Essays > DAISEN-IN (Kyoto) + BAGH-i FIN (Kashan)
By Paul Duffy
In this essay, Paul Duffy compares the formation of 2 gardens (one in Japan and the other in Iran) which were built in the sixteenth century. He first looks at the layout and context for each garden, and then makes a comparison of the gardens, and the way in which differing cultural beliefs affected their form.
DAISEN-IN
Introduction to Canon of the Zen Garden
The Zen canon kare sansui, shows that even a small space can be seen as a microcosm (or miniature representation of the universe). This type of garden is an asymmetrical dry landscape consisting of simple natural elements such as gravel, stones and a few plants. These gardens were designed by (and for the use of) monks, to contemplate nature for the purposes of achieving enlightenment.
Physical Context
Situated
Daisen-in is situated at the northern end of the city of Kyoto, Japan. Bring and Wayembergh (1981) state that Kyoto, "lies on a slightly inclined plane surrounded on three sides by low, rolling mountains. The choice of the site was determined in the eighth century according to the principles of Chinese geomancy- an aesthetic science dealing with the positive management of the landscape in accordance with hidden forces within the earth"; (p.3).
Climate
In Kyoto, spring and autumn are relatively short, with the year being divided into two main seasons. Extreme humidity in the summer is caused by the high rainfall and the surrounding mountains, as they block off the cooling winds during the summer. In the winter, they help retain the damp, piercingly cold winds and snow. Nature changes its appearance very noticeably according to the season.
Size
Daisen-in is laid out on a narrow L-shaped area around the north-east corner of the temple's main hall. It is 3.7 metres wide by 14.3 metres long; a great example of a small plot representing an entire universe. 
Social/Cultural/Spiritual Factors in the Design
Daisen-in was built in 1509 on the grounds of the Zen Buddhist temple Daitkuji, and was completed with the main hall in 1513. It is said to be built by the retired abbot Kogaku (or Soko, 1464-1548), the founder of the temple, perhaps with the help of the artist Soami (1485-1525), who is believed to have designed Ryoan-ji (also in Kyoto). The interior sliding paper doors surrounding the garden are painted with Soami's landscape scenes. The three dimensional form of the garden is inspired by the paintings.
The layout of Daisen-in has been described as being a metaphor for the human path through life. Cheetham (2006) states that the "river of life begins in the northeast with the clipped camellia of Mount Horai, the land of the immortals. It plunges through narrow rapids of youth, broadening to emerge into adulthood. The rocks in the stream course represent the trials and tribulations that bring maturity. By the time one reaches the famous stone "treasure boat" in the east garden, one has gained the wealth of experience. The small turtle swimming against the stream represents the classic symbol of good fortune, and the futility of swimming against the flow of time. The south garden is the vast white gravel void at the end of life, with two gravel cones the only barriers to reaching the lone Bodhi tree (under which the Buddha realized satori) at the far corner. This journey corresponds to the difficulties encountered in the search for the most fundamental of koan - Who am I? It represents the trials of meditating on the paradoxical koans of the Rinzai Zen tradition" (p.1).
The beliefs of Zen in the Garden
It is said that the Zen gardener shall be able to realise the mountain through the rock, the forest through the moss and the ocean through the sand. Holborn (1978).
Holborn (1978) states that "When Zen pervaded the art of the Muromachi Japan, the process of reduction was accelerated. The image of the landscape painter acquired a depth far beyond the representational; its scale became literally cosmic. Likewise the physical boundaries of the garden were reduced, its area became smaller, its images sharper and their intensity greater by virtue of design. As the physical space was reduced, the vision of space, or the illusion, expanded, and as the image moved from representation to abstraction, the potential of the image moved into previously unexpressed levels of experience" (p58).
BAGH-i FIN
Introduction to Canon of the Persian garden
The Persian garden is based on the belief of the Islamic text, the Koran. This describes a paradise containing a stream, abundant fruit trees, luxuriant pavilions and shade. It is arranged in a geometrically formal system of water rills, that creates a soothing sound and reflection. The rills divide the garden into a quadrant, the crossing of which creates the ultimate symbol of paradise and is generally the site of a great pavilion. The garden protects from the harsh desert elements of the sun and wind, creating an oasis like paradise reflecting heavenly glory. These are the essential elements of the Islamic garden.
Physical Context
Situated
Bagh-i Fin is situated 8km southwest of the city of Kashan, Iran. The garden is positioned on the Soleimanieh spring 1,060m above sea level at the base of the Karkas Mountain creating a lush green contrast with the surrounding Kavir Desert.
Climate
Brookes (1987) describes the Kashan climate as a harsh unchanging climate. "During the summer, the sun beats down unmercifully, and the temperatures reached are often far higher than those at the equator. Maximum day temperature may reach 37 to 47 C and temperatures over 52C are known. One may experience some of the highest temperatures in the world. Autumn and spring are short; spring weather is changeable, while autumn is pleasant, warm and sunny. In winter, however, although frost is unusual at sea level, the inferior can become very cold especially on higher ground. Snow can fall as far south as Yemen and southern Iran precipitated by the mountain ranges" (p.213). Rainfall is very irregular and barely sufficient.
Size
Contained by high, protective mud walls the 2.6 hectare site of Bagh-i Fin is the oldest surviving garden in good condition to be seen in Iran.
