Korean Garden

韓国庭園 / Joseon dynasty– / Style / Garden Styles

The Joseon garden moves as little earth as possible, and Changdeokgung's rear garden is its model. Pavilions are simply set into valleys and ponds that were already there, a design that leaves the land alone and offers East Asia's other garden ideal.

Korean Garden — Buyongji pond, Huwon, Changdeokgung (CC BY-SA 3.0) · © No machine-readable author provided. IGEL assumed (based on copyright claims). — Buyongji pond, Huwon, Changdeokgung (CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © No machine-readable author provided. IGEL assumed (based on copyright claims).

Korean Garden — Huwon, the rear garden (CC BY-SA 4.0) · © Christian Bolz — Huwon, the rear garden (CC BY-SA 4.0) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · © Christian Bolz

Korean Garden — Soswaewon Garden, Damyang — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 · © UNC - CFC - USFK from Seoul, Republic of Korea — Soswaewon Garden, Damyang — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0 · CC BY 2.0 · © UNC - CFC - USFK from Seoul, Republic of Korea

At a glance

Visual cues

Terrain left as found
Square ponds with round islands
Scattered pavilions
Artifice restrained

Best used for

Sites with strong relief where earthwork should be kept to a minimum
Grounds built around an existing valley or pond with a light hand

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Dictionary entry

Type: A plaque on the pavilion, naming the place from the building alone
Composition: Keep the valley line and pond as found, siting pavilions where views settle
Material: A round island in a square pond, native trees and rock left in place
Caution: Restraint gets confused with neglect, and even the few decisions the form really requires, where the pavilion stands and how the pond is edged, are left vague.
Further study: the Huwon of Changdeokgung / the square-pond cosmology / siting and pungsu

Related entries

Chinese Scholar Garden (中国文人庭園)Same Garden Styles lineage.Compare Korean Garden and Chinese Scholar Garden
Minhwa (民画)Shared effects: Intimacy.Compare Korean Garden and Minhwa

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/korean-garden
Markdown: [Korean Garden — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/korean-garden)
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