“Optional” because I know gardens are not everyone’s cup of tea but we are in Japan which is famous for its gardens, plus we’ve seen so many amazing and beautiful gardens which would be wrong not to have a section attributed to them. Even the non-hortilovers may find them beautiful too!

Most of the gardens we visit are grounds around temples or castles, the one below was recently re-established behind Kanazawa castle, would you blame me if I said it needed a few garden gnomes.

These willows have such a painting by Monet look, they were my favorite even though very simple.

Rocks and sand as you know form a big part of a “J” garden. I for one am not totally convinced by the sand sculptures we saw in this temple below. It looks like they have improved on the material they use and it’s not as fragile as originally was. Have they added a little cement to the mix? Considered one of Japans most beautiful gardens.

The other truth is that we’ve taken so many photos that we just need to do something with. I have selected some of the best for the blog as you can see. Our new camera has a setting that enables you to set the colours to match what you see in real life before you take a photo rather than the camera adjusting things the way it wants to. So all the colors and tones in the photos are as close to real, as we saw it, as possible.

The Japanese have the perfect weather and love including moss into their landscapes. In my eyes it fits in with everything I understand about Japan. They love miniaturising things and many of their most beautiful gardens are indeed miniature versions of bigger landscapes. Which also fits in with the whole idea of bonsai trees and transistor radios, for those who remember. So moss, small trees, little streams and naturally sculptured rocks make for the perfect mini landscape.

I mentioned moss – for the moss lovers here are a couple of teasers! Unfortunately we were not allowed to walk or roll on it.

Summer rain is the norm in June and July but the sun does appear every few days – here is proof.

Kyoto dates back to Japan’s early history when it was the capital before the title was taken by Tokyo, so it’s no surprise that it has some of the best examples of gardens in the country. We visited Ginkakuji and Tenryuji temples over two days and couldn’t help but empty an entire camera on these magnificent and oldest gardens in Japan.

We started with the bamboo grove –

Hi there again.

Haha there is no escaping your tour guide… Once we left the bamboo we entered the old garden where the lay-out supposedly hasn’t changed since the 14th century. It seemed to have a look that was old and very much reflected nature in a microcosm.

And a few close ups for garden die-hards:

Guards at the temple gate, looks like a roof tile has come loose and got them really rattled.

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