H ResidenceGardens created

For H Residence, located in a quiet residential area of Kagoshima City, Ueyakato Landscape received a request to create a dry landscape garden inside an existing interior garden space. Our aim was to create a garden that would harmonize with this residence’s modern design, but also stand out on its own. For the garden’s theme, we focused on Kagoshima’s natural landscape. We used richly expressive stones from the Kibune tributary of Kyoto's Kamogawa River ("Kibune stones") as visual allusions to the mountains, topography, and islands formed from volcanic activity still seen today in Kagoshima's Sakurajima and Kirishima volcanoes.

In addition, as an expression of the waves and sand surrounding Kagoshima’s land, we drew a gentle arc of stones arranged in a vertical pattern known as "kobadate" in Japanese) in the gravel pavement. We used black granite as an allusion to black Satsuma, a traditional style of pottery in Kagoshima. In a simple space made of unfinished ("uchihanashi") concrete walls, these soft and organic rowlock-laid stones act as an accent drawing out the garden's presence. Together with the scenic stones and gravel, they provide the quiet, calm, and solace that befit a rock garden.