Draft Animation
Japanese Garden Animation from Dennis Malcolm on Vimeo.
About ten years ago I can remember living in southern Japan & touring through the country side. For years I could remember the amazing feel of history & culture in the surrounding countryside. Although modern industrialization had taken over most of the landscape, there are some fledgling strains of ancient structures that lay scattered throughout the area. There are many guide books in your local Barnes & Noble, but I feel the real authentic experience comes from the hidden gems that are scattered throughout southern Japan. One of my favorite little secluded treasures is an amazing ancient styled garden that was given to Japan from China when “Okinawa had close relations with China during the years of the Ryukyu Kingdom. This relationship, which included periodic visits from envoys of the Chinese emperor, is reflected in Okinawa’s enduring friendship with Fuzhou City in Fujian Province in China. Fukushu-en was built in 1992 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the formalization of this friendship. Fukushu-en a beautiful Chinese-style garden includes a pond, waterfall and buildings designed and constructed using traditional Chinese techniques.”
The place has an air of mysticism, lure & the feeling of stepping into a different era of time. The construction & architecture of the garden has a Chinese/Japanese fusion from the feudal era. The last time I grazed the grounds, misty water from the waterfall brushed the cheeks of my face & the wind gently blew against my skin & the sounds of the secluded garden transported it’s visitors to a place where life takes a break & things move just a bit slower. The beautiful sculptural motifs that decorate the garden grounds has a certain aesthetic & quaint characteristics that the whole family can enjoy.
The Kume neighborhood where the garden is stationed, formerly recognized as Kumemura (Kume Village), was for hundreds of years, the hub of Chinese culture and knowledge in the Ryūkyū kingdom, and a representation of the considerable part of Chinese cultural sway in Japanese history and traditions.
At the entrance to Fukushu-en garden are 2 lion statues which are traditionally carved from granite, marble or some kind of decorative stone. Because of the high cost of these materials and the labor required to produce them, private use of Imperial guardian lions was traditionally reserved for wealthy or elite families. The lion statutes in Chinese culture are a symbol of a family’s wealth or social status was the placement of Imperial guardian lions in front of the family home.
The guardian lions are usually in pairs, an expression of yin and yang, the female representing yin and the male yang. The male lion has one paw on an embroidered ball called a “xiù qiú”, which is sometimes carved with a geometric pattern known in the West as the “Flower of life” The female is essentially identical, but has a cub under the other paw to the male, representing the cycle of life. Symbolically, the female fu lion protects those dwelling inside, while the male guards the structure. Sometimes the female has her mouth
closed, and the male open. This symbolizes the enunciation of the sacred word “om”. But in Japanese representations, the open mouth is said to be inhaling, representing life, while the female exhales, representing death. Other styles have both lions with a single large pearl in each of their partially opened mouths. The pearl is carved so that it can roll about in the lion’s mouth but sized just large enough so that it can never be removed.
According to feng shui, correct placement of the lions is important to ensure their beneficial effect. When looking out of a building through the entrance to be guarded, looking in the same direction as the lions, the male with the ball is on the right, and the female with the cub is on the left.
Fukushu-en was almost nearly completely made from wood and stone from Fuzhou City, with the assistance of artisans residing in Fuzhou, and based on the specifications like the ones found in the traditional gardens in Fuzhou. Inside the garden has many of the essential parts needed to create the design of a traditional Chinese garden. Surrounded by walls, divided into separate sections, using a lot of asymmetrical designs, rocks such as scholar’s rocks. Fukushu-en features a large pond which branches into most sections of the garden. There are a few bridges, in a couple of different styles, which extend over the pond that encompasses koi fish and turtles which in Chinese culture are a symbol of endurance and knowledge. The focal point of the garden I believe would be its waterfall, it is immediately visible in the directly facing the east entrance. The pile of rocks that it flows from embodies a cave that can be entered, and explored; in the rocks, stairs have been fashioned from them & it leads into a Chinese-style pavilion, one of the elevated areas of topology in the garden that allows for a pleasant view of the garden, and surrounding areas.
Fukushu-en also has gates on the 4 sides, it encompasses a number of six-sided pavilions, bells, sculptures, a couple of inscriptions painted on stone & wooden material. Inside one of the buildings of the garden, lays an exhibit of Chinese paintings and of a tiny model of the type of sea vessel that would have traveled to Fuzhou at the era of the Ryūkyū Kingdom to bring esteem and to connect the 2 cities in trading. The Chinese and Japanese concept of “borrowed scenery” (Jie jingin Chinese, or shakkei in Japanese) was also incorporated, adding count to the sense of the garden’s presence & size. A feature which is indicative of Japan, can be seen in the foliage picked for the garden. Trees like the Murraya paniculata, from the family of the orange and mikan, called gekkitsu in Japanese, and Acacia confusa, called sōshiju in Japanese, both native to the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, and parts of Southeast Asia, were picked for the aesthetic elements that they cbring to the scenery, specifically for their flowers, which enable Fukushu-en’s facade and ambiance to adjust with the seasons in a type of way relating to the manner in which a traditional Chinese garden would.