How did Chinese and Korean garden traditions influence the earliest Japanese gardens?

The art of garden making in Japan was likely imported from China or Korea, with continental cultural influences filtering into Japan through the Korean peninsula. By the 5th century CE, Japanese imperial palaces featured gardens that established early precedents for the craft.12

These earliest Japanese gardens were heavily influenced by Chinese prototypes, which provided a stylized, ritualistic framework for design. A typical early garden was situated to the south of a dwelling and featured a narrow pond or lake containing an island, often accompanied by an artificial hill at the north end from which a secondary stream descended in a cascade.1

This design reflected a careful reproduction of magical details derived from Chinese models. While Japanese garden design eventually evolved to emphasize indigenous aesthetics, subjective moods, and unique philosophical interpretations—such as those found in Zen-influenced landscapes—the foundational concepts of scaling down natural landscapes into miniature, symbolic environments remained rooted in these early continental traditions.12