Notions of Japaneseness in Western Interpretations of Japanese Garden Design, 1870s-1930s

Abstract

Aesthetic imaginings of Japan have stereotypically revolved around notions of beauty and restrained simplicity. Thus, the concept of ‘Japaneseness’ is imputed into what is commonly understood as ‘Japanese design’. This article explores the way in which the idea of ‘Japaneseness’ has developed by focussing on one area of the nation’s art and design: the landscape garden. Particularly, it considers the way in which the interpretations of Westerners between the 1870s and 1930s contributed to the dissemination of ideas of a quintessential Japanese garden aesthetic. It argues that such ideas resulted in images of gardens in Japan being embedded in the premodern rather than modern, and also contributed to a tendency for the notion of what is ‘Japanese’ to be essentialised to a single construct, one which existed as Other to a superior West.

Keywords

• Japaneseness
• landscape garden
• Meiji era
• Taisho era
• Western interpretations