0:00:02 > 0:00:06I believe that a really good way to understand a culture is through its gardens.
0:00:06 > 0:00:12This is an extraordinary journey to visit 80 inspiring gardens from all over the world.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16Some are very well known, like the Taj Mahal or the Alhambra.
0:00:17 > 0:00:22And I'm also challenging my idea of what a garden actually is.
0:00:22 > 0:00:28So I'm visiting gardens that float on the Amazon, a strange fantasy in the jungle,
0:00:28 > 0:00:31as well as the private homes of great designers,
0:00:31 > 0:00:33and the desert flowering in a garden.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38And wherever I go I shall be meeting people that share my own passion for gardens
0:00:38 > 0:00:44on my epic quest to see the world through 80 of its most fascinating and beautiful gardens.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59This week my journey to see the world through its gardens
0:00:59 > 0:01:02takes me to the imperial nations of the Far East.
0:01:02 > 0:01:08I have long admired the Zen gardens of Japan and knew that they in turn were derived from China.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13But the deeply spiritual approach to every tiny detail of these gardens
0:01:13 > 0:01:16was one that I had tried hard to understand in the past,
0:01:16 > 0:01:21but I confess that, like most westerners, I found them beautiful, but baffling.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25There's a door there somewhere, but I don't know how to open it.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Seeing this makes me hungry to know more.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33I really want to go beyond and get inside the garden,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36or maybe just let the garden get inside me.
0:01:36 > 0:01:42I do really want to try and make sense of the Japanese Zen garden.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45So the destination of my journey is taking me towards
0:01:45 > 0:01:51the most famous examples of Zen in the Buddhist temples of Kyoto.
0:01:51 > 0:02:00But I'm starting out much further west, and effectively, much further back in time in China.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05As one of the world's great civilisations, China's religion and art
0:02:05 > 0:02:08has influenced the history of the entire Far East,
0:02:08 > 0:02:13and the expression of art and spirituality within gardens began here.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20My first port of call is Suzhou, 45 miles west of Shanghai.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Suzhou is an ancient city famous for its fine silks
0:02:31 > 0:02:35and the network of canals built two millennia ago to transport them.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41It also has a reputation for having the finest collection of historic gardens in the whole of China.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Suzhou has been an important city in China
0:02:46 > 0:02:50throughout its long and incredibly complicated history.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52But it came to prominence
0:02:52 > 0:02:57in the so-called Spring and Autumn Period, about 450 years BC,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01when Confucius was developing Confucianism, a system of
0:03:01 > 0:03:05thought and behaviour that still influences people to this day.
0:03:05 > 0:03:10And then 1,800 years later, that's about 1400 in our own time,
0:03:10 > 0:03:15during the Ming dynasty, it became particularly known for its gardens.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22It was during this period that Suzhou was the bureaucratic centre
0:03:22 > 0:03:25for imperial China, and its gardens flourished.
0:03:30 > 0:03:36Many of these were commissioned by scholars and the highly cultured men of the imperial civil service,
0:03:36 > 0:03:42who practised Taoism, a religion that reveres nature and encourages people to build gardens.
0:03:47 > 0:03:53I'm beginning by visiting the one that is reckoned to be the greatest of all southern Chinese gardens.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09This is the best known and biggest garden in Suzhou,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13and the fact that it's called the Humble Administrator's Garden is
0:04:13 > 0:04:18a direct clue to the Chinese approach to gardens and life.
0:04:21 > 0:04:27The garden was created in the 16th century by a retired tax collector named Wang Xianchen,
0:04:27 > 0:04:32who wanted, not unreasonably, to create a garden that was exquisitely beautiful.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37But, as a Taoist, he respected nature and harmony
0:04:37 > 0:04:41above a display of his wealth and status, so he added the word "humble"
0:04:41 > 0:04:43to the title of his garden.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Of course, the humility of the title doesn't refer to the garden,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50but to the suitably humble and very rich Wang Xianchen.
0:04:50 > 0:04:56In fact the garden is very grand and attracts vast numbers of visitors.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59At 7.30 in the morning the doors open
0:04:59 > 0:05:02and the crowds pour in.
0:05:02 > 0:05:083,000 visitors a day, every day into the garden, and they're all in tour groups
0:05:08 > 0:05:12led by leaders with microphones, so it becomes an extraordinary place.
