Within Japanese culture, specific things are viewed as very representative and important, something that does not also occur in other cultures. These items that are viewed this way, usually consists of things directly related to nature, such as gardens. A garden can be representative of many things, specifically traits or things related to the owner of the garden. By looking at The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama, one can see that different aspects of Sachi and Matsu's garden are both metaphorically representative of their life experiences and personality. Matsu’s garden being representative of his life experiences and personality is shown through the eyes of Stephen various times throughout his journal entries. Matsu’s life experiences …show more content…
Stephen is trying to paint the garden, when he notices it will be to hard as, “in a few moments the sun would shift its position, and again the garden would appear different” (125). This shows how the quick changes from having a positive to having a negative life experience will change Matsu, as represented by the movement of the sun quickly changing the view of the garden. The garden represents specific life experiences Matsu has had as well, not only his overall life experiences. Thus, Stephen awakes to a totally ruined and broken garden, which used to be beautiful. Stephen becomes aware that the garden is missing, “most of his (Matsu) best pines were torn from the ground, lying lifeless in the muddy mess” (55). Here, the pines are representing the positive life experiences that Matsu has had, showing that a very negative life experience, such as Sachi leaving Tarumi urgently, makes him forget about the past good life experiences. Mastu’s garden design is also representative, but for his personality. Early on in the book, Stephen is meeting Matsu for the first time, so he is unaware about his personality or interests. For example, the first representation of Matsu’s personality that …show more content…
Items within the garden represents Sachi’s life experiences, while the landscaping of her garden represents her personality. Sachi sees meaning behind items located in the garden, which Stephen acknowledges and journals multiple times. For example, she sees a meaning behind the brand new replica of a bridge located in the garden. Sachi was told by Mastu that the meaning behind this bridge was, “the samurai’s difficult path from this world to the afterlife. When you reach the top of the bridge, you can see your way to paradise” (58). The life experience the bridge is representative of is Sachi’s decision to finally come down from Yamaguchi to Tarumi, something that she was not willing to do in a long time, but now that she has done it, she feels as if though she is in paradise. Sachi shares moments with Stephen, which regularly lead to them entering the garden and discovering something that is representative or has great importance. For example, they find a flower that has accidentally grown in a spot which would be hard to grow a flower if she were to try. Sachi shows this flower to Stephen, as it is, “one of the small miracles of life” (127). The life experience this particular item within the garden, in this case the flower, is representing is the coming of Stephen into her life, which fits perfectly as the chances of the flower