著者

片平 幸 Miyuki Katahira 桃山学院大学国際教養学部

出版者

桃山学院大学総合研究所

雑誌

国際文化論集 (ISSN:09170219)

巻号頁・発行日

no.41, pp.105-131[含 英語文要旨], 2009-12

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This essay examines how gardens of Japan were perceived by Western authors in the 19th century, by analyzing the writings of Edward S. Morse (1838_1925), John La Farge (1835_1910), Basil H. Chamberlain (1850_1935), and Lafcadio Hearn (1850_1904), who also played an important role in introducing Japanese culture to Western readers. Japanese gardens had already been introduced by Josiah Conder, an English architect and the author of Landscape Gardening in Japan (1893). Conder methodically explained the history, composition, and ornaments of Japanese gardens as well as introducing some well known gardens in Japan. The essay will compare and analyze how the four authors described Japanese gardens, and also the impact of Conder's writing on them. Morse, a zoologist, described how stones were precisely placed in order to compose a whole garden, and interpreted such features as reflecting the "reserve and sense of propriety" of Japanese people, based on his observation. La Farge, an artist who initiated Japonisme in the United States, visited Nikko with Okakura Tenshin (1862_1913) and Ernest Fenollosa (1853_1908) and described how a garden is drawn from nature and expresses "the ideas of peace and chastity, quiet old age, connubial happiness, and the sweetness of solitude".Chamberlain, a linguist, and Hearn, known for his numerous and influential writings on Japan, each refers to Conder's book, yet there is a stark contrast in the way they described and interpreted Japanese gardens. In Things Japanese, Chamberlain summarized the principal points of Conder's writing and presented a brief digest of Japanese gardens in a rather indifferent manner. Hearn also extracted some essential points from Conder's writing, yet he beautifully described the garden of his house in Matsue, and emphasized that how to "feel" is a key to understanding Japanese gardens. Reflecting the influence of Spencer's ideas, Hearn argued that to appreciate Japanese gardens requires one to understand Japanese people's innate sensibility.