Japanese Gardens: Tranquility, Simplicity, Harmony

This book celebrates the exquisite beauty of more than 20 quintessential Japanese gardens, big and small, urban and rural, traditional and contemporary.

Each Japanese garden seeks to invoke and imitate nature, and this expert author-and-photographer team excels at capturing, and explaining for the reader, the essential elements and techniques that distinguish Japanese gardens from those in other countries.

The featured gardens range from large feudal-period, temple, private and countryside gardens to mountain flower, tea and miniature bonsai gardens.

• More than 300 specially commissioned photographs and plan drawings
• Covers all types and sizes of Japanese gardens
• Special ideas, elements and techniques to learn from are highlighted in pictures and words

The magic of these gardens, where the efforts of nature, man and time complement each other to form a harmonious whole, are captured in stunning photographs and engaging text that brims with fascinating detail.

Noboru Murata has had a career of more than thirty years as an advertising photographer. With Tokyo as his base, Murata has photographed for clients in a wide range of genres, including interiors, cuisine, automobiles, jewelry and sporting products. His pictures have been published in Elle Deco Japon, Casa Mica Italy and other leading lifestyle magazines as well as food magazines like Ell a Table Japon. His recent publications include Japan Style, The Sushi Lover’s Cookbook and Japanese Ikebana for Every Season, all published by Tuttle Publishing.

Kimie Tada graduated from Rikkyo University (Tokyo) with a degree in English Literature, after which she worked as the editor-in-chief of Confort, a Japanese magazine that features traditional Japanese houses and interiors, as well as materials such as tatami, washi and tsuchi-kabe. She now runs I See All Inc., an editorial company which she founded.

Geeta K. Mehta teaches architecture and urban design at Columbia University in New York. A resident of Japan for 23 years, she is a partner in the firm of Braden and Mehta, and has designed projects in the USA, Japan, India, Vietnam and Indonesia. Educated at the University of Tokyo, Columbia University, and SPA in Delhi, she is the co-author of several books, including Japan Living, Japan Style and New Japan Architecture.