They’re incredibly eye-catching and can turn the calm zen garden into something more active. This pattern represents vortices in the sea, it’s a complete loop of the rake to create a closed circular pattern. My personal favorite pattern is known as Uzumaki-mon. This pattern is similar to the common Mizumon pattern but you draw even greater waves in the floor. To recreate this pattern you would take your rake and draw a zigzag pattern in the gravel.Īnother pattern that is based on the waves in the sea is the Seikaiha pattern. The Tatsunami pattern is based on great waves in the sea. Just like its name would suggest, for this pattern you draw big and rough ridges that represent stormy seas. When raked into the gravel, draw a calm wave pattern.ĭiffering entirely is the Aranami pattern that can be translated to mean stormy waves. Ginshada is translated to mean “silver sand and open”. The Ginshanda pattern is similar to the Ryūsui in that they are both calm patterns. This is a graceful pattern that should be designed with precision. You use your rake to draw in the sand ripples that look like a flowing stream. The Ryūsui pattern is for imitating running water. This design represents the waves that occur around an island. The ripple pattern known as Sazanamimon is another commonly used one. It’s intended to represent waves and is a very simple pattern. This is a very popular pattern known as Mizumon. When you’re picturing a zen garden in your head you probably imagine ripples in the gravel. The gravel that is laid on the floor of the garden is manipulated by a rake to create eye-catching patterns.

Understanding what patterns you can make should give you some inspiration. Symbolism is very important within these Japanese gardens. The former ambassador of Japan Nobuo Matsunaga even went as far as to proclaim it “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan.” The garden is described as a place to discard your worldly thoughts and connect with the universe. It was designed in 1963 and stretches out over 12 acres, featuring 8 different garden styles. One such garden found in Portland, Oregon has some of the only Shirakawa found outside of Japan. More recently, since the twentieth century, zen gardens have become more prominent in many countries beyond Japan. The waterway where it can be found is now protected, so it is now illegal to harvest it.Īuthentic Shirakawa can still be found in many temples inside of Japan, particularly in Kyoto. It held onto the raked grooves very well but it can no longer be sourced. It takes time and patience to perfect this.Ī particular black-speckled granite from Kyoto called Shirakawa was well renowned for zen gardens. Creating the patterns of the waves in the gravel is a creative challenge.

Zen priests will use the raking as a time to practice their concentration. It is a challenge to perfect the lines while raking. Gravel is much heavier than sand and so it is less likely to be disturbed by rain or wind. Sometimes sand is used in zen gardens, although it is more common for gravel to be used. Raking of the gravel is a process known as samon. Many people enjoy this aspect of building the garden. Raking is thought to be quite a relaxing exercise. This is particularly the case for gardens that don’t have a water element to them Gravel can be manipulated to symbolize waves and patterns of water. The gravel is laid on the ground of the garden and then can be raked.īy raking the gravel you can create patterns in the ground.

The rocks in these gardens are arranged as symbols of other objects like animals, water, mountains, trees, and other things to do with nature. Gravel has a very important role to play in a Japanese garden. You can mix up your gravel composition to suit your needs before laying and raking. If you want to go larger you can, just try to make the garden floor consistent in size. Typically you want to look at small sizes, from 2mm to about 2cm. White gravel is common as well, but white gravel reflects the stone, making it hard to look at. Instead of opting for bright and bold colors look for something darker, black, brown, or grey. What you need to consider when deciding on gravel and rocks for a Japanese garden boils down to a few things.

Small japanese rock garden