0:05:15 > 0:05:21The crowds are pouring in because this is the quintessential classical Chinese garden.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23Every element of it is intended to be viewed as a work of art
0:05:23 > 0:05:27that captures the fleeting essence of nature.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32So, against the backdrop of white walls, the garden becomes a series of calligraphic paintings,
0:05:32 > 0:05:39and every window and door is placed to frame a seemingly natural yet highly manicured scene.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44The pavilions and buildings in the garden aren't just summer houses.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48It's a strolling garden, and the idea was that you walk to the buildings
0:05:48 > 0:05:50to do calligraphy, play music, read poetry,
0:05:50 > 0:05:55and this one, which is one of my favourites, has a view for each of the seasons.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59So this would be for summer, with the water filed with lotus flowers.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04And this one for autumn, with moonlight on the bamboos.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07And then in winter, the snow would collect on the tiles.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12And finally, this would represent spring and its freshness.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16So you would get the inspiration of each of the seasons
0:06:16 > 0:06:18to write or read at the table.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21All tied in with the architecture itself.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28Everywhere throughout the garden there are these circular moon gates,
0:06:28 > 0:06:34which symbolise heaven and perfection with Earth beyond them
0:06:34 > 0:06:36and also on a basic aesthetic level
0:06:36 > 0:06:41they have the most wonderful curves that they introduce to the garden,
0:06:41 > 0:06:46and you see those curves picked up in the lines of the plants and trees and the branches beyond.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51So you have this lovely rhythm running right through the garden.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Water is an element that is central to all Chinese gardens
0:07:01 > 0:07:05and like Suzhou itself, with its labyrinth of canals,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09this is a garden of buildings buttressed by water.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16But plants, too, play a significant role, although they are invariably loaded with symbolism.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20There are three plants that the Chinese call The Three Friends of Good Character.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23The pine, because it has strength and is long lived,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27the winter plum, because it dares to flower when nothing else will
0:07:27 > 0:07:31and the bamboo, because it grows tall, upright and is steadfast.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39However, there are far more rocks than plants in the garden.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44They're mounted on plinths like statues, or presented on tables for close appreciation.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50The stone here in the Humble Administrator's Garden
0:07:50 > 0:07:52is clearly really dominant
0:07:52 > 0:07:57and most of it is placed in such a way
0:07:57 > 0:08:00as they occupy the space around them.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04And they hold great significance and poise
0:08:04 > 0:08:07and they clearly are saying something.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10The trouble is, I don't know what they're saying.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23So I need an interpreter who will translate for me the language of Chinese rocks.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26I've arranged to meet Mr Wei, who will do the rock speak,
0:08:26 > 0:08:28and Joe, who will do the Chinese part.
0:08:28 > 0:08:35Between them they explain to me the significance of stones in the Chinese garden over a glass of tea.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39If you visit Chinese gardens you will see rocks everywhere
0:08:39 > 0:08:44because the reason for beauty in a garden for the Chinese is related to nature.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51HE SPEAKS CHINESE
0:08:51 > 0:08:57If you look from that direction to here, it's completely just like a mountain shape
0:08:57 > 0:08:58and they are sweet peaks.
0:09:00 > 0:09:06Each of Mr Wei's rocks sit on its own specially carved pedestal.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14The stones not only look like mountains.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19They look like animals, like birds, like human beings, like people.
0:09:19 > 0:09:20SPEAKS CHINESE
0:09:23 > 0:09:25Looks like calligraphy.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28It's just like a painting. Like itself, like painting.
0:09:28 > 0:09:32So it's old trees without leaves.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43So he said that I will make a joke of your guys.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47I myself giving these stones name. It's called Westerners.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58The biggest difference between Westerners and Chinese people is the nose.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01The Westerner has very big nose.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06And then very deep eyes beside.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08Yes, I can see that!
0:10:08 > 0:10:10SPEAKS CHINESE
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Mr Wei then made what I think was a joke.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18He said that if it didn't resemble an Englishman then perhaps it would pass for a German.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20No, I didn't get it either.
0:10:20 > 0:10:26But what or whoever they look like, these stones are valued because they are completely natural.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30We want to leave some space for the imaginations.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34That's the Chinese thinking of beauty - not clear.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37They don't like to see all the things in one time.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45I'm beginning to learn that here in China hints and suggestions
0:10:45 > 0:10:49are considered better guides than obvious directions.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51As Mr Wei put it, in every work of art
0:10:51 > 0:10:55there should be space for the mind to travel between like and dislike.
0:10:55 > 0:11:01He suggested to me that before I leave Suzhou I should visit a nearby garden that is given over entirely
0:11:01 > 0:11:05to the celebration of rocks and stone.
0:11:11 > 0:11:19The Lion Grove Garden was built in 1342 and is the oldest Buddhist temple garden in Suzhou.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Once inside the main gate I then enter a series of small courtyards
0:11:23 > 0:11:29amongst beautiful buildings filled with work celebrating the natural world in every guise.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44The source of inspiration for the gardens
0:11:44 > 0:11:49is exactly the same one as you see in the paintings and calligraphic poems.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53It's always the countryside,
0:11:53 > 0:11:58the natural...the trees and, brilliantly, just slices of tree,
0:11:58 > 0:12:03and then here, amazingly, is probably the most valuable thing of the lot,
0:12:03 > 0:12:10which is just a slab of marble, but it's revered because it looks like a watercolour of mountains.
0:12:10 > 0:12:16And that, to me, makes more sense to me than anything else because you realise
0:12:16 > 0:12:20this happy accident of things that are just hinted at.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23That makes sense, to me, of the gardens and of paintings.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25And this marvellous, fantastic panel
0:12:25 > 0:12:28just of the tops of trees.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34In true Chinese oblique fashion, The Lion Grove Garden was
0:12:34 > 0:12:38originally created to look like a mountain that looked like a lion.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42gnarled, pitted and contorted rocks pile on top of each other
0:12:42 > 0:12:47and every one is supposed to resemble a lion or some part of its anatomy,
0:12:47 > 0:12:50although at times I had to peer hard to see a likeness.
0:12:50 > 0:12:56Now, what...I'm supposed to do to get the most out of this garden
0:12:56 > 0:13:00is to let myself go, to try to lose myself in it.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03And I think that's meant literally
0:13:03 > 0:13:10so that gradually you get confused, you feel lost, displaced, disorientated
0:13:10 > 0:13:14and then when your self disappears, you become one with nature.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20And that way the garden will reveal itself as a spiritual experience.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26The crowds and the noise are fairly unspiritual, but I'll give it a go.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39This kind of garden is known as a 'stroll garden',
0:13:39 > 0:13:42with its winding path representing the Buddhist road to enlightenment.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Oh, look. I wasn't expecting that.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54How bizarre is that?
