Zen garden patterns, Ginsyadan, the white sand waves

The fourth part of the series on "Japanese Zen garden patterns"

Most of the Japanese Zen gardens are using sand combined with carefully selected rocks, in order to represent seas and islands. However, some garden architects managed to simplify the symbolism even more, by abandoning the rocks altogether, thus using only sand...

That's the case of the Ginkaku-ji garden in Kyoto: its dry landscape represents an agitated sea. The island, which is also a symbol of Mount Fuji, is a perfect truncated cone made of sand (however, that only one of the symbols - see also Kogetsudai)...