BOOK "La taille japonaise, le zen au jardin -Niwakizendô"

Frédérique DUMAS - Editions du Souffle d'Or

Presentation of the book by its author:

    « “When creating a niwaki, just like calligraphy and painting, the body becomes a brush, the tree is the material, space is the leaf ...”

    An aesthetic art and technique practised in Japan for centuries, Japanese pruning by creating a niwaki consists of growing, looking after and pruning a tree planted in the earth.

Over and above plant sculpture, this is a philosophical concept, born from deep respect of nature. Man does not dominate nature but participates harmoniously in it.

A specialist in Japanese pruning, Frédérique Dumas offers an entirely new view of this ancestral art, Japanese pruning, as a way to inner fulfilment. In this way, Japanese pruning becomes a form of Zen meditation in movement.

The author will initiate you to the different styles of Japanese pruning, to the species best-suited to creating a niwaki as well as the energy principles behind this approach and the five element theory (fire, earth, metal, water and wood).

“Recreating” the beauty of nature or evoking the imprint left on vegetation by natural elements then becomes an apprenticeship in simplicity and a path towards essentials. Finding out how to “cloud prune” trees may help you to create your own inner harmony and harmony around you.

Your garden as the mirror of your inner life.