3. The East Asian garden

‘The East Asian garden’ considers the garden history of China and Japan, where the design emphasis is often on rocks and water. The Chinese see the garden through the prism of a set of philosophical assumptions and values that differ from those through which Westerners view gardens. The three contending worldviews pertinent to Chinese garden history are Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, and all of these religions affect the design and the use of gardens in China. The origins of the spiritualized landscapes of Japanese gardens lie in Shinto, the native religion of Japan, but the arrival of Buddhism and Daoism in Japan had an important impact on later designs.