The Correlation the Pastoral Poetry and Private Gardens in China and Japan-Based on the Theory of Artistic Synesthesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70917/fce-2025-015Keywords:
Japanese Haiku, Chinese Pastoral Poetry, Synesthesia Art, Neurosensory AssociationAbstract
The Tang Dynasty culture of China had a profound influence on Japanese culture, yet Chinese and Japanese poetry retain their distinct characteristics, and there exist certain disparities between Chinese and Japanese gardens. This study aims to explore the similarities and interconnectedness between the differences in Chinese and Japanese poetry and those in their respective garden arts. Based on the theoretical foundation of artistic neural synesthesia, the research analyzes the correlation between gardens and poetry. Using a case study approach, the study visually presents audio wave data from recitations of poetry, employing the graphical representation of chanting audio as an innovative method. Additionally, it examines differences in poetic elements such as text length, pauses, cadences, and artistic conception in both Chinese and Japanese poetry. The study determines the disparities in rhythm and meter between Chinese and Japanese pastoral poetry. Furthermore, a graphical comparison is conducted on artistic cases of private gardens in China and Japan during the 17th century to identify differences in their elements. Finally, through graphical analysis of poetry audio wave forms and garden elements, the paper establishes the disparities between various elements of Chinese and Japanese private gardens and the differences in their respective poetry. It concludes that there are similarities in the relationships between Chinese pastoral poetry and private gardens, and between Japanese pastoral poetry and private gardens.
References
Alison, H. (2022). An illustrated brief history of Chinese gardens: Activities, people, culture. Shanghai Press.
Arnheim, R. (1954). Art and visual perception: A psychology of the creative eye. University of California Press.
Albers, L. H. (1991). The perception of gardening as art. Garden History, 163–174. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1586892
Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 5(11), 2246–2253. (2011).
Bayes, C. (2023). Creative writing as a means of reimagining gardens. Australian Geographer, 54(1), 45–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049182.2022.2059863 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00049182.2022.2059863
Bai, J. (1998). Bai Juyi's collected works (Vol. 22, p. 1494). Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House.
BandLab. (n.d.). Mastering. https://www.bandlab.com/mastering
Bonnell, J. R. (2023). Natural language processing in cultural heritage domains: Integrating pretrained language models with rule-based systems for historical Japanese corpora [Doctoral dissertation, University of Miami]. https://aclanthology.org/2022.latechclfl-1.5/
Bullock, O. (2023). Synesthesia and haiku. Juxtapositions, 9, 45–87. https://www.academia.edu/116234603/Synesthesia_and_Haiku
Corrêa, G. P. (2015). Landscapes of synesthesia: Views from art, science, and philosophy. In Arts and sciences in dialogue (pp. 69–80).
Dong, Y. G. (2016). The gardening of nine chapters (p. 62). Tongji University Press.
