Sneak Peek Wednesday: Totally zen with a Japanese miniature garden
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Japan is known for its fascinating gardens. The Japanese zen garden, which is often part of an even bigger garden, is not just a style. There are several philosophies behind the design of this rock garden, but the Western culture knows this zen garden mainly as a form of meditation. The word Zen (or Chán) is a type of Buddhism that emphasizes inner peace and concentration. We used this as a source of inspiration and made miniature versions of this garden: Zen Gardens.
Karensasui
The Karensasui, or.. zen garden, is a delimited piece of land with sand or gravel, stones and some natural elements. The most famous and classic zen garden was created at the zen Buddhist temple Ryoan-ji in Kyoto. It is believed that the sand represents the ocean and the rocks represent the islands of Japan. The sand patterns in these gardens simulate, in particular, the flow of the water.
Calming effect
Zen gardens are based on simplicity, therefore they consist largely of sand or gravel, with only a few rocks or a small shrub now and then. Raking patterns in this sand has a calming effect and helps with self-reflection. A refined way of meditation that works on a large scale, but also in miniature. This makes the miniature Zen Gardens very suitable to place at home or in the office, for example on a counter, the coffee table or maybe even in the conference room!
Our Zen Gardens are available in three versions; round, square and rectangular. These come as a complete set with: sand, stones, a rake and a mini planter that can be filled in with moss or another kind of plant.
A nice addition is the extra set of rakes, with which you can make other nice patterns and figures, and a bottle of black sand for the enthusiast.