hello I'm drew badger the co-founder
co-founder of English anyone . com
com and we are back with part two
two of this special two-part video
video about japanese tea and japanese
japanese gardens if
if you haven't seen part one already
already you can click right here and
and it will take you back to watch
watch that but
but if you're coming from part 1 then
then just sit back relax and enjoy
enjoy the video now
now we've just finished some tea but
but I really want to show you something
something that's much more important
important to me something that I came
came out here to study this is the
the reason i came to japan and this
this is the japanese garden now
now I know it's a it's a very iconic
iconic thing about Japan and I think
think the reason I got into it initially
initially many many years ago when
when i was a child is because of the
the mathematics that are behind japanese
japanese gardens so I want to talk
talk about that first talked about
about a little bit of garden design
design and also you can see again
again I mentioned a little bit in
in the TV video how
how because the Japanese home is built
built out of wood you've
you've got long walls and you have
have kind of shorter homes that makes
makes for a much more kind of picture
picture frame window so the japanese
japanese garden is really designed
designed to be viewed from inside
inside the home that's
that's why if you walk around in a
a lot of Japanese neighborhoods you'll
you'll see high walls everywhere and
and it may be just kind of looks like
like a big concrete area but as soon
soon as you go into the wall or go
go kind of you know you pass through
through the gate or you're inside
inside the home you'll be able to
to sit in a situation like this where
where you've got a lovely open space
space here and it's a large almost
almost like kind of like a picture
picture frame movie where you can
can look outside and you've got really
really very little distinction between
between the outside and the inside
inside so I don't even have a screen
screen here i can lean right out and
and i'm still like got the inside
inside and the outside here
here so we're going to go in and take
take a look at the garden i'm actually
actually going to put on some of these
these Japanese slippers these are
are called Saudi and i'm going to
to because i don't have actual special
special kind of socks for that today
today I'm going to make some special
special ones right now watch this
this
this ok
ok alright so let's slip these on
on
on now
now there are kind of two parts to
to this garden usually
usually there is a more kind of secluded
secluded one or a protected one that's
that's just for the people that are
are in the home where in that particular
particular tea room for these shoes
shoes are a little bit small I've
I've gotten used to that out here
here in japan i'm just going to walk
walk over here there are some rocks
rocks because i want to show you something
something about Japanese garden design
design and you can see when people
people do the designs for the rocks
rocks even be the height of the rocks
rocks and the space it's
it's all about being proportional
proportional so it's really about
about mathematics and all of the different
different plants that you use these
these are important to Japanese design
design and a lot of them that are
are kind of indigenous or their local
local plants you would be using those
those in the garden but the real thing
thing that makes a Japanese garden
garden a Japanese garden is really
really the mathematics that are under
under it
under it so
so even something like this you would
would see the flat area from this
this rock is going nicely with the
the flat area from this rock right
right here because if you have a point
point
point going
going into this one it's kind of disturbing
disturbing to the eye so
so if you really want to have something
something that's nice and pleasing
pleasing you can look right here and
and see how the edge of each one of
of these stones has a nice kind of
of parallel feel to it so
so I'm walking here and it's nice
nice and easy each one of these you
you see as they turn it's
it's still that nice parallel line
line here so I'm walking over here
here again i just want to get some
some of the rocks out here so i can
can show you something interesting
interesting about Japanese design
design
design now
now if I'm going to build a Japanese
Japanese garden from scratch so from
from scratch means to do something
something from the very beginning
beginning
beginning really
really the japanese garden is different
different from a Western garden
inn
inn it's
it's not really designed around symmetry
symmetry you want to have balance
balance which means that if I have
have like a rectangle and I have you
you know kind of a typical like a
a a Western garden you would have
have you know something if you go
go to like an English garden where
where you've got beautiful flowers
flowers everywhere it's
it's meant to be viewed from up high
high so you can look at it again we've
we've got the the difference between
between a Japanese home it's made
made out of wood that's got long windows
