Start Date
09/05/2025
End Date
09/11/2025
Description
This hands-on professional-level seminar focuses on the traditional, hands-on learning process of stonework in the tea garden, supplementing it with theoretical instruction and hands-on practice in topics including garden design, pruning, bamboo fence construction, aesthetics, history, and traditional tool use – all framed eloquently in the culture of tea. Technical skills gain context through connected cultural practices to nurture a sense of aesthetics, balance, and composition.
Location
Portland, OR
Distance Learning
No
Course Equivalency
No
Subjects
Design-Build
Health, Safety and Welfare
Yes
Hours
40.0
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion, participants will demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the design of a tea garden, its individual elements, its core aesthetic, and its use and functional considerations.
Upon completion, participants will be able to explain the historical course of the evolution of Japanese garden design, with particular emphasis on the use of water and stone over the centuries. Participants will also be able to identify key aspects of Japanese aesthetics and how they apply to garden design.
Upon completion, participants will be able to identify in other gardens and also use in their own work some key Japanese design techniques, among them layering, borrowed scenery, hide and reveal, asymmetric composition, and the artful use of blank space.
Instructors
Main Instructor: Hugo Torii, Portland Japanese Garden, Garden Curator. Instructors: Diane Durston, Mark Bourne, Jan Waldmann, Visiting Japanese instructors
Course Codes
Provider
Portland Japanese Garden, Japanese Garden Training Center