Ellis, T. (2002). The modernist dilemma in Japanese poetry [Doctoral dissertation, Monash University]. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2015.1066871 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2015.1066871
Englehardt, J. D., & Carrasco, M. D. (2023). From "Cycad Hell" to sacred landscapes: Tracing the cultural significance of cycads in the Ryukyu Islands and Japan. Journal of Ethnobiology, 43(4), 280–298. https://doi.org/10.1177/02780771231209135 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/02780771231209135
Francis, N. (2021). Verbal art across language and culture: Poetry as music. Neohelicon, 48(2), 539–552. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-021-00592-z DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-021-00592-z
Galeyev, B. M. (2007). The nature and functions of synesthesia in music. Leonardo, 40(3), 285–288. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon.2007.40.3.285 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/leon.2007.40.3.285
Gage, J. (1999). Colour and meaning: Art, science and symbolism. https://doi.org/10.1086/428983 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/428983
Goode, L. K. (2010). Synesthesia: A sixth sense or a sensation: A research project based upon interviewing persons with color synesthesia. https://scholarworks.smith.edu/theses
Gilbert, R., & Yoneoka, J. (2000). From 5-7-5 to 8-8-8: An investigation of Japanese haiku metrics and implications for English haiku. Language Issues: Journal of the Foreign Language Education Center, 3(1). https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/items/show/1799
Guo, H. (2023). The influence of "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" on female literature in the Heian period [Doctoral dissertation, Shanxi University]. https://doi.org/10.27284/d.cnki.gsxiu.2023.000900
Hiraga, M. (1998). Rough sea and the Milky Way: 'Blending' in a haiku text. In International Workshop on Computation for Metaphors, Analogy, and Agents (pp. 27–36). Springer. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:107632775 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48834-0_3
Huang, X., & Liu, Z. (2022). Analysis of Chinese gardening characteristics in Daming Gardens based on space syntax: Taking Koishikawa Korakuen in Japan as an example. Urban Architecture, 19(23), 183–188. https://doi.org/10.19892/j.cnki.csjz.2022.23.38
Heyrman, H. (2005). Art and synesthesia: In search of the synesthetic experience. In Lecture presented in the First International Conference on Art and Synesthesia (pp. 25–28). https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352948 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352948
Heister, H. W. (2023). Music, word language, gesture language and artistic languages in the field between nature-body-culture: Results, interim results and future tasks of research. In H. W. Heister, H. Polk, & B. Rusam (Eds.), Word art + gesture art = tone art. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20109-7_41 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20109-7
Huang, Z., & Yao, N. (2023). A study on network structure and influence characteristics of the landscape elements of Tang poetry. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2510032/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2510032/v1
Ione, A., & Tyler, C. (2004). Neuroscience, history and the arts synesthesia: Is F-sharp colored violet? Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 13(1), 58–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/09647040490885493 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09647040490885493
Rabinovitch, J. N., & Bradstock, T. R. (2019). No moonlight in my cup: Sinitic poetry (Kanshi) from the Japanese court, eighth to the twelfth centuries (Vol. 10). Brill. https://doi.org/10.7817/jaos.141.4.2021.rev084 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004387218
Jiang, W., & Wang, W. (2023). A comparative analysis of design methods in Chinese and Japanese classical gardens: Taking the Humble Administrator's Garden and Kenroku-en as examples. Modern Horticulture, 46(20), 102–104. https://doi.org/10.14051/j.cnki.xdyy.2023.20.052
Ji, C. (1954). Notes on Yuanji (p. 60). China Construction Industry Press.
Jewanski, J., & Sidler, N. (Eds.). (2006). Farbe, Licht, Musik: Synästhesie und Farblichtmusik (Vol. 5). Peter Lang.
Kyprianidou, E., & Ioannou, D. (2023). Empathy for nature: Exploring interdisciplinary collaborations in the arts. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14279/31643
Kandinsky, W. (1987). Der gelbe Klang: Eine Bühnenkomposition. Kunstmuseum Bern. https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-294306
Kobayashi, I. (1991). Issa, cup-of-tea poems: Selected haiku of Kobayashi Issa. Asian Humanities Press.
Stamatopoulou, D. (2018). Empathy and the aesthetic: Why does art still move us? Cognitive Processing, 19(2), 169–186. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-017-0836-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-017-0836-3
Lee, E. J. (2023). Art as pedagogy: A multiple case study of participatory socially engaged art. Visual Arts Research, 49(1), 88–106. https://doi.org/10.5406/21518009.49.1.08 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5406/21518009.49.1.08
Li, Y., & Jahng, S. G. (2020). Application of synesthesia technology in new media art. TECHART: Journal of Arts and Imaging Science, 7(3), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.2478/amns.2023.1.00264 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15323/techart.2020.8.7.3.1
Lui, D. Z. (1978). Suzhou traditional gardens (pp. 36–68). Nanjing University Press.
Li, X., & Yin, S. (2022). Zhao Liewen's gardening practices and activities as reflected in his diary Nengjingju Riji—A secondary publication. