Winter in Japanese garden
In the place where it snows, gardener ties up trees to protect the branch. Even protection is a decoration.
Prtections from snow
The
protections are famous in Kenrokuen which in one of the greatest garden
in Japan.
When I went to Kenrokuen in 2 nd of November 2010, I found a gardener rowed a boat in a pond to reach to a pine tree. He tied up tree from the boat.
Protection from snow
Protected stone lanterns
The left picture is not strange for me. This is common winter landscape in Japanese garden in snow places.
But, to be honest, I did not know why protection was necessary for stone lantern.
Even stone lantern have protection
I asked the owner of the stone lantern why they covered stone lanterns with straw matting. The owner of the lanterns in the picture is actually descendant of samurai and we know each other.
Her answer was like,
In samurai period, there were not any machine to shape a stone. So,
people used soft stone to shape. Soft stone is very easy to shape but
it is easy to absorb water. If absorbed water freeze, it breaks stone.
This is why covering a necessary for stone lantern.
