Page:Japanese Gardens (Taylor).djvu/70

36 etc., in the foreground (that is, near the house), putting smaller ones farther off so that they appear to be getting smaller as they recede into the distance. This might be called the scientific school, and its method was employed by the famous master of the ‘Tea-Drinking Ceremony’ (Cha-no-ya) and of landscape gardening (Sen-no-Rikiu). It is very successful, especially in small gardens, where big trees at the back of the premises would make its boundaries more pronounced, and would seem to shut the place in. In this plan distant hills are smaller than near ones, but the artificial water, because it is flat, and lowers the look of the land about it, is higher in the background, so as to send this farther off. This is called the ‘Distance-lowering Style.’

The opposite, which might be considered the natural Perspective School, is called the ‘Distance-raising Style’; it places its small things in the front, and lets distance and Nature herself lower the size and create the perspective for the larger objects and big trees on the horizon line. Even in a small garden there is something to be said for this plan; the eye is carried on and up, so that it gives a sense of more beyond. It is, however, best suited to large grounds, where big scenic effects are aimed at. Furuba Oribe was the prophet of this method. In either style the paths would turn and twist, the stepping-stones be laid at delightful