Social/Cultural/Spiritual factors in the design
In 1587, Shah Abbas I (a Safavid ruler of Persia from 1587-1629) erected structures on the site and is said to have designed and built the garden. The garden Bagh-i Fin is a classical Persian vision of Paradise, a place of rest with its four fold garden, divided by channels of running water, geometrically planted orchards surrounding the great palace that Shah Abbas I used to accommodate him and his court as they travelled through the country.
Brookes (1987) states that "the interest of Bagh-i Fin is that it is a modified version of the chahar bagh" (p.111). The primary water axis is slightly off centre and runs from the central pavilion down to the entrance. The layout is unusual in the true chahar bagh (four courted garden) typology, as the water source runs from a pool just to the left of the primary axis creating a secondary main axis which cuts through the left-hand part of the garden.
The original Safavid buildings have been substantially replaced and rebuilt by Ghajar dynasty, although the layout of the trees and marble basins is close to the original. Other kings such as Shah Soleman, Shah Tahmasb, Karim Khan Zand, and Fath Ali Shah all contributed to the repair of the premises.
The garden has remained for centuries, due to the capacity of water it gains from the Soleimaniyeh spring in the garden, from which a major part of Kashan's water is also still supplied.
The palace has provided a pleasant spot to relax in the shade after a long journey, with its thick lush garden, an orchard containing figs, 
pomegranates and other exotic fruit, a pool with numerous water spouts fed by gravity and a bathhouse (which was the murder scene of Amir-I Kabir, a prime minister of Fath Ali Shah in the mid-nineteenth century).
Hobhouse (1988) states that "The Persians don't walk so much in Gardens as we do, but content themselves with a bare Prospect; and breathing the fresh Air: For this end, they set themselves down in some part of the Garden, at their first coming into it, and never move from their Seats till they are going out of it" (p.11).
Comparison of DAISEN-IN and BAGH-i FIN
Both Daisen-in and Bagh-i Fin are religiously influenced, enclosed gardens, built as a place of sanctuary and tranquility to free the mind of the outer world, although the latter is also designed as a protection from the outer elements (such as the ferocious desert winds and hot dry sun). Kyoto's climate is hot and wet in the summer (causing an extreme humidity) and characterised by a dry penetrating cold in the winter. Bagh-i Fin has extreme dry heat of up to 70C in the summer and in winter it can often rain.
The two gardens were designed and built in the sixteenth century by completely different cultures on opposite sides of the world.
Daisen-in is located in a city full of temples and gardens. The size of the garden is 3.7m by 14.3 meters. This not only relates to the idea that a Zen garden creates a microcosm, but relates directly to the density of building, population and the fact that the city is cradled by a mountain range on the north, west and east sides. This was Japan's great city and the home of the Emperor for almost a thousand years.
Bagh-i Fin on the other hand was built on the Soleimaniyeh spring at foot of the Karkas mountains, on the edge of the harsh salt desert, Kavir. Bagh-i Fin is 2.6 hectares, the large size of this garden is relative to the vastness of the desert site and the fact that it was owned and built by a King showing his wealth with extravagance.
The Japanese Zen gardens were designed by monks as a place to encourage contemplation, leading to enlightenment (the Zen representation of paradise) This is enacted by sitting on the deck of the temple looking out, meditating and freeing the mind. These dry gardens were designed more with the idea of viewing from a platform rather than to walk around in.
Bagh-i Fin was designed to represent the Islamic idea of paradise, a Heaven, a place of rest after a long journey (the journey represented in Daisen-in?) and protection from the elements. This was also a place of contemplation.
The Japanese garden is fundamentally based on nature and asymmetric natural forms, representing water in the garden with raked sand and pebbles. The raking of these into corrugations represents the flow of the water and is also used as a form of meditation.
Water is the most important principle of the Islamic garden; the water is used to cut the garden into geometric forms, everything in the garden hangs off this central thread. Its soothing sound, coolness and reflectivity of the heavens are a huge contrast to the world outside of the walls. The Islamic people considered water to be sacred and pure - the source of all life (this probably being a direct result of its scarceness).
The Zen approach to planting considers the natural habitat of each plant, as with rocks. They use mountain rocks for mountain scenes and river rocks for river scenes. These are all placed to give the illusion of the essence of nature, creating a space which is free from attachment with the eye , leading from the garden out into the greater world.
In Persian culture, the Cypress is thought to symbolise immortality. Cypress trees often border the water courses which divide the garden into plots, creating an association of the tree of immortality with water, the elixir of life. The existence of fruit trees in the Persian garden was for weary travellers to quench their thirsts.
The design of Daisen-in is a metaphor for life and the idea of a view into the beauty of the outer universe, creating the illusion of space in a densely populated city. The garden of Bagh-i Fin is designed as a metaphor for heaven, an insular oasis retreating from the harshness of the outer world.
References
Bring. M., & Wayembergh. J. (1981). Japanese Gardens- Design and Meaning. Von Hoffmann Press, Inc.
Brookes, J (1987). Gardens of Paradise- The History and Design of the Great Islamic Gardens. The Meredith Press. London.
Cheetham, R. (2006). Daisenin Info. Retrieved September 9, 2006 from www.jgarden.org
Hobhouse, P. (2003). Gardens of Persia. Florilegium. Glebe, NSW.
Holborn, M. (1978). The Ocean in the Sand. Japan: From Landscape to Garden. Gordon Fraser. London.
Kjeilen, T. (2006). Encyclopaedia of the Orient. Retrieved September 18, 2006 from www.parstimes.com/IR.html
Main, A., & Platten. M. (2002). The Lure of the Japanese Garden. W.W. Norton & Company, New York. London.