The Japanese rock gardens or dry landscape gardens, often called Zen gardens, feature gravel or sand, raked or not raked, that symbolizes sea, ocean, rivers or lakes. The act of raking the gravel into a pattern representing waves or rippling water has an aesthetic function. Achieving perfection of lines cannot be easy. The variations in patterns are both creative and inspiring challenge. Stone arrangements and other miniature elements are used to represent mountains and natural water elements and scenes, islands, rivers and waterfalls. Here are just a few works of art that I saw on this trip.
