How to Create a Japanese Meditation Garden at Home

Everyone wants more serenity—and I’ve come to Barrington, Illinois, to find it. I’m at the bamboo gate to Diane Hunter’s Japanese garden. Decades ago, Diane—a retired biological sciences professor—became so intrigued with the “wonderful feeling” she found in Japanese gardens, she created her own so she could feel that way every day.

The more Diane learned, the more she wanted to know. “I was educating my creative spirit,” she says. Her desire for deeper understanding led her to visit more than 80 gardens during four trips to Japan. Now, she only needs to step out her back door for comfort.

“Whenever I’ve been troubled, I come here and get new insights,” Diane says. “Some of my most joyful times have been during moments in my garden where I feel calm, protected.”

Diane does her best to prepare me for the experience of her stroll garden, but, as she puts it, what happens next is up to the viewer. I push open the gate. Here’s what I found—and the secrets I learned to creating a relaxing Japanese meditation garden in any backyard.

View Your Garden as a Place for Reflection

Hydrangeas in bloom offer a rare moment of color in a largely green landscape.
Bob Stefko

Before you even begin, you’ll want to understand the goal of a Japanese gardens. It’s much more than an aesthetic choice. Characterized by stones, water, unusual plants and minimal amounts of color, these landscapes are traditionally designed to promote inner peace and serenity.

“Early Japanese designers—1,500 years ago—created gardens as places where we can experience the most profound personal insights about our short lives,” Diane tells me. These insights, she says, can be about how to live our lives; about fears; about recognizing a core of beauty in everything. One way to open your mind to get into these deeper thoughts, she says, is to simply focus on details and live in the moment.

Think Small

A neatly mown grass path winds past a soothing fountain.
Bob Stefko

My first impression upon stepping through the gate: It’s almost entirely green. I’m drawn by curving paths that make me want to see what’s around the hidden corner, enticed by views framed by trees and lured by details to discover in a twisted spruce or a single stone.

And yet—it’s really not all that big! “Japanese gardens are traditionally small,” Diane says of her quarter-acre property. To make small spaces seem larger, or like a different kind of landscape entirely, Japanese gardens use illusion. For instance, Diane explains, placing smaller rocks at the back of an area and larger ones in the foreground is a classic way of creating the illusion of distance.

Create a Sense of Discovery

Another path is made of meticulously placed round pavers nestled in the earth and framed with other stones.
Bob Stefko

Curving, pebbled paths enhance a sense of discovery. Frame vistas with trees, intended to focus the viewer’s focus on details: A gnarled spruce, for instance; a sculpture; or a single stone.

Incorporate Water (Real or Imagined)

This geometric fountain is the signature water feature in the garden.
Bob Stefko

In Japanese gardens, water is essential, but it can come in different forms. Fountains, like this four-tiered stone one, can enhance the feeling of calm through the sound of water. But in a dry stream bed, perfect placement of rocks can create the illusion of a flowing stream.

I sit on a bench nearby and listen. I hear traffic sounds, so I focus on the fountain instead. Soon, water is all I hear. Time passes. Has it been a few minutes or a few seconds? I’m not sure, but I do feel relaxed.

Use Color Sparingly

The bright red of Japanese maple ‘Bloodgood’ adds another rare pop of color.
Bob Stefko

Bold color is rarely used in Japanese gardens, coming mostly from seasonal changes in perennials and shrubs such as hydrangeas, or of course the striking red of a well-placed Japanese maple. Instead, these landscapes rely heavily on exploring different shades of soothing green.

Place Plants Thoughtfully and Harmoniously

White fir (Abies concolor) ‘Select’ has beautifully curved needles.
Bob Stefko

Japanese gardens use plants that look unusual or show special character to suggest a metaphor for meditation. The kinds of plants you use are not as important as harmonious placement. Easy-to-grow plants include ornamental grasses, evergreens and deciduous trees such as Japanese maples. You might also consider moss or even a bonsai tree.

Use Stones, Large and Small

Moss is another common feature of Japanese gardens, often growing on stones.
Bob Stefko

In a traditional Japanese garden, stones are selected for their shape, color and personality and carry specific meanings, so the placement of each is crucial. However, you may just place them where you think they look most pleasing. Smaller rocks at the back of an area and larger ones in the foreground create the illusion of distance. Larger rocks can represent strength when vertical, or passivity when horizontal.

Be Patient with Design

A dry stream bed of river rocks creates a sense of motion and illusion of water.
Bob Stefko

Because every element in a traditional Japanese garden can be a metaphor for something else or signify a spiritual lesson, finding the right spot for a rock has taken Diane as long as two weeks. “I’m out at five in the morning, seeing how the light hits it,” she says. “Moving a few inches in any direction could reveal quite a different view.”

Sharpen Your Senses

A dwarf Scots pine’s gnarled branches represent endurance.
Bob Stefko

Gardens like this are intended to sharpen our senses and intensify our focus on details like shape, texture and color—even sound.

As I move through the garden, I sharpen my senses. Chartreuse spikes of hakone grass contrast rounded leaves of blue-edged hostas. I hear my tennis shoes crunch-crunch-crunching on a pebbled path. I move onto a grass path, silencing my footsteps. I see patches of red floating in a sea of green—the leaves of Japanese maples against the many shades of green and the textures of trees and perennials. Soft color comes into view: blue and pink hydrangeas.

Appreciate Small Details

A Buddha statue hides among hosta leaves.

Each item in a Japanese garden, whether it’s a full yard or just the corner of one, is deliberately planned and placed to create a serene feeling conducive to meditation.

I take a cue from Diane and pause to study only one of the river rocks. I notice the speckles inside and a tiny dent that mars its smooth surface. I think about how different it is from others around it, even though at first glance they all appear to be alike. “Focusing on the details of one pebble is a very different experience from looking at 50 pebbles,” Diane says. Both views are equally “real,” but they’re not the same. This idea, she says, applies to problems: Ask yourself if you’re seeing all parts of the situation.

I also try a framing technique Diane taught me, drawing my thumb and fingers together, forming a tube to examine the center of a single blossom. It seems to pull me inside. With my mind clear and focused, free from other thoughts, I realize I’d be happy to never leave.

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