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Visual Communication, Vol. 3, No. 3, 344-359 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1470357204045787

The Ryôan-Ji Zen Garden: Textual Meanings in Topographical Form

Sean McGovern

Setsunan University, Osaka, Japan, mcg{at}cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp

Gardens are created by transforming principally unmodified environmental objects into signs and organizing these into texts. This article examines the compositional arrangements of the Ryôan-ji Zen garden as it constitutes a distinctive medium of communication and a way for complex philosophical perceptions and religious ideals to become tangible in topographical text form.

Key Words: culture • gardens • Japan • metaphor • multimodality • semiotics • topography


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