The Garden as a Representation of Nature: A Space to Overcome Biocultural Homogenization?

Abstract

In this chapter, we will consider what kind of differences are there between the motives for making and maintaining gardens by glancing over the histories of gardens in Europe and East Asia and by comparing mainly two types of large gardens: French formal gardens and the Japanese daimyo gardens. We will see that a garden is the representation of nature as an ideal community, which could be an ever-fertile farm and orchard for European people; the universe rationally organized for absolute kings; an open, free, but prettified landscape for early English gardeners; a wild and growing habitat for Romanticists; or the islands of Xian where one can find inner Tao for Japanese daimyos. A better understanding of the aesthetic, political, and cultural values of gardens in these traditions can be helpful to better foster biocultural conservation and prevent biocultural homogenization. A garden of today should be a garden which suggests to us how to have the benefit of nature in a sustainable way, how to preserve and promote biodiversity, and how to develop a nature-loving culture in a local society.