditional Japanese garden. Perhaps the most intriguing detail of The Hidden Garden of Kyoto is knowing that the gate into these gardens-which might otherwise be closed-is, in these pages, open to us all." -The Globalist (Online)

About the Author
Masaaki Ono is a Kodansha International author.