Japanese Stone Gardens by Stephen Mansfield

Japanese Stone Gardens offers a wonderful glimpse at the unique art form of these gardens.

One chapter sets out to shatter the belief that Zen has long had an impact on gardens. In fact the book argues that the relationship is really something that began back in the 1950s and was outsiders seeing Zen in the gardens and inserting it into the process hundreds or thousands of years in the past.

What surprised me is the number of modern gardens at old temples or castles. I take this as proof that these gardens are living breathing things - even they are made of stone and sand.

The pictures are wonderful — and they are better than anything you’ll likely capture if you visit these gardens as a tourist. My pictures were filled with bad lighting and bad shadows — which makes this book an extra memory of my visits.