windows so you can sit inside and
and look at it from the inside or
or you've got a house made of stone
stone were like a castle something
something like that it's got very
very thin windows because you just
just can't have a lot of a long area
area with wide windows when you're
you're working with stone so
so if we're looking up at the top
top of the garden we've got maybe
maybe like a rectangular area like
like this and we've got some flowers
flowers here and some flowers here
here and then we've got symmetry so
so this symmetry means we've got the
the same thing on both sides here
here and it's balanced but it's not
not particularly interesting because
because well you know it's just it's
it's kind of easy to make so
so part of what japanese garden design
design is made up of is the golden
golden ratio and the golden ratio
ratio is the thing that you'll see
see in nature it's all over the place
place and it's kind of the like the
the Fibonacci numbers the Fibonacci
Fibonacci sequence where you've got
got three five seven and like it spirals
spirals out that way and it's you'll
you'll see it everywhere it could
could be in the the shape of a flower
flower or in like population numbers
numbers its kind of technical but
but basically it's more pleasing to
to the eye if you begin with something
something like a triangle so
so if you are the front here and i'm
i'm going to design something you've
you've got kind of like the 357 angling
angling we will move these stones
stones around so you can see how this
this looks but we've got if you were
were to take like a basic just using
using two stones to begin with and
and I've got a like
like a lever like this so I've got
got like a lever with a point in the
the middle and it can balance like
like this
like this now
now i can take a big rock here and
and the same rock on this other side
side and I've got the balance point
point in the middle and basically
basically you've got you know you've
you've got balance but again it's
it's like that kind of Western garden
garden where it's got balance and
and it's got symmetry but it's just
just not that interesting but if i
i were to take a Japanese garden design
design i would take that same idea
idea where I've got a balance point
point here where you can put a really
really large stone here but
but then a really tiny stone all the
the way over here you've got balance
balance again but again it's not symmetrical
symmetrical so it's not the same thing
thing on both sides and it becomes
becomes more interesting that way
way
way so
so what we're going to do instead
instead of having two rocks together
together on a single line we're going
going to create a triangle with these
these
these so
so you're coming from the front and
and we would start with like one rock
rock here
rock here one
one rock here and then one rock here
here
here now
now you notice that each of these
these is kind of on its own line they're
they're not crossing each other and
and then the space between each of
of these things you know and again
again like you could you can kind
kind of move them around you don't
don't have to be exact about it but
but you'll see this spacing in nature
nature so the size of this and the
the size of that and the size of this
this and the distances between all
all of these are really what make
make up a pleasing garden to the eye
eye
eye so
so if you're sitting here and you're
you're looking at the garden this
this way you can really see what it
it looks like where you've got kind
kind of like a balance point here
here
here this
this half of the garden in this half
half of the garden and then you can
can see if we were to move these things
things around how it becomes less
less balanced or more balanced or
or you know trying to find the ideal
ideal placement for all of these things
things
things so
so when you look at gardens especially
especially something like go on g
g which is a really popular garden
garden and killed oh this is like
like one of the big rock gardens and
and i believe it's it's a world heritage
heritage site actually where you've
you've just got basically a big open
open area with the regular gravel
gravel kind of like this and then
then a few rocks it's
it's basically just this kind of mathematics
mathematics so we'll go out into the
the actual garden over here and we'll
we'll take a look and see what's
up
up that
that looks like ok now we're going
going to actually walk out into the
the garden so i showed you kind of
of that design before remember we're
we're seeing again that seemed style
style here we've got the rocks that
that are coming together you see there's
there's nice clean parallel lines
lines there and we're going to walk
walk out and see all of the beautiful
beautiful kinds of trees that we can
can find out here lots of lovely again
again like it's ornamental but really
really the the garden is designed
designed from a skeleton and then
then you put all of the plants and
and after that so
so that's when you're actually building
building a garden you would build
build it that way you would begin
begin with the design figure out where
where all the rocks go and then you
you move in to put the plants in after
