Wind Chimes and the Oriental Garden
It is an incredible landmark of the human imagination, the Oriental Garden. They are by no means all alike, but do share overarching design sensibilities that are particular to that part of the world. Chief among these is the desire for nature to express herself as much as possible despite the obvious man-made confines of a garden. Let’s take a look at an illustration of our point, in the form of wind chimes, rather common for a Japanese or Chinese garden. And so nature is given the means by which to make herself heard, and most melodiously, too. While designed to repulse evil, it is evident that their real talent lies in charming people!
Letting things go their own natural way is a common concern of the Asian aesthetic. Natural materials are used. Gold fish in the pond. Wind chimes in the distance. Whereas such grounds in the West seem purposely created to match the midday sun’s strength, those of Asia celebrate the morning and evening calm. That’s not to say that Chinese and Japanese gardens all look alike; indeed, they often exhibit as many differences as they do similarities. However, in the West people are glorified while in the East it is nature that takes center stage.
Hard and fast rules don’t exist, but one can safely indulge in generalizations at times as long as it’s kept in mind that every pronouncement is sure to be contradicted. In that respect, the Chinese aesthetic is more “yang” to the Japanese “yin,” so to speak. But the main motivation with each is to let nature lead when it comes to design choices. Of course, gardens are, in the final analysis, entirely man-made affairs. In Asia, however, it is recognized that oftentimes almost no human input is necessary; that’s the difference. Just like how wind chimes simply harness the natural musical qualities of the wind, Asian gardens tend to work around nature as much as possible.