Mirei Shigemori
Encyclopedia
Mirei Shigemori (1896–1975) was a notable modern Japanese landscape architect
and historian of Japanese gardens.
Mirei Shigemori was a garden designer who actively participated in many areas of Japanese art and design. Shigemori was born in Kayō
, Jōbō District
, Okayama Prefecture, and in his youth was exposed to lessons in traditional tea ceremony
and flower arrangement
, as well as landscape
ink and wash painting
. In 1917, he entered the Tokyo Fine Arts School to study nihonga
, or Japanese painting, and later completed a graduate degree from the Department of Research. In the early 1920s, he tried extensively to found a school of Japanese Culture, Bunka Daigakuin to synthesize the teaching of culture, but was foiled by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake
, which forced him to move back to his hometown near Kyoto
.
He also intended to create a new style of ikebana
,or flower arrangement, and produced art criticism and history writings, including the Complete Works of Japanese Flower Arrangement Art published in 1930, and the New Ikebana Declaration written with Sofu Teshigahara and Bunpo Nakayama in 1933. Throughout his later gardening career, he maintained a voice in avant garde criticism of ikebana through publishing Ikebana Geijutsu magazine beginning in 1950, and through the founding of an ikebana study group called Byakutosha in 1949.
At the same time, he cultivated an interest and knowledge in traditional Japanese gardens. He co-founded the Kyoto Rinsen Kyokai with others in 1932. After the destruction caused by the Muroto typhoon in 1934, he began a survey of significant gardens in Japan. In 1938, he finished publishing the 26-volume Illustrated Book on the History of the Japanese Garden, an unprecedented and meticulous documentation of major gardens in the country which he revised in 1971, shortly before his death.
He began practicing as a garden designer in 1914 with a garden and tea room on his family’s property. His first major work was a design for the garden at Tofuku-ji Temple in 1939. He designed 240 gardens, and worked mostly in karesansui, or dry landscape gardens. Many of his gardens are on existing religious sites, but a few of his works are in cultural or commercial settings. He also collaborated with Isamu Noguchi
in choosing stones for the UNESCO Garden in Paris.
He was trained in nihonga
, or Japanese painting, and drew on the traditional arts of ikebana
(flower arrangement), and chado (tea ceremony), and Shinto
, Buddhist, and Taoist cosmological ideas in his work. At the same time, his work is closely tied to theories of the Primitive Modern explored by artists and architects like Isamu Noguchi
, Kenzo Tange
, and ikebana artists Sofu Teishigahara and Shuzo Takiguchi. This movement drew on the energy of Japanese prehistoric arts of the Yayoi and Jomon periods, and allowed artists to “radicalize existing practices within the Japanese framework and thereby transcend the dichotomy of Japanese ‘tradition’ and western ‘modernity’.” In his gardens, Shigemori recovers the primordial power that the Shinto tradition attributed to nature, yet works as a modernist artist-hero to innovate a traditional Japanese garden typology.
The text he wrote in 1971, titled the Shin Sakuteiki, summarizes his attitudes towards Japanese garden making in the 20th century. He noted that contemporary approaches to Japanese landscape design gravitated to two extremes. Traditionalists revered the built cultural environment, and strictly imitated their forms, and hoped that the use of these forms would “restore the values, ethics, and behaviors of the past.” On the other hand, modernists saw the past as a relic, or obstacle to be discarded, and old forms were seen as a “negative against which to measure progress.” In his argument, Shigemori argued for a hybrid approach, in which the past would inform and give cultural resonance to present developments in form. He advocated for studying the past masters, and that designers should “emulate their way to invention rather than the results achieved, (so) gardenmakers could distill the most valuable inspiration for their work.” Shigemori’s work reflects this idea of culturally grounded innovation. He spoke extensively of the growing estrangement between people and the primordial power of nature, and his gardens are full of hybrid symbols that seek to reveal the cultural and natural histories their sites. Traditional garden forms are reinterpreted with modern materials and attempt to reengage the viewer with the ever developing continuum of Japanese culture.
Tofuku-ji Hojo, 1939
Kishiwada-jo, 1953
Maegaki Residence,1955
Kogawa Residence, 1958-65
Zuiho-in, 1961
Kozen-ji, 1963
Ryogin-an, 1964
Kitano Bijutsukan, 1965
Sumiyoshi Shrine, 1966
Sekizo-ji, 1972
Yurin no Niwa, 1969
Tenrai-an, 1969
Ashida Residence, 1971
Hōkoku Shrine, 1972
Fukuchi-in, 1973
Matsuo-taisha, 1975
Landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....
and historian of Japanese gardens.
Life and career
Kayo, Okayama
was a town located in Jōbō District, Okayama, Japan.On October 1, 2004 Kayō was merged with the town of Kamogawa, from Mitsu District, to form the new town of Kibichūō....
, Jōbō District
Jobo District, Okayama
was a district located in Okayama, Japan.As of 2003, the district had an estimated population of 16,967 and a density of 69.13 persons per km². The total area was 245.45 km².This district was dissolved on 31 March 2005.-Towns and villages:...
, Okayama Prefecture, and in his youth was exposed to lessons in traditional tea ceremony
Japanese tea ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony, also called the Way of Tea, is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha, powdered green tea. In Japanese, it is called . The manner in which it is performed, or the art of its performance, is called...
and flower arrangement
Ikebana
is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as .-Etymology:"Ikebana" is from the Japanese and . Possible translations include "giving life to flowers" and "arranging flowers".- Approach :...
, as well as landscape
Shan shui
Shan shui refers to a style of Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. Mountains, rivers and often waterfalls are prominent in this art form.-History:...
ink and wash painting
Ink and wash painting
Ink and wash painting is an East Asian type of brush painting also known as ink wash painting. Only black ink — the same as used in East Asian calligraphy — is used, in various concentrations....
