Water Lilies Among the Wheat Fields

Abstract

While John Scott Bradstreet’s introduction of the Japanese jin-di-sugi method of woodworking at the Minneapolis Craftshouse has been well chronicled, his work in the more ephemeral arena of Japanese gardening has not been similarly illuminated. This article considers Bradstreet’s activities as a Japanese gardener in the context of his eleven trips to Japan, examining three gardens in Minneapolis. The broader context of the introduction of Japanese gardens to the American public at World’s Fairs is also considered, along with the development of a critical perspective among design reform advocates who discriminated between an educated approach informed by the history and symbolism of Japanese gardening, versus the popular Japoniste fad for picturesque effects.