In today’s ultra-convenient society, Japanese gardens, which sometimes are fostered over a period of several centuries, must seem quite inefficient. We believe, however, that it is precisely in our present age that garden fostering techniques may hold the value we need to help shape a better society.

When raising a Japanese garden, actual garden creation consists of 40%, whereas daily cultivation or, as I like to call it, garden fostering makes up 60%. To create a garden requires a large amount of capital both in terms of personnel and money, and this makes a garden’ s completion all the more joyous an occasion. What is important, however, is the fostering of the garden that occurs after it is first completed. This means not simply pruning overgrown branches, but engaging in ceaseless activity to make use of the garden as an expression of space; it means sensitively picking up on the property owner’s ideas and the garden’s distinctive character as well as accepting and understanding the natural landscape. In addition, I believe it is also necessary not only to tend to the garden directly, but to communicate its appeal in easy to understand terms and thereby to nurture a culture of cherishing gardens. It is thanks to this act of cultivation that Japanese gardens are able to give us a feeling of peace of mind and enrichment that all people can share; something we can hardly gain amid our competitive daily lives.

Approximately 1,200 years ago, it was written in the “Sakuteiki” (Records of Garden Making) that man-made gardens can never exceed the beauty of nature. This means that the techniques that we human beings are capable of are never superior to nature’s design, and we must therefore revere nature and learn from it. As we approach the daily work of nurturing gardens in Kyoto, Japan and throughout the world, it is this message from our forebears that we wish to keep in our hearts.

Ueyakato Landscape Co., Ltd. President Tomoki Kato
 

Professor of Japanese Garden Studies at Kyoto University of the Arts (PhD). Born 1966, in Kyoto. Entered his family’s landscaping business after graduating from Chiba University’s Faculty of Horticulture.
Tomoki Kato continues to train himself daily in pursuit of an organization of professional landscape craftsmen who carry on Japanese garden culture while also creating tradition through their superior skills and aesthetic sensitivity.
At Kyoto University of the Arts, he currently advises garden research that is grounded in practical learning. He gives frequent lectures both in Japan and abroad, including the 2014 and 2018 keynote speeches at the international conference of the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA).

Main awards
Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture Award (Research Thesis Category) | May 2013
2018 ICOMOS Japan Award | December 2018
Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture Award (Technical Skill Category) | May 2019

Main affiliations
Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture (board member), The Academic Society of Japanese Gardens (board member), The Japanese Society for Cultural Heritage, The Japan Society for the Conservation of Cultural Property, The Japan Society for the History of Industrial Technology, Shiseki to Bijutsu Dokokai (Historic Site and Art Appreciation Society) (board member)

Special Interview
-> Dr. Kendall Brown (North America Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA) Board President)x Tomoki Kato “The 21st Century’s Classic Landscape is a Japanese Garden” (January, 2015)
-> Stephen D. Bloom (CEO of the Portland Japanese Garden) x Tomoki Kato x Yamaguchi “Engagement That Creates a Harmonious Relationship Between People and Garden” (October, 2015)