How brilliantly
it sparkles,
How fleeting."
-John Naka
After three straight weekends of performances, I finally had a free Saturday to myself. Instead of hitting the beach with my roommates or watching PBS specials on TV with Rachel and Danielle, I decided to explore what South Florida's more natural side had to offer. Among all of the tourist attractions, the bright lights on the horizon while driving down Okeechobee Boulevard, and the crowded bars and nightclubs that the "hottest place in the world" has to offer, it's easy to forget about the natural beauty that South Florida has preserved.
About five minutes west of I-95, hidden among palms and pines down a narrow paved road sits The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, first opened in 1977 when this preserve became the center for Japanese art and culture in South Florida. Today, the museum contains rotating exhibitions in its galleries, tea ceremony performances, educational outreach programs connecting local schools and communities, and Japanese festivals celebrated throughout the year. The preserve features six garden sites that represent changes in Japanese garden design over 1,000 years of Japanese history. Following closely to the guidebook as I meandered down the trails, I was able to witness this change in design and understand more clearly how the architectural design of the gardens juxtapose with the shifts in Japanese history and culture.
These are the Morikami Falls. By combining massive boulders and flowing water the falls are supposed to compose the feelings of dynamic tensions.
These flowers were planted outside of the Morikami Memorial in memory of George Morikami, the donor of the park. The traditional gravestone that sits in the memorial was erected in 1989 as a gift from the people of Miyazu, Morikami's hometown.
"Bamboo Grove" The sound of bamboo stalks knocking against each other in the breeze offers sensory pleasure. Bamboo forms a triad of auspicious emblems with pine and plum, a common motif in Japanese art.
"Karesansui Late Rock Garden" (Muromachi Period, 15th-16th Centuries) Karesansui means "dry landscape." In this style of garden, rocks are arranged in a bed of raked gravel, while plants take a secondary role. The style was perfected at Zen Buddhist temples.
"Tsukubai" is a water basin originally placed in a tea garden to allow guests to cleanse and ritually purify themselves. Today, tsukubai serve as focal points in many gardens. Water is channeled through a bamboo pipe into the basin as if diverted from a clean mountain stream.
©laurenmillerphotography
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