0:14:03 > 0:14:09This deeply surreal landscape is made from limestone dredged from the bottom of a local lake,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and was created by a Buddhist monk whose teacher, according to Mr Wei,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15who told me the story, rode a lion to the site of the garden
0:14:15 > 0:14:18where it promptly lay down and refused to move.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Then it shook its mane and the hairs flew out,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24and when they touched the ground each one turned into a lion cub.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28And the monks felt that this was a very auspicious thing,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31so they created this Lion's Grove garden
0:14:31 > 0:14:36with all these lions growing out of the stone, to celebrate that.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59All plants are carefully trained and pruned
0:14:59 > 0:15:03to mimic the weather-beaten trees of the wild,
0:15:03 > 0:15:08and, despite the odd splash of yellow jasmine, the effect is overwhelmingly grey.
0:15:09 > 0:15:15It's like bone on a shore that's been bleached by sea and sun.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17But it's not dreary at all.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19The monochrome is actually rather good.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22It looks like a nice black and white picture.
0:15:22 > 0:15:28To my very western eye, this is a wonderfully kitsch extravaganza
0:15:28 > 0:15:35whose seed, visually at least, falls from the same plant as the Victorian stumpery or the Georgian Grotto.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38It is odd, baroque and culturally confusing.
0:15:40 > 0:15:47If I seem slightly less than enthusiastic about this garden it's not because I don't like it,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49it's bafflement more than anything else.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53Thinking about what Mr Wei was saying about stones,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56how that they're valued because they suggest the natural world.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58They hint at it.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03I think the next place that I need to go is the natural world itself
0:16:03 > 0:16:06and go out into the Chinese countryside
0:16:06 > 0:16:10in order that I can understand these gardens a bit better.
0:16:13 > 0:16:17So next morning I take a bus trip 70 miles west
0:16:17 > 0:16:22to the city of Huangshan in Anhui Province,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25an area revered by Chinese artists for its natural beauty.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32I visit the old neighbourhood of Tungshi
0:16:32 > 0:16:35and meet up with a local guide named Johnson
0:16:35 > 0:16:41who told me that the area is famous for its calligraphers and watercolour painters.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45He introduces me to a highly acclaimed local artist whose work is directly inspired
0:16:45 > 0:16:49by the same landscape that I've come to see.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58Chinese gardens seems to have been inspired by paintings.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Perhaps you can tell me a bit about this.
0:17:03 > 0:17:09TRANSLATION: The garden, according to my understanding,
0:17:09 > 0:17:13is a kind of wish by people to have a better environment.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16For example, in Suzhou
0:17:16 > 0:17:23some of the gardens were designed first by the painters...
0:17:24 > 0:17:27and thus they are closely related.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35One of the very important guidelines of Chinese painting
0:17:35 > 0:17:41is the harmony between nature and the human beings.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43The same is true with the gardens.
0:17:45 > 0:17:51And, for example, this is just an ordinary pine tree, right?
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Actually, this pine tree is nationwide famous tree.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59It's called the Welcoming Guest Pine.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04Just like you meet an old friend who's give you a big hug.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09And we'll find almost the same element in the Chinese gardens.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14So there seems to be a clear line from Huangshang
0:18:14 > 0:18:19to the art to the gardens.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23I agree with you 100%.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33So, if the ancient gardens were inspired by even older paintings of a particular landscape
0:18:33 > 0:18:39that remains a profound inspiration to artists to the present day, I had to go and see it for myself.
0:18:42 > 0:18:48These are the Yellow Mountains - a range with 77 peaks in its 60 square miles.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55It's amazing to see the way the trees are growing out of solid rock.
0:18:58 > 0:19:05Look at that tree - it's exactly like the trees pruned in the gardens in Souzhou.
0:19:05 > 0:19:11That is the effect they are going for with such art and care reproducing it.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13That explains everything.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Ooh! Ooh, ooh, ooh!
0:19:29 > 0:19:31How about that?
0:19:39 > 0:19:43That's as staggering a piece of landscape as I've ever seen in my life.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49You see... You see the paintings
0:19:49 > 0:19:54and you see the gardens and they, they seem to be...
0:19:54 > 0:20:00a caricature almost. Almost a cartoon image of mountains.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04Then you realise you haven't seen the half of it. That's it.
0:20:04 > 0:20:05Blimey, blimey, blimey.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14This pine is the welcome pine that's in Mr Yu's painting.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18This scene with the sets going up, it's exactly what he's painted.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21If you want to understand the gardens, you have to come here,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24which makes it a bit tricky for the average garden visitor,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27but that's the way it has to be, I think.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Oh, wow! Look at that tree.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54You see, seeing it growing out of a rock like that,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58immediately I understand what they call Penjing here in China,
0:20:58 > 0:20:59or Bonsai in Japan.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04The sort of stunted growth that is probably hundreds of years old.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Completely makes sense of why they go to such trouble
0:21:08 > 0:21:11to reproduce that and why they're so valuable.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15They're called the Yellow Mountains, because in the 8th century,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19it was thought the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan became an immortal here.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22So as well as being beautiful, this landscape
0:21:22 > 0:21:25inspires right mindedness and spiritual purity.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30All these padlocks.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Rather bizarre, strung out in swags like this.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36But there's a rather sweet story behind them.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Lovers come here with this fantastic view,
0:21:40 > 0:21:45and they put a padlock on with both their names engraved onto the padlock,
0:21:45 > 0:21:50lock it and throw away the key, and the union can't be broken
0:21:50 > 0:21:54until they find that same key and unlock the padlock.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59And it's a hell of a drop down there, so it's a big commitment.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17When you come up here and see this for yourself, you realise instantly
0:22:17 > 0:22:22why this has had such a profound influence on Chinese art and culture.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25To look back up at the mountains and know this is here
0:22:25 > 0:22:29would be like treasure. And you'd want to capture it,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33you'd want to paint it all your life, want to make a garden
0:22:33 > 0:22:37that held that secret of this place, because it is magical.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41I've never seen anything like it on this planet.
