T. Shiota, Japanese landscape architect and architect, 254 Fifth Avenue, New York City

Item Details

[New York], (T. Shiota), c. 1916

Octavo; (12)pp. 8 photo-reproductions from the Shiota-designed Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Light edgewear and some discoloration; a Very Good copy in string-tied ivory wrappers. A rare survivor of an understated promotional piece (no copies located WorldCat). 

"The beauty of nature inspired us, we in turn inspired nature, and thus produced beauties new to nature" (verso of title page). This was the first Japanese garden built in a public American botanic garden and remains one of the oldest and most visited Japanese-inspired gardens outside Japan. His Hill-and-Pond Garden became notable not only as a single project but also as an influential prototype, helping establish a model for how Japanese gardens could be built within an American public setting. The last page lists Shiota's 'principal productions in the United States."

Takeo Shiota (1881–1946) was a pioneering Japanese garden designer who introduced the aesthetics of Japanese landscape architecture to American audiences in the early twentieth century. Shiota studied traditional garden design before traveling to the United States in 1907. At a time when Japanese art and culture fascinated many Americans, he aimed to adapt centuries-old design principles to the modern, urban environment of New York. In addition to his landscape work, Shiota was the author of 'The Miniature Japanese Landscape: A Short Description' and 'Japanese Gardens and Houses'. During World War II, Shiota was confined in a South Carolina internment camp, where he died in 1943.