On the other side of the Sea of Japan, Japanese gardens developed their own style, where form takes precedence over color and every item has its precise place. In an attempt to capture, in a limited area, nature’s aesthetics and diversity, the gardener places his rocks with care and plants and trains his garden meticulously. This is evident in bonsai (meaning “potted plant”), the art of training a miniature tree or perhaps a grove of trees into precise form and proportion.

Though its style may vary from its Western counterpart, the Eastern garden also reflects a yearning for Paradise. For example, during the Heian period in Japan (794-1185), writes Japanese garden historian Wybe Kuitert, gardeners attempted to evoke the atmosphere of a “paradise on earth.”

A classical garden in Japan