0:22:50 > 0:22:57My visit to the Yellow Mountains has provided me with a key to unlock Chinese gardens.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00And now, before I go on to my destination in Japan,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03I want to visit perhaps the grandest of them all.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06So I head north to the Chinese capital Beijing.
0:23:13 > 0:23:18Beijing is a city that has seen much change and turmoil
0:23:18 > 0:23:21over the centuries, including warring imperial dynasties,
0:23:21 > 0:23:26a Japanese invasion in WWII and the Cultural Revolution of the '60s,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29when the Communist Government, under Chairman Mao,
0:23:29 > 0:23:34systematically destroyed much of the country's cultural heritage.
0:23:34 > 0:23:40I was 21 when Mao died and so, I was a boy and a teenager throughout the Cultural Revolution.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43And the thought of visiting China then was impossible,
0:23:43 > 0:23:48it was so remote and rather a frightening hostile place
0:23:48 > 0:23:52and although it was 30 years ago now, it seems like yesterday.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56So just to be here is astonishing!
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Today, China is going through a very different cultural revolution,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07one of intense industrialisation and massive economic growth.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14With the city hosting the 2008 Olympics,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18the entire country has become much more accessible for tourists,
0:24:18 > 0:24:23and this is why I can easily come here to visit one of China's most spectacular gardens.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44The reason why I've chosen to come to this particular garden is because I want to see
0:24:44 > 0:24:47if that line that, to me, was so clear from the Yellow Mountains
0:24:47 > 0:24:51to the gardens of Suzhou runs to the Imperial Gardens.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54After all, Imperial China was the dominant force.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59You can't ignore that, whether you're talking about gardens or any other aspect of China.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03In fact, come through the gate, the first thing I see
0:25:03 > 0:25:06is a rock with pine branches coming down.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Straight from the Yellow Mountains, I think.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17The New Imperial Summer Palace is the largest imperial garden in China.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22It was built just outside the city, as the summer retreat for the imperial family,
0:25:22 > 0:25:27away from the heat and noise of the Forbidden City right in the middle of Beijing.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30In the 21st century, that retreat is now visited
0:25:30 > 0:25:35by over five million visitors, mostly Chinese, every year.
0:25:39 > 0:25:46My first impression of this on this pearly winter's morning is absolutely beautiful!
0:25:46 > 0:25:53A lovely place. But it is vast and I bought, on my way in, a map.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56So I think I need to get my bearings.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Ooh, the stone's cold. Let me just see.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04If I put my notebook on there... OK, here we are.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09I am there and, you can see, that's just one tiny part.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13The garden is 700 acres big, at least,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17of which the lake is three-quarters.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22So you can see that, compared to the Suzhou gardens,
0:26:22 > 0:26:27it's unimaginably vast. Um... But I've got all day.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34The first garden was made here in the beginning of the 12th century,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37about 50 years after the Norman conquest of England,
0:26:37 > 0:26:42and it is an accretion of over 800 years of use and misuse.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Big in space, time and concept.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53This bridge spans the canal that Kublai Khan built
0:26:53 > 0:26:56to link the palace to the Forbidden City.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01And the emperor would have come from the Forbidden City, down the canal,
0:27:01 > 0:27:06which looks pretty worldly, under this extraordinary bridge
0:27:06 > 0:27:11and enter the fairyland and magical space of the palace.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Like the gardens of Suzhou,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35the Summer Palace was built on Buddhist and Taoist beliefs.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40But everything is on an almost unimaginably grand scale, especially the lake.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43This was enlarged in the Qing Dynasty,
0:27:43 > 0:27:47round about 1750, by the Emperor Qianlong,
0:27:47 > 0:27:52who employed 10,000 labourers to dig it out and turn it into a peach shape
0:27:52 > 0:27:54to celebrate his mother's 60th birthday.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57The peach being a Chinese symbol of longevity.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00With the spoil from the lake, he created three islands
0:28:00 > 0:28:03which represent famous mythical mountains.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08And to the side, he heightened a mound and named that Longevity Hill,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11again to symbolise long life on this Earth and after death.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21Well, this is it. This is the big viewpoint to see the whole garden,
0:28:21 > 0:28:26except, for the day that I come to see the garden, there's a thick fog.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30The cold air, thick with pollution, might not have been healthy,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33but it did give the Summer Palace a ghostly beauty.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36Sun would have made it all too tangible.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39What I can't see, I don't know. What I can see
0:28:39 > 0:28:43looks exactly like some of the paintings
0:28:43 > 0:28:47showing the mountains just coming out of the cloud.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03In the 19th century, a long corridor was built
0:29:03 > 0:29:06to view the garden in wet weather,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09and it's covered in an altogether less ethereal art.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13And it's 728 metres long,
0:29:13 > 0:29:16with 273 of these individual sections,
0:29:16 > 0:29:20with this idea that every single section frames a view.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22And all the way along, it's painted.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27There are over 8,000 paintings, each one of which is telling a story.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Now, clearly, a 700-acre garden
0:29:34 > 0:29:37can't be encapsulated in a single visit,
0:29:37 > 0:29:40especially if it's shrouded in enveloping haze.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42But the impression of it is unforgettable,
0:29:42 > 0:29:46even if that is made up of snatched glimpses through the mist.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50You know, in a way, I'm glad that it's been
0:29:50 > 0:29:56such a grey, wintry day on my visit to the Summer Palace,
0:29:56 > 0:30:01because, all day long, the sky and the water have merged
0:30:01 > 0:30:06and the bare branches and the reflection and the silhouette of the buildings
0:30:06 > 0:30:10have created that kind of accidental beauty,
0:30:10 > 0:30:15which seems to me the essence of what is trying to be achieved in Chinese gardens
0:30:15 > 0:30:17and that's been a big revelation for me.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20I feel it has equipped me much better now to go to Japan
0:30:20 > 0:30:24and see the way they have developed their gardens from the same influences,
0:30:24 > 0:30:28but on parallel lines, to arrive at a slightly different place.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36So I'm off. Heading east this time.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Bound for Kyoto in Japan to see some of its gardens
0:30:39 > 0:30:42with the fresh experience of China hopefully equipping me
0:30:42 > 0:30:46to come closer to the bewildering but beautiful emptiness of Zen.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51And although the Chinese influence was profound and initiated gardening in Japan,
0:30:51 > 0:30:56the Japanese took what they wanted from it and quickly developed their own distinct style.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01If you want to see the great Zen gardens, then Kyoto is where you have to go.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04It was founded in 794, when Buddhism,
0:31:04 > 0:31:08one of those key new influences, was flourishing in China.
