Japanese Gardens - Japanese History

Japanese garden design - Everything you need to know about Japanese Gardens

The capital was relocated after the Taika reforms of 645. Further political reforms led to the capital being relocated twice by the end of the century. During the reign of the Empress Genmei (707 - 715) a capital city was built on the Yamato plain on the site of the present city of Nara. The Imperial capitals all tended to be built on a Chinese grid with North South and East West orientation with the Imperial Palace slightly north of the centre.

At the end of the 8th century the capital was moved again. The city of Heian Kyo was completed in 795 and remained the imperial capital until 1868. Today the expanded city is known as Kyoto. The imperial court then lost power and the military government or Shogun operated from Kamakura which lay far to the west.

A study of Japanese history reveals a long list of political assassinations. As a result of complex political games the Minamoto line was destroyed in 1219 by the Hojo family. In the course of an uprising in 1333, during the Muromachi Period (1333 - 1568), the Hojo family which had provided the regents who ruled the country were wiped out.

Later in the period the Japanese Feudal System and Shoganate functioned at its best and saw a long period of peace. Yoshimori who was the 6th Ashikaga Shogun was assassinated in 1441. In the Momoyama period (1568 - 1600) the country was unified under Oda Nobunaga through ruthless military operations. He was assassinated by one of his generals in 1582.

Only in Japan was the concept of training assassins converted into a cult. Ninja would never have evolved without a demand for their services. The frequency of assassinations led to an understandable obsession with personal safety. Many features of that time are still available for consideration today. For example nightingale floors are still to be found in a number of Imperial Residences.

The nightingale floor was a technique whereby the planks in the floor were held down to the rafters below by means of metal strips which are nailed to the joists and the planks. This causes the floors to squeak when they are walked upon. It often appears that the floors make more noise the more gently they are walked upon. This mechanism would have prevented a potential assassin from creeping up on the Emperor or a member of the court without being heard.

The Zen religion played a major role in the design of Japanese gardens. In the Heian period the nobility created landscapes with small streams and waterfalls around their residences. In the Kamakura period gardens were modified to suit the warrior class. The open Shinden buildings were replaced by dwellings designed for warriors.

A number of rooms were placed under one roof or a series of adjoining roofs and surrounded by a defensive line such as a wall, fence or moat. The larger buildings were well equipped with guard towers and gates. Buddhist Zen led to the transformation of the warrior style of buildings into the Shoin style. The Muromachi period fostered the golden age of Japanese gardens when gardens were supposed to represent vistas including mountains.

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