Wow! eBook
Tenryu-ji: Life and Spirit of a Kyoto Garden
Author(s): Norris Brock Johnson (Author)
- Publisher: Stone Bridge Press
- Publication Date: 28 Jun. 2012
- Edition: Illustrated
- Language: English
- Print length: 368 pages
- ISBN-10: 1611720044
- ISBN-13: 9781611720044
Book Description
Tenryu-ji: One of Kyoto’s most revered Zen temples and a monument to Japanese history, viewed through its monks, gardens, prayers, and art.
This illustrated study of Tenryuji, ranked number one among the five great Zen temples of Kyoto and a major destination for tourism and worship, weaves together history, design, culture, and personal reflection to reveal the inner workings of a great spiritual institution.
Looking at Tenryuji’s present as a mirror to its past, and detailing the famous pond and rockwork composition by renowned designer Muso Soseki, Norris Brock Johnson presents the first full-length “biography” of a Zen temple garden.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Whether you experience Tenryu-ji in person or through the pages of this book, you will learn to understand the enduring appeal of Japanese gardens and will take away a lot more than photographic images and quickly fading memories. You will have a connection with the garden that will stay with you until your next visit- or your first.”
—The New York Journal of Books
“[Norris Brock Johnson is] the perfect guide, describing Tenryu-ji with intellectual conciseness and tenderness, for a site that has clearly come to represent more than just a sacred garden.”
—The Japan Times
About the Author
Norris Brock Johnson is a Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He was a Fulbright Lecturer at Waseda University and University of Tokyo, Komaba. Professor Johnson has been researching, teaching, and writing about the temple gardens of Japan for over twenty years.
