kasan　仮山

KEY WORD :　architecture / gardens

Lit. artificial mountain. Also read kazan, or kasansui 仮山水. A general term referring to an artificial mountain modeled on a real or legendary mountain. Usually built in a garden. Between one and five of these artificial hills would be built, and sometimes these could be climbed to enjoy a view of the garden. The idea of recreating mountains in a garden originated in China with models of legendary peaks such at Mt. Pengla *Houraisan 蓬莱山, and Mt. Kunlun, Konronsan 崑崙山, Daoist mountains of immortals, and Mt. Sumeru *Shumisen 須弥山, of the Buddhist cosmology. Small mountain models were also common in Japan since the Nara period. These could be made of ceramics, dried wood, or strangely-shaped stones, as seen in miniature tray landscapes, bonkei 盆景 and bonseki 盆石. *Tsukiyama 築山, the modern term for hill garden, has generally replaced this more archaic term, kasan.

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*mokukasan 木仮山

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