SPCS｜Season2 Gardening (and) the Wild

The discourse that aims at total ecological preservation seems too nostalgic and ignorant of the creative power of nature. But the gardener is an intermediary, and thus can advise on the inspirations and hesitations of the movements of living organisms, placing themselves in the knot of unexpected encounters. – The Garden in Movement, Gilles Clement

This season, the issue of how to build sustainable initiatives birthed the project of “Landscaping the Garden”. The site – Shosei En, a garden belonging to the Higashi Honganji Temple. The lecturers – Yosuke Ota and Satoshi Washida, gardeners from Ueyakato Landscape. Keeping Higashi Honganji’s philosophy of “diversity” and “saving all people” in mind, the two gardeners have landscaped Shosei En for the past 8 years with the question “what is diversity?”  at the forefront of their work. 

What is beauty by our human standards? How can it be updated? How can gardens, as man-made sites, inform us on the sustainability of the relationship between human and nature?

The work of these two gardeners aim not to control the greenery, but to co-create alongside it. In other words, doing away with pesticides or short-term solutions, and using as little human resources as possible while designing around and utilizing the natural growth. In this workshop, participants will experience the work that needs to be done in winter for the upcoming spring. Yousuke Ota and Satoshi Washida will guide us in tidying the dead leaves and weeds in a way that considers the ecosystem and the meaning of beauty. 

Through both practical and theoretical sessions, we will think about what new works we can create in Shosei En. In the final session, art mediator Michiko Haga will give her comments on each piece of work. Join us to challenge our perceptions of beauty over the course of these three sessions working in the garden.

Ueyakato Landscape was established in 1849, and has landscaped many famous gardens such as Nanzen-ji and Chishaku-in. Not only have they developed and honed their garden landscaping techniques, the gardeners in Ueyakato Landscape have written multiple papers regarding their research on landscaping. Instead of simply keeping to tradition, they are proposing forward-looking methods that promote diversity. To them, the Garden as an intersection between nature and nurture, is used as a field of experimentation. 

Even in Shosei En, which was built 365 years ago, the ways it was kept should change, as both its purpose and natural environment has evolved in modern times. How should we as humans design our environments to be spaces that other living things can live in? And to achieve that, how do we have to renew our value systems? In this program, we try to answer that through experimentation and experience from both an ecological and cultural perspective.  

Through this program, we try “Sweeping the Garden” (= Maintaining the Garden). This gives us an understanding of how to achieve a balance between what we consider beautiful and allowing nature free reign. From a multi-species point of view, let’s think about what choices we can make as we get our hands dirty. One of the lecturers, Yosuke Ota, comes from a biotechnology background, while the other, Satoshi Washida specialized in art. These two contrasting perspectives and the two lecturers’ daily experimentation will surely bring about new insight on how we design our relationship with nature.

The realization that the PH levels pine and moss thrive in differ from that of grasses and bacteria started an experiment in laying out pine needles. Such is the speciality of Ueyakato Landscape, to create interesting environments where different varieties of flora can co-exist instead of purely weeding through brute force.

Invasive species such as the broomsedge bluestem are often weeded. At Shosei En, they are kept as an experiment in coexistence.

• Tour of Shoseien
  • Yosuke Ota（Ueyakato Landscape）
  • Introduction to initiatives promoting diversity in Shoseien walking tour
• Introductions
  • Q&A
  • ”Maintenance” in the context of gardens
  • Participant self-introduction
    • What are you willing to leave in the hands of nature in your daily life?
• Guest Lecture「Uselessness supports biodiversity」
  • Kondoh Michio（Biology Professor, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University）
• Wrap-up
  • What is gardening?
    • Yosuke Ota、Satoshi Washida（Ueyakato Landscape）
  • Homework：「If you could create a new work in Shoseien…」Ideation

• Maintaining the Garden 1 | Gravel and Fallen Leaves
• Maintaining the Garden 2 | Introduction to Weeding
• Workshop：Brushing up on working ideas
  • Discussion and sharing of ideas, World Cafe style

• Maintaining the Garden 3 | Scattering Pine Needles
• Maintaining the Garden 4 | Dying Cherry Trees and Weeding
• Presentation of all ideas（90min）
  • Review：Michiko Haga (Art mediator), Yosuke Ota、Satoshi Washida
• Discussion and idea exchange

• Urban planners or landscape architects looking to explore ways of working with plants; designers, architects and developers interested in biophilia design
• Artists and researchers who want to create and research more into our relationship with plants, insects and microbes.
• Designers and planners searching for new value systems surrounding circular societies, biodiversity from Japanese culture and industry. 

Schedule 

• Day1：12/17（土）9:00-12:00

• Day2：1/14（土）9:00-12:00
• Day3：1/28（土）9:00-12:00
• In case of wet weather conditions:
  • Day1, 2 will be held on 1/21（土）9:00-12:00 instead

Participants

• 20 

Participation fee:

• 10,000 yen (cost covers all 3 sessions)

Location

• Shoseien 
• FabCafe Kyoto 　

※For every session, the practical workshop will be held at Shoseien and the lecture will follow afterwards at FabCafe. FabCafe Kyoto is a 5 minute walk away from Shoseien. 

Organisers

• FabCafe Kyoto / Loftwork 

Partners

• Ueyakato Landscape

Sponsorship

• Japan Tourism Agency [ Tourist Project to promote the revitalization and high-value-added development of existing tourist attractions ]

Please note:

• If there are more applicants than slots available, participation may be chosen by a raffle. We seek your understanding on this.
• Photos of participants and the program may be used on loftwork.com / FabCafe Kyoto’s websites. 
• The program may change without prior announcement.
• Communication for this program is carried out on Discord. (No installation beforehand is required)
• Please come in shoes with soft soles that can be dirtied (e.g. canvas shoes / sneakers)
• In case of wet weather, program dates may change to the 21st of January. 
• The participation fee covers all 3 sessions. No partial refunds will be given if participants cannot join for a part of the sessions.