Heading away from the Temperate House featured in my first post about Kew Gardens, I headed for the “Japanese Landscape”. Above is the Chokushi-Mon – “Gateway of the Imperial Messenger” created for the Japan-British Exhibition held in London in 1910. It’s almost an exact copy of an original found in Kyoto, Japan. It leads to the Garden of Peace and the Garden of Activity.
I do love a good Japanese garden and this is one! The raked gravel is said to represent water and it’s flow, and the act of raking it should be a meditation.
In the background can be seen the Great Pagoda. It dates from 1762 and was a gift to Princess Augusta, founder of the gardens. It was restored in 2018, and 80 dragons were reinstated. It’s possible that the originals were either sold to pay of George IV’s gambling debts or being made of wood just rotted away! Either way it looks good with them. I collect 50p coins and the Pagoda is featured on one released in 2009 to celebrate 250 years of Kew Gardens!
Chatter: Canon EOS 30 with 40mm STM attached. Film was Kodak Gold 200, lab processed, home scanned.
S.H.O.U.T. 