. In 1917, he entered the Tokyo Fine Arts School to study nihonga
Nihonga
or literally "Japanese-style paintings" is a term used to describe paintings that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials...
, or Japanese painting, and later completed a graduate degree from the Department of Research. In the early 1920s, he tried extensively to found a school of Japanese Culture, Bunka Daigakuin to synthesize the teaching of culture, but was foiled by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake
1923 Great Kanto earthquake
The struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes...
, which forced him to move back to his hometown near Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
.
He also intended to create a new style of ikebana
Ikebana
is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as .-Etymology:"Ikebana" is from the Japanese and . Possible translations include "giving life to flowers" and "arranging flowers".- Approach :...
,or flower arrangement, and produced art criticism and history writings, including the Complete Works of Japanese Flower Arrangement Art published in 1930, and the New Ikebana Declaration written with Sofu Teshigahara and Bunpo Nakayama in 1933. Throughout his later gardening career, he maintained a voice in avant garde criticism of ikebana through publishing Ikebana Geijutsu magazine beginning in 1950, and through the founding of an ikebana study group called Byakutosha in 1949.
At the same time, he cultivated an interest and knowledge in traditional Japanese gardens. He co-founded the Kyoto Rinsen Kyokai with others in 1932. After the destruction caused by the Muroto typhoon in 1934, he began a survey of significant gardens in Japan. In 1938, he finished publishing the 26-volume Illustrated Book on the History of the Japanese Garden, an unprecedented and meticulous documentation of major gardens in the country which he revised in 1971, shortly before his death.
He began practicing as a garden designer in 1914 with a garden and tea room on his family’s property. His first major work was a design for the garden at Tofuku-ji Temple in 1939. He designed 240 gardens, and worked mostly in karesansui, or dry landscape gardens. Many of his gardens are on existing religious sites, but a few of his works are in cultural or commercial settings. He also collaborated with Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi
was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
in choosing stones for the UNESCO Garden in Paris.
Design Philosophy
Shigemori’s work and writings reflect and interface with the changing political and cultural framework of Japan during his life. Kendall Brown, in his preface to Mirei Shigemori: Rebel in the Garden notes that “Shigemori embodies the central artistic quest of his era – a new direction in Japanese creativity founded on the desire to overcome a fundamental tension between the perceived polarities of dynamic Western Culture and the relative stasis attributed to the Asian tradition.”He was trained in nihonga
Nihonga
or literally "Japanese-style paintings" is a term used to describe paintings that have been made in accordance with traditional Japanese artistic conventions, techniques and materials...
, or Japanese painting, and drew on the traditional arts of ikebana
Ikebana
is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as .-Etymology:"Ikebana" is from the Japanese and . Possible translations include "giving life to flowers" and "arranging flowers".- Approach :...
(flower arrangement), and chado (tea ceremony), and Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
, Buddhist, and Taoist cosmological ideas in his work. At the same time, his work is closely tied to theories of the Primitive Modern explored by artists and architects like Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi
was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
, Kenzo Tange
Kenzo Tange
was a Japanese architect, and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most significant architects of the 20th century, combining traditional Japanese styles with modernism, and designed major buildings on five continents. Tange was also an influential protagonist of...
, and ikebana artists Sofu Teishigahara and Shuzo Takiguchi. This movement drew on the energy of Japanese prehistoric arts of the Yayoi and Jomon periods, and allowed artists to “radicalize existing practices within the Japanese framework and thereby transcend the dichotomy of Japanese ‘tradition’ and western ‘modernity’.” In his gardens, Shigemori recovers the primordial power that the Shinto tradition attributed to nature, yet works as a modernist artist-hero to innovate a traditional Japanese garden typology.
The text he wrote in 1971, titled the Shin Sakuteiki, summarizes his attitudes towards Japanese garden making in the 20th century. He noted that contemporary approaches to Japanese landscape design gravitated to two extremes. Traditionalists revered the built cultural environment, and strictly imitated their forms, and hoped that the use of these forms would “restore the values, ethics, and behaviors of the past.” On the other hand, modernists saw the past as a relic, or obstacle to be discarded, and old forms were seen as a “negative against which to measure progress.” In his argument, Shigemori argued for a hybrid approach, in which the past would inform and give cultural resonance to present developments in form. He advocated for studying the past masters, and that designers should “emulate their way to invention rather than the results achieved, (so) gardenmakers could distill the most valuable inspiration for their work.” Shigemori’s work reflects this idea of culturally grounded innovation. He spoke extensively of the growing estrangement between people and the primordial power of nature, and his gardens are full of hybrid symbols that seek to reveal the cultural and natural histories their sites. Traditional garden forms are reinterpreted with modern materials and attempt to reengage the viewer with the ever developing continuum of Japanese culture.
Major Projects
Kasuga Taisha,1934Tofuku-ji Hojo, 1939
Kishiwada-jo, 1953
Maegaki Residence,1955
Kogawa Residence, 1958-65
Zuiho-in, 1961
Kozen-ji, 1963
Ryogin-an, 1964
Kitano Bijutsukan, 1965
Sumiyoshi Shrine, 1966
Sekizo-ji, 1972
Yurin no Niwa, 1969
Tenrai-an, 1969
Ashida Residence, 1971
Hōkoku Shrine, 1972
Fukuchi-in, 1973
Matsuo-taisha, 1975
Books by Shigemori Translated into English
- Shigemori, Mirei. Gardens of Japan. Vol. 1. Kyoto: Nissha, 1949.
- Shigemori, Mirei and Hashizume Mitsuharu. The Art of Flower Arrangement in Japan. Kyoto: Kasuke Murakami, 1933.