Japanese Gardens and Landscapes

MA Elective Course

20.00041_Kurs_WF_MA_AT (Japanese Gardens and Landscapes) (2 SWS / 3 CP), 16 Students

Language:    English

Time:                Thursday 13.04.2023 at 12:00 (first meeting), weekly appointments;

                        25-26.05.2023 and 25-28.07.2023 (Garden Workshop);

Room:     C.A.R.L., Raum S10 (1385|210), Claßenstraße 11.

Lecturers: Dr. Murielle Hladik and Yosuke Yamaguchi (tbc)

This elective course will be dedicated to Japanese gardens, landscapes and architecture. Our journey through the art of garden history will start from particular garden types where the observer perceives the scenery from a boat (chisen-shūyū (池泉舟遊), from inside a villa or by strolling on a garden path). These ancient gardens are meticulously described in the Secret Book of Garden, the Sakutei-ki, published in 11th century. Another section of the course will be devoted to dry Zen garden (karesansui) and follow the evolutionary line, spanning from the initial thoughts of monk Musō Soseki (1275-1351) to the most recent Zen gardens. From the scale of tiny and almost minimalist gardens we will expand into the larger scale of landscapes. Special attention will be paid to spatial terms such as ‘en’ and ‘ma’, referring to the relationship between inside and outside. The gained knowledge will be applied in the clay garden in Aachen-Seffent during two garden workshops. For the second workshop in July 2023, we will invite the gardener Yosuke Yamaguchi from Nagasaki who will teach us Japanese gardening techniques.