This book is a labour of love from master photographer Ben Simmons and
Kyoto-based writer Judith Clancy. Simmon’s photographs presents a fresh and
contemporary look at Kyoto’s most important gardens. Their beauty is
enhanced and humanised by gardeners tending the grounds using the tools of
their art. Clancy’s graceful text provides historic, aesthetic and cultural context
to the gardens. Combining wonder and rigor, she describes how Kyoto’s most
beloved gardens, contain but a very few plantings from their original centuriesold
designs, nonetheless remain faithful to their founders’ creative spirit and
conception.