Japanese Garden ( ja, 日本庭園) is a
park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
and
garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...
located in
Jurong East
Jurong East is a planning area and residential town situated in the West Region of Singapore. It borders Jurong West and Boon Lay to the west, Clementi to the east, Tengah and Bukit Batok to the north and Selat Jurong to the south.
First ...
, Singapore. Built in 1974 by
JTC Corporation
JTC Corporation (JTC), formerly the Jurong Town Corporation, is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry that champions sustainable industrial development. It master-plans clean, green and smart estates to create attractive de ...
, it covers of land.
It is built on an artificial island in
Jurong Lake
Jurong Lake (; ms, Tasik Jurong ; ta, ஜூரோங் ஏரி) is a 70ha freshwater lake and reservoir located in the western region of Singapore formed with the damming of Sungei Jurong further downstream. The lake serves as a reservoir c ...
and is connected to the adjacent
Chinese Garden
The Chinese garden is a landscape garden style which has evolved over three thousand years. It includes both the vast gardens of the Chinese emperors and members of the imperial family, built for pleasure and to impress, and the more intimate ...
island by bridge named the ''Bridge of Double Beauty''.
Along with the aforementioned Chinese Garden, the two gardens are collectively known as the Jurong Gardens.
Layout and design
Where the Chinese Garden is designed to be visually exciting, the Japanese Gardens are designed with a calmness to evoke inner peace and a meditative state. The styles and methods used for designing the garden are taken from Japan's
Muromachi period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
of 1392 to 1568 and the
Azuchi–Momoyama period
The was the final phase of the in Japanese history from 1568 to 1600.
After the outbreak of the Ōnin War in 1467, the power of the Ashikaga Shogunate effectively collapsed, marking the start of the chaotic Sengoku period. In 1568, Oda Nobuna ...
of 1568 to 1615.
[
]
With its traditional arched bridges, 10 odd Tōrō
are a type of traditional East Asian lantern made of stone, wood, or metal. Originating in China, stone lanterns spread to Japan, Korea and Vietnam, though they are most commonly found in both China – extant in Buddhist temples and traditional ...
stone lanterns, traditional house and rest house, ponds and gravel chipped pavings it faithfully recreates the traditional Japanese style.
Interests
On the grounds is also a Turtle & Tortoise Museum as well as one of 10 sundial
A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...
s placed around Singapore to promote the interest in science. The one in the Japanese Garden represents the planet Venus (while the one in the Chinese Garden is for 'Earth').[ Large ]monitor lizard
Monitor lizards are lizards in the genus ''Varanus,'' the only extant genus in the family Varanidae. They are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania, and one species is also found in the Americas as an invasive species. About 80 species are recogn ...
s can be seen roaming in the area of the koi
or more specifically , are colored varieties of the Amur carp ('' Cyprinus rubrofuscus'') that are kept for decorative purposes in outdoor koi ponds or water gardens.
Koi is an informal name for the colored variants of ''C. rubrofuscus'' ke ...
filled ponds.
Cultural festivals such as Chinese New Year (usually January/February) and the Mid-Autumn Festival (September/October) are the best times to visit the gardens.
See also
* Geography of Singapore
Singapore is a very small, heavily urbanised, island city-state in Southeast Asia, located at the end of the Malayan Peninsula between Malaysia and Indonesia. Singapore has a total land area of .
The Singapore area comprises mainland and other ...
* Japan–Singapore relations
References
External links
Official website of the Jurong Lake Gardens
Parks in Singapore
Tourist attractions in Singapore
Jurong East
Japanese diaspora in Singapore
Japanese gardens
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