after that so
so let's take a look you can actually
actually take a look from over here
here and see that same path that goes
goes into where we were just having
having the tea ceremony over there
there so it's a really lovely view
view whether you're sitting inside
inside the room where you're standing
standing outside and you're taking
taking a look at how everything kind
kind of flows together so
so this is a really nice garden because
because it's also got a koi pond and
and coy the large ornamental gold
gold fish for carp so
so we're going to take a look at those
those as well now you don't necessarily
necessarily have to have one of those
those in the pond but really the point
point of having japanese koi aur these
these gold fish in the pond is just
just to add a little bit of color
color
color if
if you look around you got kind of
of the contrast between lots of the
the greenery and you'll see some flowers
flowers in Japanese gardening but
but really like the the japanese garden
garden is designed to be beautiful
beautiful all year long so
so even if there are some trees that
that lose their leaves you'll have
have others like the pine tree that
that have needles all year so
so most of the things again you'll
you'll see a few flowers here and
and there
and there these
these are just for accents really
really you want to have a nice lush
lush garden if that's the style you're
you're going for and
and then you've got the rocks and
and the dirt to contrast with that
that but then we take a look at some
some of the coy over here you'll get
get to see these right now and these
these are really just to add a lot
lot of kind of bright color and an
an actual movement to the garden because
because we don't have something you
you know obviously the trees aren't
aren't moving around they're not walking
walking and jumping and saying hello
hello or anything so we've got some
some lovely fish and we can come in
in and right here the
the official actually talk to you
you if you can see them right there
there he says hello hello
hello how are you welcome to my guard
guard and give me some food so
so they're all coming over we can
can actually walk on this little bridge
bridge over here and get a nice view
view of them and
and you can get a really good view
view of these fish now
now some of these can get actually
actually quite large and really expensive
expensive and there are lots of different
different varieties but again you
you can see how they're just in there
there to add a little bit of movement
movement to the garden and really
really just to add some nice color
color
color so
so everything else in the garden it's
it's really green and you've got these
these lovely orange or gold colors
colors in the gardens that are coming
coming out from here now
now if you look at the rocks again
again let's see if we can find a nice
nice and we're going to turn around
around and look over here that same
same design i was talking about before
before the garden design might look
look complicated but really we're
we're building a garden from triangles
triangles and triangles and other
other geometric shapes that just look
look pleasing to the eye because that's
that's the Fibonacci oh the Fibonacci
Fibonacci ratio the the lines and
and the idea is that really just are
are . this very visually pleasing
pleasing
pleasing so
so we've got a large stone here and
and another one here and then we anchor
anchor the garden like that and then
then once we get that design we can
can start putting in other things
things like that so we'll move back
back over here now we're over at a
a waterfall hopefully you can hear
hear me pretty well it's a little
little bit loud now
now there will be lots of different
different designs and waterfalls but
but really the japanese-style waterfall
waterfall is is trying to actually
actually design not kind of designed
designed to mimic a real waterfall
waterfall
waterfall now
now what's tricky about this is that
that unless you're living at a place
place where you've got an actual mountain
mountain where you can have something
something coming down it's
it's really hard to make something
something that looks like a waterfall
waterfall
waterfall now
now this is designed the way it is
is because it it really feels like
like you've got it he'll hear an actual
actual waterfall coming down from
from it
from it so
so this is again when even though
though the mind is you know understanding
understanding that this is not a real
real waterfall this is not a natural
natural waterfall the
the design is like this to mimic the
the natural waterfall style and that's
that's what it's really really pleasing
pleasing and relaxing the people what
what you often see in gardens is you'll
you'll have kind of a mound it's almost
almost like a water volcano where
where people will design something
something you can see that there's
there's nothing that it's like actually
actually coming down from a lot of
of Japanese designs they will have
have it so they even if it's if it's
it's amount like this you can't really
really tell that this is the top the
the water could be coming from another
another location and the water is
