Shishu - Gardens of Kyoto

Shishu
Intuition and Feeling in the Japanese Garden Tradition

Video - approx 50 minutes

		Shishu (Poetic Beauty), the harmonious balance of thought and feeling, spirit and matter is at the heart of the Japanese aesthetic. Nowhere is this more evident than in the relationship of Japanese culture to the natural world. It finds its most striking expression in the Japanese Garden Tradition - a world class cultural legacy marvelled at by numerous visitors to the gardens. The film is an elegant and poetic study of the Japanese Garden. It draws together the diverse threads that make up one of the world's oldest garden traditions. Filmed in many of the most beautiful gardens, some of which are not readily accessible by visitors, it is an opportunity to gain a profound insight into this ancient garden tradition. Kyoto based Landscape Architect, Mark Keane, traces the historical development of the gardens, and the film also features an interview with Yasuo Kitayama, one of Kyoto's contemporary garden masters who studied under Master Gardener, Komiyama, in the 1970's thereafter establishing his own practice. Designer of many garden projects in both Kyoto and elsewhere inside and outside Japan, he restored the gardens at Kodai-ji temple and is responsible for maintaining major temple gardens in Kyoto. Kitayama's comments reveal the intense love and spirituality that underpins his approach to creating and maintaining the gardens. Visually stunning images of the gardens allow the viewer to gain an experience of the gardens rarely available outside of Japan. Written and produced by the garden expert, Robert Ketchell, who has spent over twenty years absorbed and beguiled by the profound beauty of the Japanese Garden. He is Chairman of The Japanese Garden Society of Great Britain and a landscape designer who worked for four years in the gardens of Kyoto. Other publications include: 'Japanese Gardens in a Weekend', and numerous articles in 'Shakkei' and other publications. The music is by Joji Hirota who studied music at Kyoto Arts University, and Taiko drumming with Taiko Master, Itto Obba in Hokkaido. As a Real World recording artist, he has recorded a number of CDs and performed at WOMAD festivals worldwide, whilst creating music for theatre and TV productions. Marc Keane is Resident Lecturer at Kyoto University of Arts and Design, organiser of the annual Japanese Garden Seminar, author of 'Japanese Garden Design', and active in cultural preservation in Kyoto, whilst still designing gardens as a landscape architect.