I trees
The cultural life of
Japanese trees By: Charles Lamb
Trees permeate Japanese life. At least, that may be the impression one receives from seasonal newspaper articles on the annual progression of hanami (cherry blossom) across the country and the sense of celebration that can accompany it, or of the progress of the koyo (changing leaf colour) in autumn. But what of other trees in Japan and their associated culture? As part of a dissertation into ‘The cultural life of Japanese trees’ for a Masters in Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield, I spent some time in Japan during the summer of 2017. The following areas formed part of the final dissertation. 1: Trees in gardens Adams argues that those following Shintoism (one of the primary religions of Japan) feel ‘an instinctive
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reverence for every stone, tree, plant and animal’ and that as a result the land itself became ‘a conscious ground for religious worship.’ It could be argued that the reverence that Adams asserts is felt for every tree within the garden has led, in part, to the meticulous nature that trees are tended to within many Japanese gardens through the practice of niwaki (trained garden trees). With such reverence, the question is raised as to whether such trees transcend from being merely a tree into a specific work of art, to be viewed and appreciated from a distance. Certainly, such a premise is not without historical visual precedent, with prints from the Edo-era highlighting how the landscape was to be viewed and appreciated from a platform, rather than necessarily entered into.
