It was winter when I walked from the Shinjuku Metro station to the Shinjuku Gyeon National Garden. Of course many people would prefer to visit this garden in Spring to see the Sakura blossoming, or to see the colors in autumns, however in winter the garden has its own colors. Not the white color of snow, but the colors of the plants subdued by the cold winter. A range of green colors not as green in summer mixed with the remaining color of maple trees.
Shinjuku Gyoen, located
a few hundred meters away from Shinjuku’s heart-beat, is a combination of
Western style garden, which are French garden and English garden, with Japanese
traditional garden. The beauty of Japanese style garden lies in its
asymmetrical beauty, unlike the symmetrical beauty of Western style garden.
Other than that, almost all elements in a Japanese garden indicate a symbolism
deeply rooted in Shinto, which considered the close bond between nature, human
and deities. The word Shinto itself means “the way of Kami (deities)”. Kami
live in the same world as human beings, in the nature. Therefore, nature as the
home of the Kami, is sacred and worshiped with awe. Shinto regards every
element of nature as divine, and that the Kami are present everywhere.
Shinjuku Gyoen was
constructed on the site of a private mansion belonging to Lord Naito, a feudal
lord of the Edo era in 16th century. Later it was converted into a
botanical garden before converted into an Imperial Garden of the Emperor Meiji
in 1906. After the Second World War it was designated as a national garden and
opened to the public. This park features large ponds with islands and bridges,
in Japanese style garden. About 10,000 trees grow in this park, tulip trees,
cedars, cypresses, which give the garden a solemn atmosphere. However, the
skyscrapers in the background awaken us that this place is in modern Tokyo.
Makoto Shinkai's 2013
anime movie, The Garden of Words, is set in Shinjuku Gyoen. The movie is about
a 15 year old high school boy and a 27 year old woman meeting consistently on a
rainy day in the park. The reason Shinkai made this movie had to do with the
East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011, that made him question the scenery
that we see everyday with the knowledge that it could someday turn into nothing
and might be lost in one day because of disaster like that. He wanted the keep
all the scenery that he personally love and what people might relate to into
the anime.
THE END
Sources:
https://www.patternz.jp/japanese-garden-history-design-elements/
https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/1659/
Posts
