Japanese Garden Design Is Quite Simple If You Do This

By Jonathan G Higgins

Japanese garden design is about as hard to understand to Westerners as the Japanese language is. The relationship to the rich and ancient eastern culture adds to this difficulty. The practice is not just a style of landscaping. Rather, it a statement that delivers a specific meaning. Adding further to its complexity is the influence of fengshui and its borrowings from Buddhism and Chinese culture.

The intention of Japanese garden design is to use nature to make a statement. The main element is symbology, most of which is influenced by Shintoism and Buddhism, which is where the gods inhabit nature. This adds even more its cultural complexity making hard for us to understand.

Since the garden is making a statement or telling a story, the first step is to determine what story you want to tell. What is it you want to communicate to the world with your garden? It might be a good idea to decide in broad terms what you want to say, and then through some research find out how Japanese would go about communicating that truth, concept or story with a garden.

Another outstanding feature of Japanese garden design is that the main point is not to be beautiful or showy. The appearance of the garden is not its purpose, but rather the message is the purpose. Beauty is the after thought, so to speak.

The careful observer will notice that flowering plants are scarce or nonexistent in Japanese garden design. Rather, dry gravel streambed or sand swept into patterns and large rocks and boulders are used to tell the tales. Remember that the heart of all Japanese garden design is symbolism and storytelling, the tradition is that this is done with plants and other elements of nature and not so much the use of colorful flowers.

Equally important to Japanese garden design are the use of water, and more specifically the use of running water, which symbolizes passing time or life.

What shouldn’t get lost in Japanese garden design, but often is by Westerners because they think it’s ‘complicated’, is its simplicity. Once you know the story you are trying tell, it’s as simple as composing the elements of nature to tell that story.

What one should refrain from doing is blindly copying someone else’s garden. Why would you do that? Perhaps because you think it “looks” good. But if the “good looks” are just the result of the telling of a story, then the copier certainly is missing the point. It would be like framing a poem you don’t understand and hanging it on the wall. First think of what you want to say, and then through the principles of Japanese garden design learn how to say and then say it. Don’t start from the beauty, but rather from the story.

Jonathan sends out gardening tips to his newsletter subscribers. Just send an email to garden-design@aweber.com And be sure to visit Elegant Garden Design

Japanese Tattoo Art, History and Such

By Tim Amlong

The decorative and symbolically rich body modification of Japanese tattoos has been practiced in Japan for the last 10,000 years. Many Shogun rulers outlawed Japanese tattoo and were only used in marking and punishment of criminals. Polynesian locals have been getting intricate armband tattoos since the 17th century with a primitive and very painful process involving soot and a bone needles. Traditional Japanese tattoos may be a thing of the past, bu their appeal is timeless. Japanese tattoos are still very popular choice and are some of the coolest tattoos you can get. .

A great armband tattoo to get is of a dragon or a snake, encircling the entire arm. Chinese reflected that the Japanese men, young and old, all tattoo their faces and decorated their bodies with designs. Not so much the style of tattoo that differed from so many other cultures, but the subject of the design of Japanese tattoo, makes them some of the most sought after around the world. Masked people, warriors, ladies, young girls, geisha, samurai, and the ancient gods and goddesses make popular appearances in Japanese designs.

Chinese and Japanese writing tattoos that incorporate other symbols of Asian art are very tasteful and a great choice. Unlike Chinese tattoos who started practicing the art as early as 2000 BC, Japanese tattoo art did not reach its peak till sometime in the 1800's, so Japanese tattoo art came about quite a bit later, comparative speaking. Japanese written language much like Chinese has a very distinct visual style, that has the design elements of tai chi chuan into the look of every character. Japanese tattoo design has a very distinct style that has been very influential on Western tattooing since the 1960's. Regardless of the popularity in its native land of Japan, traditional art of Japanese tattoos is making leap and bounds of popularity in the US and other western countries and cultures. Translating you name into Japanese writing is very beautiful and is a very good starting point for obtaining a cool tattoo design.

A large commitment of time, money and energy is required of Japanese tattoos that cover the entire back and arms, but yet the long process is looked upon by many to be a trial worthy of the samurai's of the past. There is such a delicate beauty that makes it an inspiration for Japanese tattoo art. Making a particularly good visual reference found in modern books of Japanese tattoos appear in visual style and coloring to be older than many other images. It has been said,, Japanese tattoos have been considered to detain a special magical and or religious factor to their owners. Other terms for Japanese tattoos are Irezumi, and Horimono are considered to be very beautiful, the intricate detail can cause complication to understand because of no actual alphabet for the Japanese language. There are a lot of online tattoo galleries that have a wide selection of Chinese or Japanese tattoo to choose from, the biggest problem is finding someone you trust that can re-create the designs and the intricate work involved to getting a quality tattoo of this nature to be applied.

I have a blog that is about custom design tattoos that I have posted a few articles on. If you are interested on getting a new tattoo or your first tattoo go to my site and you might get some good ideas. Also there are a couple of Tattoo Gallery sites that I have links to that offer some very good information that would be very helpful in making an intelligent decision before getting your next or first tattoo. Also I have a link to a very good book that gives a lot of the history behind Japanese tattoos that you can check out on my site.

