Twee gezichten op de botanische tuin van Koishikawa in Tokyo, Japan before 1893

Kazumasa Ogawa captured these two photographic views of the Koishikawa botanical garden in Tokyo. Note how Ogawa has framed the scenery to highlight natural elements: water, stones, and meticulously cultivated trees and bushes. In Japanese gardens, each element carries profound symbolic weight. Water, a life-giver and purifier, reflects not only the physical world, but also the spiritual realm. The stones represent permanence and the fundamental structure of the earth. Think of the Zen gardens where stones are carefully arranged to provoke meditation and inner peace. The arrangement of trees and bushes here is not accidental, they evoke natural harmony. This resonates with earlier artworks such as the Song Dynasty landscape paintings. This visual language taps into our collective unconscious, evoking a primordial sense of connection with nature, a longing for harmony, and a deep-seated need for tranquility. This cyclical progression demonstrates how our cultural memory and subconscious desires are perpetually expressed.