0:31:09 > 0:31:15Kyoto was the imperial city and capital of Japan until 1868,
0:31:15 > 0:31:19as well as the cultural and artistic heart of the country,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24where the high arts of theatre, music and gardening were widely practised.
0:31:31 > 0:31:36Kyoto is known for its wonderful range of gardens,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40many of which are genuinely ancient and venerable.
0:31:40 > 0:31:47But you arrive in...a big, very contemporary bustling city,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50which, of course, there's no reason why it shouldn't be,
0:31:50 > 0:31:53but, er, it's not quite what I had imagined.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03However, there are over 2,000 temples and shrines here today,
0:32:03 > 0:32:08almost all of which have gardens. But in this densely populated city,
0:32:08 > 0:32:10which is squeezed between the mountains,
0:32:10 > 0:32:14buildings and gardens are scaled right down.
0:32:14 > 0:32:19Not an inch of space is wasted and even the tiniest nooks and crannies
0:32:19 > 0:32:22are all planted up in exquisite detail.
0:32:22 > 0:32:28Look at this. A little garden with a pond and, look, goldfish.
0:32:28 > 0:32:34Goldfish in a pond on the street just outside the shop and it overflows into the drain.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37Such attention to detail.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39It's charming.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45There are still indications of the Chinese influences everywhere.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49Pine trees, the Chinese symbol of strength and longevity, are common,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52pruned and trained to the last pine needle.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56This pine, with it's very carefully trained head,
0:32:56 > 0:32:58seems beautiful, but not that significant,
0:32:58 > 0:33:04until your realise the branch, which runs right along the frontage is...
0:33:04 > 0:33:06a welcome branch.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21But it is the enigmatic Zen gardens that I have really come to visit.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23And as a result of what I have
0:33:23 > 0:33:28already seen on this journey, I hope that they might now make a kind of sense.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38Having seen the Yellow Mountains and having visited China...
0:33:40 > 0:33:42..it's fallen into place.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44It sounds arrogant to say that I understand it
0:33:44 > 0:33:48and I'm not pretending I've had a moment of profound enlightenment,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51but I feel... I don't need to explain it.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54On one level, these are the Yellow Mountains
0:33:54 > 0:34:00appearing out of a layer of cloud and it just captures that essence,
0:34:00 > 0:34:03that precious fragile reduction,
0:34:03 > 0:34:08and so beautifully holds it in space.
0:34:08 > 0:34:14On another level, I can see that the gravel represents the empty mind
0:34:14 > 0:34:18and the stones and the moss is just moments of perception
0:34:18 > 0:34:21appearing through it and that's all you can do in life.
0:34:21 > 0:34:28But in a way, all that intellectualising doesn't matter, that's not what it's about.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31It just is and when you're here...
0:34:31 > 0:34:33it feels right.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44I made my visit at dawn and had a precious half hour or so on my own there,
0:34:44 > 0:34:49but it was not long before the crowds poured in and the spell was broken.
0:34:56 > 0:35:01It's only a quirk of fate that this or any of the Kyoto gardens survive today.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05It was the intended target for one of the American atom bombs in WWII,
0:35:05 > 0:35:11but was spared thanks to the lobbying of the American Secretary of State for War Harry Stimpson,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15who had visited the city and seen its exceptional cultural richness.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18So the bomb was diverted to Nagasaki.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24So that I can see some of the Zen gardens with more peace and quiet,
0:35:24 > 0:35:27I take a Lucky Clover taxi to an ancient temple complex,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30which is one of the less well-known treasures of Kyoto.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41Oh, look. That is stunning!
0:35:41 > 0:35:46On the way there, we pass through a grove of enormous bamboos.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48I have to stop the cab and have a look.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01So beautiful.
