Experiencing Japanese Gardens

Abstract

Japanese circuit-style gardens have long been appreciated for their sequential scenes of beautiful landscapes. It has often been mentioned that Japanese gardens have been designed so as to control visitors' experience, particularly the vistas, as they move along the garden paths (e. g., Hall, 1970). If we can learn from these sophisticated skills of landscape design, we could naturally direct people's attention to something we want to be viewed (e. g., signs in urban streets) without using harsh colors and brutal forms. With some exceptions (Miyagishi & Zaino, 1992), the relation between the physical arrangements and visitors' behavior in the garden, however, has never been analyzed based on objective data.