is usually looking like it's turning
turning from another location so again
again it's kind of tricking the mind
mind that the waterfall is actually
actually a real waterfall and
and have you come over here and look
look a bit more closely you
you can see there are elements in
in here you really want to have not
not only like the sound of the waterfall
waterfall is important but how the
the water is actually moving and you
you really want to think especially
especially when you're designing waterfalls
waterfalls and rivers that you really
really want to make sure that the
the flow of the water is the way it
it would flow in the real world so
so if you have something like this
this and you've got like a long piece
piece of rock that would be coming
coming out that way it would not be
be pleasing to the eye because everybody
everybody would kind of know intuitively
intuitively that the water would come
come through and the water would break
break that down so
so always you're looking at something
something where you see the water
water coming down and
and the water goes this way and then
then that way and it goes around rocks
rocks and then goes out into the actual
actual garden here and
and it looks like the fish are back
back looking for some more food over
over here this isn't very smart fish
fish I think yes
yes i'm sorry i'm sorry i don't know
know
know and
and you can see we've got some lovely
lovely japanese pine trees over here
here these are some of the things
things that I came to study you can
can zoom in on those and you can see
see a little bit depending on the
the type of a year usually these will
will be pruned you will trim the leaves
leaves of those maybe twice a year
year and then really you you're
you're wanting to create that lovely
lovely kind of cascading look of the
the pine tree in the same way that
that you get that from you know the
the the Japanese maple which is the
the other tree over here on the left
left
left so
so these are kind of the typical things
things when you think of a Japanese
Japanese garden you thinking of a
a Momiji so that's the japanese garden
garden typical Japanese maple tree
tree and then you've got the pine
pine tree and there are different
different varieties of that as well
well and then you've got a few other
other things that are kind of anchoring
anchoring it and little things like
like this little little poco de looking
looking lantern thing like this isn't
isn't necessarily typical you don't
don't have to have that it doesn't
doesn't necessarily make something
something a Japanese garden again
again you begin with the math and
and then you work up to things like
like plants and other little ornamental
ornamental things like that so there's
there's probably a light in that and
and in the evening it's
it's probably very nice over here
here so this is the whole reason i
i came to japan and even though i
i haven't yet started learning how
how to build water gardens I
I know how to build the kind of dr
dr things and I can actually build
build and design something like this
this so i look forward you
you know while I continue to make
make more videos for for you and everyone
everyone else out there on YouTube
YouTube really learning to come back
back and enjoy all of the koi and
and the other things we've got a whole
whole bunch of them right here let's
let's look at all these guys they
they all look pretty hungry i guess
guess i'm sorry i didn't save any
any of my tea snack for you guys yeah
yeah
yeah but
but i really hope you have enjoyed
enjoyed this video and I look forward
forward to showing you many more things
things about Japan if
if there are more things specifically
specifically you'd like to know about
about again even in a Japanese garden
garden or even pruning particular
particular trees there's lots of very
very refined things you can go into
into even about like the carpentry
carpentry that goes into the wood
wood lots of different things how
how you select the rocks all of these
these different things even about
about a garden it's actually quite
quite technical and there's a lifetime
lifetime that's really required to
to learn all of these things but i
i hope this video has been helpful
helpful especially if you're interested
interested in japanese gardens to
to really just begin even try if you
you have a garden in your own home
home and you want to try building
building something begin with the
the mathematics play with some stones
stones and see if you can find a kind
kind of nice golden ratio where you've
you've got a lovely triangle and then
then try putting a few flowers around
around that and take a look at some
some videos and other images online
online that might help you find some
some interesting designs for your
your own home well
well again this is Ben Drew badger
badger for english anyone . com if
if you have any questions please post
post them below or if there's other
other things about either gardening
gardening or other things about Japan
Japan that you'd like to learn more
more about let
let me know in the comments if you've
you've enjoyed this please like it
it and share it with other people
people and i will see you in the next