I visited a lovely new Japanese Garden in Victoria, BC this past weekend; located at the Jubilee Hospital. The designer is going to school in Japan and one of the associate designers is a good friend of mine, I'm going to try to woo them into the forum to offer advice.
But my real reason for starting this thread is to bring up the subject of one of the waterfountains that they have installed in the garden:
It is truly amazing, one of two in Canada. The fountain comes out of some stone work and trickles down to a rock garden. And curiously enough, there are two hollow bamboo poles laid across the rock garden.
Taking one of the poles and pressing one end into one of the rocks and the other into my ear; low and behold I heard MUSIC! Yes, music!
What the designers did was bury what they called "a jar" beneathe the soil of the rock garden (I'm surmising that it is a large ceramic jar but, I really don't know) and the water trickles down and strikes the jar making music. It's not the sound of "trickle, trickle, trickle." It is actual harmonic music. Really amazing and wondeful.
Anyway, this would something really neat to discuss and hopefully I can get Richard and Pat in here to talk about it.
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opabinia51
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 4659
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
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opabinia51
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 4659
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
I have talked to one of the designers of this new garden and he is willing to provide us with information and possibly come into the forum to talk and he is going to talk to the designer who's baby is the fountain and the garden and see if he wants to come to add his thoughts.
So, things are in the works! Could be really exciting everyone.
If anyone is ever in Victoria, BC Canada, go to the Royal Jubilee hospital and check the garden out, the Fountain is truly amazing.
So, things are in the works! Could be really exciting everyone.
If anyone is ever in Victoria, BC Canada, go to the Royal Jubilee hospital and check the garden out, the Fountain is truly amazing.
Opa,
It would be interesting to hear a bit from someone who had actually designed and built one of these as they are a complex idea and difficult to execute well.
It's a Suikinkutsu, [Origins are in the Edo period, About 1600 to the mid 1800s.]
They are traditionally built with a chozubachi [Taller] or tsukubai[Crouching] water basin arrangement as their original purpose was for worshipers to purify their mind and body by washing their hands and rinsing their mouths before entering shrines or temples. The tsukubai was a later development to encourage entrants to be humble and attain the proper state of mind.
When the stone basin is used, water flows underground into a ceramic echo chamber partly filled with water. The sound of water resonates, is amplified, and is reflected back to the garden above. The construction of this chamber is extremely complex and involves balancing the amount of water, shape, material and size of the chamber, diameter of the opening and size of the pipe leading away.
One way to do it:
[url=https://imageshack.us][img]https://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8651/suikinkutsuvp4.gif[/img][/url]
Since people are not actually washing their hands in the fountain [Are they?] I doubt that these are really suikinkutsu in a strict sense as suikinkutsu are always auxiliary to tsukubai. In other words, the sound is thought to be pleasing precisely because the source is not readily apparent. Traditionally, The washing is the catalyst for the music.
This tension is lost if the suikinkutsu itself becomes the main attraction, Knowing the trick ruins the magic so to speak.
A bit about the philosophy behind suikinkutsu from Wikipedia:
I have been waiting to see if anything is going to happen with this, Any progress?opabinia51 wrote:I have talked to one of the designers of this new garden and he is willing to provide us with information..
It would be interesting to hear a bit from someone who had actually designed and built one of these as they are a complex idea and difficult to execute well.
It's a Suikinkutsu, [Origins are in the Edo period, About 1600 to the mid 1800s.]
They are traditionally built with a chozubachi [Taller] or tsukubai[Crouching] water basin arrangement as their original purpose was for worshipers to purify their mind and body by washing their hands and rinsing their mouths before entering shrines or temples. The tsukubai was a later development to encourage entrants to be humble and attain the proper state of mind.
When the stone basin is used, water flows underground into a ceramic echo chamber partly filled with water. The sound of water resonates, is amplified, and is reflected back to the garden above. The construction of this chamber is extremely complex and involves balancing the amount of water, shape, material and size of the chamber, diameter of the opening and size of the pipe leading away.
One way to do it:
[url=https://imageshack.us][img]https://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8651/suikinkutsuvp4.gif[/img][/url]
Since people are not actually washing their hands in the fountain [Are they?] I doubt that these are really suikinkutsu in a strict sense as suikinkutsu are always auxiliary to tsukubai. In other words, the sound is thought to be pleasing precisely because the source is not readily apparent. Traditionally, The washing is the catalyst for the music.
This tension is lost if the suikinkutsu itself becomes the main attraction, Knowing the trick ruins the magic so to speak.
A bit about the philosophy behind suikinkutsu from Wikipedia:
ynotPhilosophy
An important part of the idea behind the suikinkutsu is that the device is hidden from the view. Instead, the visitor washes his/her hands, and suddenly hears the pleasant sounds coming from underground. The act of washing the hands can also be considered as playing the suikinkutsu, and the sounds emerge shortly after the washing. This clear sound of water drops is considered relaxing and soothing, and also described as beautiful and peaceful.