Inspirations:  Japanese Gardens in England and the English haiku form

The ‘Ashide – a second nature’ collection represents an English response to the styles and traditions of Japan and stems from John’s long-time interest in Japanese gardens.

It features his poems in English haiku form with Carol Ballenger’s images of Japanese Gardens in England. The poems and photographs were created in response to the gardens and to one another.

Ashide is a playful style of writing developed in the Heian period (794 – 1180 CE) where calligraphic interpretation of a poem is woven into a brushed ink interpretation of the natural world or garden.

Several such were used to illustrate one of the earliest gardening texts in the world from Japan from Sakuteiki, also dating from the Heian period which I also took as an inspiration.

The book, produced with the support of the Japanese Garden Society of the U.K., was launched with an exhibition at the prestigious venue of the Embassy of Japan on London’s Piccadilly in 2006.

During its run, the exhibition was selected by The Times newspaper as one of the five best exhibitions, nationwide.