Scholar's Garden

A scholar's garden is not a name for grounds tended by a historian or sorcerer, but rather a school of design within the Realm, dating from the Shogunate period. The Scholar's Garden School is based on the idea that a Dynast ought seek to excel in the intellectual sphere... philosophy, poetry, calligraphy and painting being key arts in this area. These arts turn on 'nature' (philosophy is an exploration of the natural order, spontaneous poetry is a garden activity based on seasonal themes, calligraphic forms are inspired by natural shapes, and landscape art is the norm in an Immaculate society where portraits are frowned upon), and so it is proper for scholars to turn to gardens as they seek to perfect these arts.

A garden of the Scholar's School follows a set of guidelines, rules of form and shape designed to harmonize the five elements, while creating a space optimal for scholarly pursuits. Its purpose is not for growing vegetables (peasants' work) nor for horticulture, nor even for the growth of herbs and roots used in Medicine or Thaumaturgy (though peasants and less-urbane patricians often make this error). Its purpose is in making symbolic places befitting scholarship, places in which to meditate on a highly intellectual representation of nature. In the sticky heat of the sFire Season, for example, representation of woods, water and mountains help the scholar to meditate on cooler and fresher places, refreshing the mind in turn.

Earth: Rocks are a vital component of scholar gardens, objects of respect and study. In a symbolic way, they bring the mountains into towns. Small rocks are used as benches, or to rest calligraphy brushes upon. Large stones are placed in gardens, often grouped to suggest the mountain peaks which featured in landscape paintings or placed by water to suggest the Blessed Isle. In larger gardens, small alcoves and passages are formed through these stone piles. The optimal stones are taken from the slopes of the Imperial Mountain.

Water: Small ponds and lakes appear in scholar's gardens, though never rivers or fountains... water flows naturally in a trickling course, over rocks, with any pumping mechanisms carefully concealed out of sight. Water is thought to cool and refresh the mind.

Air: Scholar's gardens are always open to the air, and feature no towering trees or pinnacled pavilions to obstruct the view of the clouds. Larger gardens feature benches set atop their taller rock formations, where one can overlook the garden while surrounded by air. Walls around a scholar's garden always bear windows at regular intervals, covered by complex latticework that can either leave passers-by with aglimpse of the beauty within, or keep out prying eyes while still allowing passage of the breeze.

Wood: The element of Wood is restrained in a scholar's garden, as plant growth is not the purpose: mosses and water lilies complement stone and pond, while low bushes and ferns soften the landscape. Tall trees and brightly-coloured blossoms are not found in a scholar's garden.

Fire: There is no physical flame in a scholar's garden, save at night when small paper lanterns illuminate some areas. Philosophically, the scholar herself represents the element of fire, the spark of the intellect that will light the whole garden with its mastery. Practically, the garden is a place of calm meditation and thought, and the predominance of earth, water, and air comes because these are most condusive to this end... the passionate energy of fire is not.