Well-laid out and soothing ? that’s a Japanese garden. Whether it’s a one-cottah plot or a 100-sq-ft terrace, it’s crying for a Japanese touch.

By, of and for nature

The cardinal rule is never create something that nature cannot. For example, you would never find a square pond in the wild, so do NOT put one in your garden. You may use a waterfall, but never a fountain.

Less is more

Another key point to remember is balance or ‘sumi’. While a six-tonne rock looks at home in a two-acre stroll garden, what effect will it have on a 10-by-10 courtyard? As I see it, it would have all the grace and subtlety of a horse in a closet! The rule is ? understate it.

Enclosure & entry

In Japan, entering a group is of great social importance. Thus, entrances to gardens are important. Also, Japanese gardens, and parts of a garden, are enclosed, largely due to the compressed nature of an urban site. Scenes may be divided by gates, a grove or a bend or rise in the path.

Void & accent

This is best described by the word “ma”, meaning space. Let the beauty of scantiness rule your garden.

Balance

Balance is asymmetric (no single item absolutely dominant); off-centred (very few, if any, straight paths or axial arrangements); and based on triads (triangular shapes in flower arrangements, bonsai and artwork). You can use plants that naturally grow in a triangular formation.

Planes & volumes

Japanese garden designers balance plane surfaces with volumes. A flat garden of stark raked sand provides stillness, whereas fences, walls and clipped hedges divide the ground. The effect is of cubist art and gives ancient gardens a modern look.

Symbolism

You can interweave symbolic images for religion (triad of boulders as image of Buddha and attendants); good fortune/long life through images of island/mountain (solitary rock in a pond); or life lessons through a pine symbolising stability and longevity.

Mitate

Pronounced me-tah-teh, this is the process of finding a new use for an old object (a stone as a base of a lantern or millstones as stepping stones).

The path

The garden path, while creating a design for the garden, also controls the cadence of motion and what is seen. A large stepping stone following a series of small stones keeping the eyes cast downward allows the visitor to stop and look around.

Details vs planning

A western garden is developed down from the master plan, whereas the Japanese garden is designed up from the details. Follow this rule. Choose natural materials for their unique qualities, study them for balance and, based upon the effect of one material, follow it by the next suitable one.

Seven elements

• Rocks: Rocks can be used funct-ionally (as fences, retaining walls, paths) and perceived artistically, for instance, as mountains or the Buddha triads or resembling animals.

• White sand: White sand and water are synonymous with Japan. Raked white sand mimicking the rhythmic motion of waves parallels white spaces in ink paintings.

• Water: You could use water to provide the luxury of a visual space, breaking a confined garden even when it cannot be entered physically.

• Plants: Japanese gardens apply a classical botanical trio ? pine, bamboo and plum ? to reflect bliss. Although difficult, the three are not impossible, to achieve in our climate.

The evergreen pines contain symbolic attributes of longevity, bamboo is an image of resilience, while plum and cherry are symbolic of evanescence or fading away.

• Bridges: In gardens and paintings, bridges are both functional (physical crossings) and symbolic (bridging the gap between the worlds of man and the gods). They can be curved, made of stone or red-lacquered wood.