and the kind and pleasant influences that come with it. Next after that the East is considered lucky, for its sun in the mornings in winter is the warmest, and in the summer the least trying. Water, too, must come from these directions. I thought it only a coincidence at first that the little streams which irrigate and adorn more than half the gardens of Japan did this, until I saw a lusty brook being diverted and coaxed, apparently uphill, in order to have it run from South to North, so that it might not bring into the place the goblins and adverse influences of the North!
The gardens are almost always at the back of the house, for seclusion, and the best rooms face upon them. As the garden is a sanctuary, the private chapel, the religious retreat of the family, as well as its place of pleasure and relaxation, it can readily be seen that the adornment of the street, at which the altruistic American ‘front yard’ aims, is not considered.
One of the constantly repeated fallacies about the Japanese is that they have no idea of perspective. While it cannot be claimed that in drawing with pen or brush they always respect its laws, no landscape artists in the world lay more stress upon it in the making of their outdoor pictures, their gardens. There are two well-known schools of perspective which are employed. One sets the big trees and ornaments, such as lanterns, pagodas, bridges,
