'Marc Peter Keane is the undisputed American master of Japanese garden scholars; he is also an educator and garden designer in his own right. Two of his previous books Japanese Garden Design and The Art of Setting Stones are indispensable.' —The New York Times In Japanese Garden Design landscape architect Marc Peter Keane presents a complete overview of the history and development of the principles that underlie all Japanese gardens—a respect for nature combined with profound concepts of aesthetics and structure. Keane is one of the world's leading designers of Japanese-style gardens and he describes in detail the historical influences of Confucian, Shinto and Buddhist ideas that have linked poetry and philosophy to the tangible forms of gardens in Japan. Creative inspiration is found in prehistoric Japanese conceptions of nature, gardens of the Heian-era aristocrats, world-renowned Zen Buddhist temple rock gardens and tea gardens; compact courtyard gardens and large-scale Edo-era