Zen Gardens

'Locher's stunning presentation highlights 37 master gardens in Japan and abroad (including in the U.S.) that embody a transcendent marriage between the primal elements of nature and metaphysics. With 320 color photos and designs, Locher captures the mystery and mastery of Masuno's work.--Publishers Weekly''Literacy is not the only skill needed to write a decent book, just as the ability to stick plants in the ground is not the only skill needed to make a decent garden. Zen Gardens gives a glimpse of the knowledge and dedication required to create a Japanese garden. Enthusiastic amateur garden designers should be forced to read it--particularly the description of this Zen Buddhist priest's work at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation in Ottawa.''--Financial Times''Zen Gardens endorses a spiritual approach to the process of garden design, whereby the design and its inherent aesthetic qualities are allowed to grow from the place, rather than being imposed on it. Illustrated with more than 400 drawings and colour photographs, this book is a wonderful source of inspiration for creating beautiful, contemplative landscapes.''--Garden Design Journal''Even just a quick riffle through the pages of Zen Gardens: The Complete Works of Shunmyo Masuno can cause a healthy lowering of one's blood pressure. Seeing such tranquil spaces in our generally chaotic world offers an escape to an oasis of serenity, or what Shunmyo Masuno himself calls an ''unmoving truth.'' Author Mira Locher, an architect and professor based in the United States and Japan, is an excellent guide to this tour of Masuno's work, explaining key elements of Zen and Japanese design and the complexity of such calm splendor. Zen Gardens: The Complete Works of Shunmyo Masuno is surely best approached just as one would enter a Masuno garden--with a sense of quiet, curious wonder at how man and nature can sometimes meet as one.''--ForeWord Reviews'