Inside the Mind of a Japanese Gardener
Kitayama, an internationally-renowned landscape architect and garden master, takes part in a spontaneous conversation with the Garden’s curator, Sadafumi Uchiyama, and Director of Ground Maintenance, Hugo Torii, both accomplished garden masters in their own right trained in the Japanese tradition but with additional training in the Western landscape architecture tradition.
A Japanese garden craftsman learns primarily by doing, apprenticed for years to a master and learning all aspects of the creation and care of a garden. What does this training lead him to see when he looks at a garden? How does his intuitive understanding interact with his intellect? How does he plan for a garden’s future that will continue long after he’s gone? Don’t miss this rare opportunity to spend a beautiful summer evening on the Overlook hearing firsthand insights and knowledge about creating and stewarding gardens that you won’t ever find written down anywhere.
This lecture is approved for 1 hour of LA CES continuing education credit by the American Society of Landscape Architects and 1.5 hours of continuing education credit by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Please remember to sign the sign-in sheet at the event to confirm your attendance if you are claiming credit.
About Yasuo Kitayama
Yasuo Kitayama has created and cared for beautiful landscapes all over the world. He stepped into the landscape architecture field at 22 years old to join his family business. He studied under Hiroyasu Komiyama at Kyoto Komiyama Landscape Architecture Company after graduating from the Faculty of Economics, Kyoto Sangyo University in March 1971. Since starting his own business at age 26 years, he has landscaped a wide variety of gardens including Chouontei at Kenninji, the oldest Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto. His other many garden projects and restorations include Kodaiji Temple and its sub-temple of Entokuin, Entsuji Temple, and the rock arrangement design of the Japanese Garden in the Forest Experience Zone at the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan. He has also taken charge of many garden designs in foreign countries such as Italy and some African countries. His design of gardens and rock arrangements is characterized by simplicity and restraint, resulting in gardens receptive to every human feeling. He encourages his apprentices to “make positive mistakes”.
The Garden+ lecture series places the Japanese garden in bold and inspiring new contexts by bringing designers, authors, practitioners, and researchers to the Garden to share fresh ideas. Come experience original perspectives, thought-provoking research, and new creative work. We bring presenters from around the globe to shed new light on how gardens connect to subjects as diverse as spirituality, technical innovation, architecture, culture, design, and society — all made more resonant with the Garden itself as a backdrop. Garden+ is a presentation of the International Japanese Garden Training Center, which is supported by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.