Korean Garden's Philosophy

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. Korean gardens are the unique in containing all these criteria’s. The garden has its own unique style. These are designed to represent nature as it is. It shows that nature represents harmony. An underwater course is set up with most of the gardens, which leads to a stone channel to provide irrigation. Most of the gardens have common landscape that contains trees shaped by man or natural, a view of the mountains, a lake, rivers or ponds, bamboos, waterfalls (for the wealthy), an arrangement of rocks, and fruit trees. Mainly social status dictates the landscape of a garden. History underlines that since King Dongmyeong of Goguryeo during the Three Kingdoms era gardens were part of the culture of Korean society.

Architecture of Korean Professor of Traditional Landscape Architecture, Korean National University of Cultural Heritage underscored that Korean gardens embody a philosophy of adapting to nature in its original state. The elements of a Korean garden includes land, structures, flowers and trees, streams and ponds, rocks and walls, bridges and paths. A garden brings these elements together into harmony within a defined space through an orderly and functional arrangement.

Spirituality in Garden In a garden, Koreans enjoy a sense of inner peace from becoming one with nature. Gardens can also serve practical purposes, such as for growing fruit or medicinal herbs, in addition to being delightful playgrounds. Sometimes they are used as an inspirational backdrop for writing poetry, or a spiritual training ground for meditation. The influences that shaped the identity of the Korean garden include Korea's natural environment as well as the lifestyle and ideological values of its people, which have changed with the times.

Conceptual View Point of Korean Culture Vis-à-Vis Garden To Koreans, nature was both an eternal spiritual essence and a comforting maternal figure. Accordingly, the indigenous religion of Korea was centered on the worship of nature. Koreans believed that life would not be possible unless the principles of nature were respected. The conceptual roots of Korean culture lie in the worship of nature. The imported ideology of Buddhism was added to this around the fourth century, while Taoist thought became widely disseminated about the seventh century. It was from this ideological background that the Korean garden was created. From the 15th century, the Song Confucianism of Zhu xi became the ruling ideology of Joseon, along with landscape architecture coming under the influence of such concepts as yin-yang, the five elements, and geomancy. In particular, Song Confucianism's view of nature strongly influenced Joseon gardens. It was through these influences that Joseon art was created, with its naturalistic style untouched by artifice, while a worldly, practical lifestyle flourished, based on moderation and diligence. Indeed, this led to the development of a highly humanistic and straight-forward naturalistic culture.

Influence of Culture and Heritage Korea's cultural heritage includes nothing as monumental or imposing as the Great Wall of China or the Grand Canal that links the Yellow River to the Yangtze River. This is because Koreans believe that anything so huge will overwhelm and alienate human beings. All Oriental gardens are rooted in concepts about nature, but because of differences in their respective natural environment, lifestyle, and values, the gardens of Korea, China, and Japan each possess their own unique characteristics.

The culture and heritage of Korea clearly exhibits the presence of gardens as part of society. The tradition has been inherited from different dynasty which enriched with the mixed of China and Japanese concept. The greenery, lake, pond, the embankment all integrated the philosophy of Korean life even the religion. The poetry and literature also vibrates in same tune that enshrine from the natural landscape of gardens of exotic Korea.