Lit.
dry landscape. A common type of garden which suggests mountains and water
using only stones, sand or gravel and, occasionally, plants. Water is symbolized
both by the arrangements of rock forms to create a dry waterfall *karetaki 枯滝 and by patterns raked into sand to create a dry stream *karenagare 枯流. The word karesansui is found in the 11c garden manual *SAKUTEIKI 作庭記 and garden historians have designated Heian-period rock arrangemants
as zenkishiki karesansui 前期枯山水. Karesansui usually refers
to dry gardens of the Muromachi, Momoyama and Edo periods, although the
term kouki karesansui 後期枯山水 has been created to distinguish this
later type. Because of their similarity to ink monochrome landscape painting suiboku sansuiga 水墨山水画, particularly that of the Chinese Northern
Song dynasty (960-1126), karesansui gardens are also called suiboku
sansuigashiki teien 水墨山水画式庭園 or hokusou sansuigashiki teien 北宋山水画式庭園.
Like paintings, the gardens are meant to be viewed from a single, seated
perspective. In addition to the aesthetic similarities to Chinese painting,
the rocks in karesansui are often associated with Chinese mountains
such as Mt. Penglai (Jp; *Houraisan 蓬莱山) or Mt. Lu (Jp; Rosan 盧山). Given the multiple Chinese associations of karesansui gardens, they are the preferred type of garden for Zen
禅 temples (Buddhism having arrived from China in the 7c) and the best examples
are found in the front or rear gardens of Zen abbots' residences, houjou 方丈. Exemplary Muromachi period examples include the gardens at Daisen-in
大仙院 in Daitokuji 大徳寺 and at Ryouanji 龍安寺. While Muromachi karesansui tend to use plants sparingly, early Edo period gardens of this type often
contrast an area of raked gravel with a section of moss and larger plants
along the rear wall. The gardens at the Houjou and Konchi-in 金地院 at Nanzenji
南禅寺, and Shinjuan 真珠庵 and Oubai-in 黄梅院 at Daitokuji are good examples.
The aesthetic consonance with abstract art largely accounts for the resurgence
of karesansui gardens both in Japan and abroad in the 20c. A good
example of a modern karesansui is Shigemori Mirei's 重森三鈴 1939 east
garden at the Houjou 方丈 of Toufukuji 東福寺.
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