Sakuteiki: Visions of the Japanese Garden: A Modern Translation of Japan's Gardening Classic

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Jiro Takei Marc Peter Keane

Sakuteiki

Name: Sakuteiki
Price: 34.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9784805319314

Visions of the Japanese Garden: A Modern Translation of Japan's Gardening Classic

Jiro Takei, Marc Peter Keane, Hugo Torii

$34.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

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English

TUTTLE PUBLISHING
01 April 2026

Art & Architecture; Reference works; Garden design & planning

Series: Tuttle Classics

The Sakuteiki, or 'Records of Garden Making', was written nearly a thousand years ago. It is the oldest existing text on Japanese gardening

or any kind of gardening

in the world.

In this new edition, the authors provide an English-language translation of this classic work and an introduction to the cultural and historical context that led to the development of Japanese gardening accompanied by drawings, paintings and many new colour photographs.

The new foreword by Japanese garden expert Hugo Torii, the Garden Curator at Portland Japanese Garden, explains the sacred importance of stones in Japanese garden design.

Written by a Japanese court noble during the Heian period (794-1184), the Sakuteiki includes technical advice on gardening

much of it still followed by today's Japanese gardeners

and examines the four central threads of meaning which were central to Heian-era garden design. For those seeking inspiration to build a rock garden or just better understand the Japanese stone garden, the Sakuteiki is an enduring classic.

By: Jiro Takei, Marc Peter Keane
Foreword by: Hugo Torii
Imprint: TUTTLE PUBLISHING
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 203mm, Width: 130mm,
Weight: 482g
ISBN: 9784805319314
ISBN 10: 4805319313
Series: Tuttle Classics
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 01 April 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

The late Jiro Takei, professor emeritus of the Kyoto College of Art, taught a course on the Sakuteiki for many years. Throughout his long and distinguished career, he had been deeply involved in the study of Japanese gardens, as the Chairman of the Japanese Garden Academic Society (Nihon Teien Gakkai), regional chief of the Gardening Academic Society (Zoen Gakkei), and chief researcher of the Research Center for Japanese Garden Art (Nihon Teien Kenkyu Senta). Marc P. Keane is an American landscape architect who has been designing gardens from his studio in Kyoto, Japan for twenty- five years. He is also the author of many books on gardens and nature including Japanese Garden Design (Tuttle). His work can be viewed at www.mpkeane.com Hugo Torii (foreword writer) is the Garden Curator at Portland Japanese Garden (USA). Prior to this, Torii worked at Peter Berg Landscape Design in Rheinland Pfalz, Germany, and at UeyaKato Landscape Co. Ltd. in Kyoto, Japan as a garden designer and builder. He now oversees a dedicated team of gardeners and is actively involved in training programs as well as garden maintenance and projects, keeping in mind short term needs as well as longer term implications for a garden that receives around 500,000 annual visitors.