A Study on the Image of Landscape of Japanese and Chinese Gardens

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the image of landscape of Japanese and Chinese gardens, and to analyze the landscape elements which have an effect in forming those images. Although the landscape of both countries’ gardens share many similarities in many aspects, the image of “Country-likeness” is different based on the environment, climate and traditions. In order to explore the unique image characteristics of landscape of garden such as “Japan-likeness” and “China-likeness”, four psychological investigations consisting of three parts were carried out separately on Japanese and Chinese subjects. Through a comparative analysis, we found that there were many obvious distinctions between the Japanese and Chinese subjects regarding the image of Japan-likeness and China-likeness. Furthermore, this study has clarified that some landscape elements have an effect on forming Country-likeness image. © 2003, Architectural Institute of Japan. All rights reserved.