Website address is: http://www.customdesigntattoo.com
Thanks,
Tim Amlong

How Not Using Japanese Pronouns Makes Your Japanese Better

By Philip Rozek

Japanese pronouns are just plain confusing. There are polite pronouns, rude pronouns, and everything in between.

The toughest thing of all, though, is that a good Japanese speaker should use as few pronouns as possible. In many cases, you don’t mention any pronouns at all. You usually figure out who a sentence is about just by the context.

But you still need to know the right Japanese pronouns to use. Here are the basic ones you need to know. If you get these, you’ll be covered 95% of the time:

• Watashi—This is the most common way to say “I” or “me”. It is polite, and you can pretty much always use it. This is a unisex term
• Watashi-tachi—Generally, if you see “tachi” at the end of a pronoun, it means that it’s a plural. So in this case, watashi-tachi means “we”.
• Boku—Means the same as watashi. The only difference is that boku is strictly used by males, and is somewhat informal. Don’t use this one if you are meeting the Emperor.
• Boku-tachi—Yep, you guessed it. Boku-tachi is a male, slightly informal way of saying “we”.
• Anata—Means “you”. This is a really tricky term, but the big rule here is NOT to use it when speaking to someone who is your senior, teacher, boss…you get the idea. As a rule of thumb, substitute “you” with someone’s last name (with –san) or their title.
• Kare—“He”. This is one of those terms you should use sparingly, because the situation usually doesn’t require you to clarify “he” versus “she”. Be careful, though—in many contexts, this can also mean “boyfriend”.
• Kanojo—“She”. No need to use this one too much, either. As you probably picked up, this can also mean “girlfriend”.
• Kare-ra—Means “they”, referring to people only.
• Sore-ra—Also means “they”, but instead refers to inanimate objects.
• Minna-san—Means “everybody”, as a plural “you”. A good time to use this is when addressing several people. This is very polite.

That takes care of the big ones you need to know to be a decent Japanese speaker, but a huge part of Japanese pronouns is knowing what’s meant when no pronouns are used.

A general but extremely useful rule of thumb is that if someone is asking you a question, the question is probably about you, though the Japanese pronoun meaning “you” isn’t actually used.
The only really common exception to this is if the question is an invitation of some kind, like asking “shall we do such-and-such?”

Naturally, if someone is making a statement and NOT asking a question, the statement is probably about the speaker.

The only silver bullet for mastering all the difficulties of Japanese pronouns is lots of practice and lots of exposure. There are plenty of other pronouns to know, but these will get you off to a great start.

Philip Rozek offers you more tips and points out more pitfalls of Japanese pronouns at his full article: http://www.how-to-learn-japanese.com/japanese_pronouns.html You can also learn all about Japanese kanji pronunciation, Japanese keigo, and more. You can also pick from his full array of tips on how to learn Japanese

How Japanese Interior Design Could Improve Your Home

By Adam Peters

If you are after a stylish and classy way to decorate your room, then why not consider using a Japanese interior design? You can use this theme in many different ways in order to either suit one room or your whole house. Some people may want this theme in their home, but when it comes to the practical side of things they are completely at a loss as to how to achieve it. So just how do you create a Japanese theme in the home?

Creating a Japanese Theme
The Japanese theme around the home is a popular choice for many people and the good news is that you can do so many things with this theme in order to bring the taste of Japan into your home.

If you are after something that is extremely popular and which looks great, then you should consider using Japanese shoji screens, which are made of wood and they tend to have a lattice design. You can purchase plain ones, or if you want something a little bit more extravagant then you can purchase some with beautiful patterns and designs. The screens can be used to divide the room up, or if you are after decoration only then it can be perfect for this as well.

Something else which you may want to consider with your Japanese themed room, is a Kotatsu table which is rectangle in shape and it has a dark finish with very clean lines applied to it. You can even find ones that have heaters placed in the middle which are considered to be the emotional center of a room.

If you want to get the full effect of Japanese décor, you will not want to miss out on placing of woven straw mats on the floor. Back in Japan, these mats are used for walking, sitting and even sleeping on, so they do have a few different purposes. They also add an authentic touch to your themed room.

If you really want to go all out, then you may want to consider getting a gong as this is a very classy element to add to your room. You can get a few different types of gongs, so you will want to get one that will suit and fit the space that you have left in your room. You can get very large gongs which add maximum effect, but you need a fair amount of space available in order for it to look right. A hanging gong is something that may be more appropriate for most rooms and it is something that is a lot more manageable.

You may want to research into Japanese calligraphy, as this is something that will really help to elegantly decorate the walls. You can even purchase calligraphy art which is already made so that you can hang it straight up onto your walls.

Overall Japanese themes are an extremely great way to decorate your room, so if you want to go all out then it is always best to do your research.

Adam Peters contributes adding content to http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com A website with tips on asian interior design ideas, amongst many related topics.