0:36:06 > 0:36:12Bamboo grows freely right across China and Korea and Japan
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and dominates the cultures wherever it grows.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19None more so than in Japan. There are 1,000 different species
0:36:19 > 0:36:22and, they say in Japan, there are 1,000 different uses,
0:36:22 > 0:36:24and you see it everywhere. It's just part of life.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29It's fencing, it's gutters, every tree is supported by bamboo
0:36:29 > 0:36:32and the tea ceremony has the labels made out of bamboo.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36So clearly, it's immensely useful, but it's more than that,
0:36:36 > 0:36:39because it's revered for its qualities
0:36:39 > 0:36:43of uprightness and steadfastness and strength.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47So a grove like this, which is obviously very beautiful,
0:36:47 > 0:36:51is also a place filled with all those qualities
0:36:51 > 0:36:54and walking through it, you absorb some of them.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04Duly fortified by a healthy dose
0:37:04 > 0:37:09of uprightness, steadfastness and strength, I continue my journey,
0:37:09 > 0:37:11going to the Daitokuji Temple Complex,
0:37:11 > 0:37:15which is the destination of my next garden.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19This map gives an idea of the colossal size of the temple complex.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21If I'm there,
0:37:21 > 0:37:25all the area, with its 24 sub temples,
0:37:25 > 0:37:29covers the whole of this vast area.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34These sub temples contain hundreds of Zen gardens,
0:37:34 > 0:37:40which were mostly created during the most violent period in Kyoto's history.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43The first truly Japanese of style garden, the dry garden,
0:37:43 > 0:37:46were commissioned and occasionally created
0:37:46 > 0:37:50by the Samurai warriors of medieval Japanese society,
0:37:50 > 0:37:54who practiced Zen Buddhism and used the gardens as an aid to contemplation
0:37:54 > 0:37:57and an expression of Zen enlightenment.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06I am visiting the oldest group in this complex - Ryogen-in.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20However, my own spiritual journey has to begin
0:38:20 > 0:38:25by trying to squeeze my size 11 feet into dainty Japanese slippers.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29That's not gonna fit, is it?
0:38:30 > 0:38:33I think it's the moment for socks.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40Ryogen-in sub temple was completed in 1505
0:38:40 > 0:38:44and contains five gardens, which surround the central building.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49This is Isshidan, the rock garden.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53Immediately, there's incredible energy created by the gravel
0:38:53 > 0:38:57that's intended to represent the sea
0:38:57 > 0:39:01and the rocks rising like islands out of the sea.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05You can almost feel it bashing and swirling around them.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08And also these stones. Although, to us,
0:39:08 > 0:39:12they are very beautiful, they're completely abstract.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15In fact, they represent the tortoise.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18That group over there with the taller stone is the crane,
0:39:18 > 0:39:22both are symbols of longevity and therefore great good luck.
0:39:22 > 0:39:26Then, in the middle, Mount Horai - the legendary mountain.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31Three elements which you find again and again in dry gardens.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35I love it. I absolutely love it.
0:39:44 > 0:39:50All these gardens are designed to be viewed from the building.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53The buildings are up on platforms
0:39:53 > 0:39:57and so there is this walkway, this very beautiful
0:39:57 > 0:40:01wooden walkway, round the outside from which to view the gardens.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04And you'd never walk out into them unless you are a monk
0:40:04 > 0:40:07and it's your job to tend them.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10The word for this style of gardening is karesansui,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14which literally means a dried-up landscape.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17That does not mean to say that they only used rock and stone,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20but there is no water in their element at all.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27This moss garden has a rock emerging from the centre
0:40:27 > 0:40:31that represents the sacred mountain of Shumisen, which is
0:40:31 > 0:40:33the core of the Buddhist universe.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39You have this enormous idea, the universe,
0:40:39 > 0:40:46and the vast complexity displayed in a relatively small garden using moss and stone.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51In itself, the ambition of that is staggering.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55These gardens are microcosms of Buddhist philosophy.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58The underlying belief is that,
0:40:58 > 0:41:02no matter how big the concept, it can be expressed in a tiny space.
0:41:08 > 0:41:13This is the smallest stone garden in Japan, Totekiko.
0:41:13 > 0:41:20It is a sublime space and obviously, these marvellous floorboards,
0:41:20 > 0:41:24and the stanchions, and the roof, it is all part of the garden.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27The symbolism is all about the stone
0:41:27 > 0:41:31dropping in the water and spreading a ripple.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33The ripples spread underneath there
0:41:33 > 0:41:36and you would imagine that would be a caper doing that.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40One of the difficult aspects of Zen is you really can't talk about it.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43Words are not the appropriate medium,
0:41:43 > 0:41:48but this little garden is an almost perfect description of Zen.
0:41:48 > 0:41:55It displays the fact that every tiny act has a consequence.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58Every drop in the water casts a ripple
0:41:58 > 0:42:04and if all your life is a series of incidents, however small,
0:42:04 > 0:42:08everything affects you and everybody else.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12And that's all here. That's all here in this garden.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24The dry gardens are designed specifically to aid contemplation.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26But over on the other side of Kyoto
0:42:26 > 0:42:29is another kind of Zen garden that I want to visit
0:42:29 > 0:42:33that involves a more physical engagement through the sharing of ritual.
0:42:34 > 0:42:41On my way there, I find myself in the middle of Japan's biggest annual horticultural jamboree.
0:42:41 > 0:42:45The cherry blossom is just starting to bloom.
0:42:45 > 0:42:51This is a moment of great joy because it signifies the arrival of spring, albeit a rather chilly one,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55and an optimistic symbol of new beginnings.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Hanami means cherry blossom viewing, which is the traditional
0:43:00 > 0:43:03Japanese celebration of the flowering of the spring season.
0:43:03 > 0:43:06Hanami has been widely practised since the eighth century,
0:43:06 > 0:43:11when Japanese nobles would recite poetry beneath the flowering canopies.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32Having paid my respects to the wonder of cherry blossom,
0:43:32 > 0:43:39I travel on to a garden created for the best-known of Japan's Zen rituals - the tea ceremony.
