suteiki

Sakuteiki, sometimes romanized as Suteiki, is the oldest surviving Japanese text on garden design. Its title is usually read as Sakuteiki, meaning “Records of Garden Making” or “Notes on Garden Craft.” The work is generally dated to the late Heian period (roughly the 11th or early 12th century), though exact authorship and dating remain uncertain. The original manuscript has not survived; what exists are later copies and transcriptions that preserve its content.

The Sakuteiki outlines principles for planning, planting, and maintaining gardens, emphasizing harmony with nature, careful placement of elements, and sensitivity to seasonal change. It discusses the use of water features, rocks, plants, paths, and architectural elements in ways intended to create picturesque, contemplative spaces. A notable concept associated with the text is shakkei, or borrowed scenery, the idea of incorporating distant landscape into the garden’s composition. The treatise also describes various garden types and arrangements, including hill-and-pond configurations and more straightforward pond or stroll-garden layouts, and it offers guidance on scale, balance, and maintenance.

Influence and legacy: Although predating the emergence of Zen-influenced dry landscape gardens (karesansui), the Sakuteiki became a foundational reference for later Japanese garden theory and practice. It informed aristocratic and monastic garden design during Kamakura and Muromachi periods and shaped subsequent treatises on garden aesthetics. In modern times, the text is studied by scholars of Japanese garden history and translated or commented upon to illuminate early concepts of naturalness, seasonal awareness, and the integration of landscape into garden design.