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A stroll in a Japanese garden
A stroll in a Japanese garden

The Japanese garden does not have the same austerity as our gardens in France. The Japanese garden is a haven of peace and contemplation, imbued with a poetic quality, striving for harmony and emotion and aiming to interpret and idealise nature.
Numerous styles of traditional Japanese gardens exist but they are always in an enclosed space, a miniaturised reproduction of nature, extremely abstract, owing to the influence of Zen Buddhism.
A large solitary rock can represent the sacred Buddhist mountain, Shumisen (Sumeru or Mount Meru) or Taoism's Mount Horai, the Mountain of the Immortals. "Crane and tortoise" stones are symbolic of longevity. Ponds and waterfalls, sand and gravel, bridges and lanterns and a tea pavilion at the end of a small pathway, all add to the charm of a stroll through the garden.
Certain plants such as the Sacred Lotus are chosen for religious reasons while others are symbolic, like the pine which represents long life. In Nara, thousands of Sika deer live in the city's parks, and giant carp swim in the ornamental lakes.
Let's mention the most famous gardens: Zuiho-in at Daitoku-ji temple, in Kyoto; the Ginshadan, the Sea of Silver Sand at Ginkaku-ji temple; or the Ryoan-ji, with its dry and abstract landscape, typical of a Zen garden.
In France, we can stroll through the Albert Kahn Japanese garden or the UNESCO Japanese garden created by the artist Isamu Noguchi, or visit the wonderful Parc Oriental de Maulévrier.
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Monet Claude (aka), Monet Claude-Oscar (1840-1926)
Paris, musée d'Orsay
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