| Personalized gardens were advanced to an art form by the Samurai warrior class of feudal Japan. Although stylized oriental gardens began in ancient China and Korea, it was not until gardens were incorporated into the life style of these Japanese Poet Warriors that they became much more than mere gardens.
Culturally, the Samurai were the first to recognize that just being a great swordsman did not guarantee being a great warrior. More was needed. A balance must be struck between the art of war and all the other cultural arts if one were to advance and succeed in that society. The true warrior must “wield the pen as eloquently as the sword”. He must find the balance between the “beauty of life” and “inevitability of death”. Painting and poetry at court gained the same respect as the thrust and parry of battle. And, ultimately, tying this mindset together was the “reverence for nature” and the appreciated “beauty of the world” around oneself. No persons were regarded more highly than those who created the personalized gardens for the nobility. These “personally expressive places” where man and nature communed as one, were highly prized and sacred.
One has only to view these ancient creations in Japan today to capture the “sense of timeless wonder” that was achieved. One readily recognizes that these places are far more than simple gardens. They represent the juncture of the “spirit of man” and the “essence of nature.” They are the threshold where one may shed the restrictive material trappings of the present and begin a journey to actual self awareness and enlightenment.
Not all people share the same pathway in this “journey of self-discovery” but they all do share a common need--to enter a quiet place where transition can begin and the spirit can be nourished.
We, at DIVINE WINDS, create this space for you. Not through some mass produced “one size fits all” technique but rather through the individualized tuning of the rock, earth and water of the land with your spirit. It is not an easy process, nor successfully done on a mass scale, but it is probably the most unique, spiritually expansive experience you will ever embrace. |
