How to Create a Japanese Tea Garden

To experience and appreciate the essence of a Japanese tea garden you must understand a Japanese culture that links us with nature. However you can mimic the beauty and essence of a Japanese tea garden right in your own yard by incorporating key design elements to create a peaceful sanctuary in just one weekend.

Things You'll Need

• Gazebo or garden canopy
• Stepping stones
• Arbor or garden gate
• Small wash basin
• Stone lantern
• Traditional Japanese seating or table and chairs
• Traditional Japanese garden plants

Instructions

1. Select a small structure with a roof to act as a quiet sanctuary where you can have tea by yourself or with friends. Ready made gazebos or garden party canopies, available in many styles and price ranges, would work very well for your roofed sanctuary.

2. Construct at least two walls for your sanctuary using curtains or bamboo blinds to protect you from wind, rain or snow while still enjoying the solitude of nature.

3. Provide seating and a table for tea. This can be traditional Japanese-style seating with mats, or you can include chairs and a small table if you're going for a more westernized version of a Japanese Tea Garden.

4. Create a narrow, winding path to your sanctuary that mimics a stream bed, using stepping stones or gravel. Start with something simple like putting down some meandering stepping stones, and then add to it over time. Stones are an important element in Japanese gardens, representing something that is permanent, solid and constant.

5. Include an entry to the path using a trellis, arbor or simple gate if you have enough space in your yard. This will serve as the point where you leave the challenges of everyday life behind to enter your inner sanctuary, walk down your winding path through nature and enter a quiet retreat to sip tea.

6. Incorporate at least one stone lantern, either functional or decorative, along your pathway to create the atmosphere of a Japanese tea garden. It will take time to age and weather and become one with your garden.

7. Create a peaceful view of your surroundings using maple trees, shrubs, flowers, mosses and manicured lawns, keeping in mind the minimalist nature of Japanese gardens. Use plants such as pine, bamboo, plum trees, rhododendrons and azaleas.

8. Give equal importance to year round foliage in addition to the blooming season of plants, but don't overcrowd your garden. Less is more in a Japanese tea garden. Your goal is to optimize year round beauty to balance and embrace the changing seasons in your garden.

9. Provide a basin of water just outside your quiet hut to wash your hands to symbolize purification. Enter your quiet sanctuary each day for peaceful reflection while connecting with nature and renewing your spirit. Invite friends for tea and discuss things such as art, poetry, music, philosophy and other quiet, peaceful pursuits.