0:43:46 > 0:43:50The gardens of the tea ceremony began to appear in Kyoto
0:43:50 > 0:43:55at the beginning of the peaceful Edo period, which began in 1603.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04- Hello.- Hello. Please come in.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09Tea was introduced to Japan from China in the ninth century
0:44:09 > 0:44:12and was first used in religious rituals in Buddhist monasteries.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15The samurai took this up, with other aspects of Zen,
0:44:15 > 0:44:20and the tea ceremony evolved as a ritualistic practice of its own.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22Urasenke is one of the three founding schools
0:44:22 > 0:44:27which performed this ritual, called Chado, which is the way of tea.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29Their garden is designed to induce
0:44:29 > 0:44:33the right frame of mind with which to take part in the ceremony.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29The tea garden is quite small,
0:45:29 > 0:45:33about the same size in fact as many a British back garden.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36The layout is designed around a winding path,
0:45:36 > 0:45:40which is intended to reshape your sense of time.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43The slippery, irregularly spaced stepping stones
0:45:43 > 0:45:47are deliberately intended to slow down your advance into the garden.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53In Britain, moss is one of the gardener's major headaches.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57Here, it is nurtured and cultivated down the years
0:45:57 > 0:46:00as carefully as any prize lawn.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28Every tiny detail has meaning.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31Paths that are not to be followed
0:46:31 > 0:46:34are marked by a rock tied with thick black twine.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37Even these are elegant works of art.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44The wash basin is for the host and his guests to wash their hands and mouths
0:46:44 > 0:46:48to purify themselves before entering the tea house.
0:47:31 > 0:47:37Once inside, the dauntingly sober and refined tea ceremony takes place.
0:47:37 > 0:47:43It cannot be exaggerated how particular the attention to detail is within the ritual
0:47:43 > 0:47:47or how much my knees were hurting at this stage!
0:47:48 > 0:47:51Green powdered tea is whisked to a precise froth
0:47:51 > 0:47:53then handed to the guest to drink
0:47:53 > 0:47:56and while this is happening the path is being sprinkled again.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59This preening continues throughout the guest's stay
0:47:59 > 0:48:03because a slip in presentation could be misread as an insult.
0:48:03 > 0:48:08Mindful of that sensitivity, I tried to hide the fact that the tea tastes, well...
0:48:08 > 0:48:09awful!
0:48:10 > 0:48:14It is strange, but...interesting.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23Everything in this garden is controlled and constrained.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27Every plant is clipped, tied and twisted.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29Every stone is positioned.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34But it's as though there's a great tension
0:48:34 > 0:48:39between the Japanese reverence for ritual and the old...
0:48:41 > 0:48:46..and their love of the new and of innovation because, of course, plants keep growing.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48They're always renewing themselves.
0:48:48 > 0:48:54And that tension that you feel, if the pressure was taken off, it would burst apart,
0:48:54 > 0:48:59is what gives this place, and, perhaps, Japanese culture, a sort of suppressed energy.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01It's certainly fascinating.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16So far, I've glimpsed some of the origins of Japanese gardens and traced their unbroken tradition,
0:49:16 > 0:49:20that is much older than any surviving European garden.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24But I would also like to see a modern Zen garden, something that
0:49:24 > 0:49:29relates to Japan's love of innovation as well as its ancient traditions.
0:49:31 > 0:49:33- I thought this was nice. - It is beautiful.
0:49:33 > 0:49:38'In the city centre, I meet up with Yukiko, a Japanese interpreter, who says that
0:49:38 > 0:49:42'she will show me a temple that did dare to try something different and modern.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46'But before that, I am hungry and as an antidote to the slow ritual
0:49:46 > 0:49:51'of the tea ceremony we decide to grab some Japanese fast food.'
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Would you say that this was traditional food?
0:49:54 > 0:50:00Yes, very traditional. Everybody has it because it is a very easy lunch food.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03Yes, go ahead, and you can slurp it.
0:50:04 > 0:50:07Men, you have to show masculinity.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10You show your masculinity by having a good slurp.
0:50:12 > 0:50:14Is that the way to do it?
0:50:15 > 0:50:18It wouldn't go down well with Mrs Don, I can tell you!
0:50:18 > 0:50:21I was watching someone the other day, actually...
0:50:25 > 0:50:27How was that? Slurp-tastic?
0:50:27 > 0:50:29That was very good.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32That was very good.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35That was very Japanese.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39It is delicious and I happily slurp it all!
0:50:39 > 0:50:43Then we head for a temple garden, where the creator had the courage
0:50:43 > 0:50:47to break with tradition and modernise the concept of the dry landscape garden.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51In its time, this was truly revolutionary.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02Tofuku-ji is the head temple of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04Although built in 1236,
0:51:04 > 0:51:08it is renowned for its controversial 20th-century Zen gardens.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17In 1939, these were designed and built by the late Mirei Shigemori,
0:51:17 > 0:51:20a landscape architect and scholar, whose work retained
0:51:20 > 0:51:25the traditional Japanese forms and yet eagerly embraced Western modernity.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30The first thing that hits me is the scale is magnificent.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36That is helped by the context - the buildings in this temple complex
0:51:36 > 0:51:42are huge, clean scalloping lines with very powerful uprights.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46The stones match that with strength and vigour.
0:51:48 > 0:51:54Although to the uninformed Western eye the garden seems conventional, it created an uproar.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57The stones were unusually numerous
0:51:57 > 0:52:00and, most shocking of all to the traditionalists,
0:52:00 > 0:52:03many are lying on their sides instead of vertically.
