Sakuteiki

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Sakuteiki (作庭記, literally, Records of Garden Making) is the oldest published Japanese text on garden-making. It was written in the mid-to-late 11th century.[1] Various translations in English and French exist.[2]


History[change | change source]

Sakuteiki is considered the oldest garden planning book. It is believed to be the work of Tachibana Toshitsuna.[3]

During the Kamakura period, it was referred to as the Senzai Hisshō (Secret Selection on Gardens). In the Edo period, it became known as Sakuteiki.[4]

Overview[change | change source]

Sakuteiki is a record of the styles of gardening in the Heian period. It describes five styles of gardening, including

  • "Ocean Style" (taikai no yō)[5]
  • "Mountain Torrent Style" (yama kawa no yō)[5]
  • "Broad River Style" (taiga no yō)[5]
  • "Wetland Style" (numa ike no yō)[5]
  • "Reed Style" (ashide no yō)[5]

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

  1. Takei, Jiro et al. (2001). Sakuteiki Visions of the Japanese Garden: A Modern Translation of Japan's Gardening Classic, p. 3 n1.
  2. See the review in English by Wybe Kuitert of various Sakuteiki translations in Western languages: De la Creation des Jardins: Traduction du Sakutei-ki by Michel Vieillard-Baron. in Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 53, No. 2, Summer 1998, Pages 292-294 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2385689
  3. Tanaka, Tan. (1992). "Early Japanese Horticultural Treatises and Pure Land Buddhist Style: Sakuteki and Its Background in Ancient Japan and China" in Garden History: Issues, Approaches, Methods (John Dixon Hunt, ed.), p. 79.
  4. Kuitert, Wybe. (2002). Themes in the History of Japanese Garden Art, p. 30-52.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Takei, p. 162.