0:52:03 > 0:52:08This might seem slight, but it was a dramatic break with tradition.
0:52:08 > 0:52:10After a fire in the 1930s,
0:52:10 > 0:52:14Mirei Shigemori designed the gardens free of charge
0:52:14 > 0:52:19to help fund the new landscaping on the understanding that his work wouldn't be altered in any way,
0:52:19 > 0:52:24and the temple agreed, as long as the materials reclaimed from the fire were recycled.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29Although the abbot and monks accepted his designs,
0:52:29 > 0:52:31the public were traumatised.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35Some stones were not natural, but had been worked by hand.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40Azaleas were clipped into man-made shapes.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45And the moss grows in geometric rather than organic patterns.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48Why did this upset so many people?
0:52:48 > 0:52:54Shigemori's grandson, a well-known garden designer in his own right, has come to Tofuku-ji
0:52:54 > 0:52:58to explain the background to his grandfather's intriguing garden.
0:52:58 > 0:53:01What was the reaction to his design?
0:53:01 > 0:53:03HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Actually, the response was awful
0:53:09 > 0:53:16because Tofuku-ji is a very old, traditional, historical temple.
0:53:20 > 0:53:27As you can see, you know, he made a garden which has lots of new ideas implanted,
0:53:27 > 0:53:30especially the garden in the back.
0:53:30 > 0:53:36People thought he created a Western garden because it had the design like a checkerboard.
0:53:42 > 0:53:47That checkerboard design is actually a traditional Japanese design,
0:53:47 > 0:53:53but the general people did not know that and so the reputation was awful then.
0:53:57 > 0:54:01The real reason why people were so upset is because he introduced
0:54:01 > 0:54:05Western techniques into sacred temple space.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08Shigemori believed that contemporary Japanese gardens of his day
0:54:08 > 0:54:12had become meaningless imitations of the past.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16He wanted to create a new temple garden that was relevant to modern life,
0:54:16 > 0:54:21just exactly as the venerated old ones had been in their day.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30You can see why his designs may have been misinterpreted by some Japanese critics
0:54:30 > 0:54:33as being too Western, a terrible rebuke back then.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37However, this checkerboard pattern is actually traditional,
0:54:37 > 0:54:40found on kimonos, paper screens and tea houses.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45The big symbolic ideas of Zen are still inherent in the design.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48Which I think is just fabulous.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52The squares continue picking up the traditional pattern,
0:54:52 > 0:54:55which have never been seen in a garden, let alone a temple garden.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59But gradually the regularity dissipates
0:54:59 > 0:55:01and if you look carefully
0:55:01 > 0:55:05you'll see the moss gets lower and lower and merges into the gravel.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09The grids are lost and then they just blow apart into nothingness,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12but, of course, but nothingness
0:55:12 > 0:55:17is just as much something as the ordered world. Well...
0:55:17 > 0:55:23whatever interpretation you put on it, I do think that it is inspiring,
0:55:23 > 0:55:24it's beautiful,
0:55:24 > 0:55:30and seems to me to be completely in place in this temple setting.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38This moss garden effectively broke Japanese garden design free
0:55:38 > 0:55:40from the shackles of tradition.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43At first, it was considered profoundly shocking,
0:55:43 > 0:55:46but now it is the most famous 20th-century Japanese garden.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49But what of the 21st century?
0:55:49 > 0:55:53Can you see somebody like your grandfather
0:55:53 > 0:55:56coming along and designing a garden
0:55:56 > 0:56:01in a temple that would be as radical and as thought-provoking
0:56:01 > 0:56:03as this one?
0:56:04 > 0:56:06HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:56:10 > 0:56:13Yes, I think that can happen, and it should happen.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21Already, this garden here is 70 years old.
0:56:21 > 0:56:26And at that time it might have been modern and contemporary.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32But now it's 70 years
0:56:32 > 0:56:33and things are changing.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37There are probably new ideas that should be incorporated.
0:56:41 > 0:56:46Unfortunately, there hasn't been anything done so far yet.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53So far, there haven't been many changes, but it should happen.
0:56:55 > 0:56:56Now your turn!
0:56:56 > 0:56:58SHE SPEAKS JAPANESE
0:56:59 > 0:57:02Yes, I'll try my best.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14I set out on this journey confident that I would admire and enjoy
0:57:14 > 0:57:17the gardens of China and Japan, but also feeling that
0:57:17 > 0:57:21they were a riddle that I didn't have the answer to.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24The yellow mountains changed everything for me and helped to
0:57:24 > 0:57:27explain how, via their painters and poets,
0:57:27 > 0:57:31Chinese gardens are created to distil the pure essence of nature.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37The Zen gardens of Japan are still an enigma.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41There is no easy answer, but perhaps no hard one either.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45I think I'm missing the point if I struggle to interpret these gardens.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48The best way to explain them seems to be like this.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50When you're working in the garden
0:57:50 > 0:57:52and there is just a moment,
0:57:52 > 0:57:57of bird song or a shaft of light, or sometimes
0:57:57 > 0:58:01you're just planting something and all feels well with the world,
0:58:01 > 0:58:06you know that, just for a few seconds, it's perfection.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11Well, that seems to me what Zen is all about.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15And it's very accessible. We all know it.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17It's finding it that's the trouble.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29Next time, I'll be visiting the Mediterranean.
0:58:29 > 0:58:34The home of some of the world's most famous gardens and a region
0:58:34 > 0:58:37where two great cultures have battled it out for a millennium.
0:59:03 > 0:59:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:06 > 0:59:09E-mail: subtitling@bbc.co.uk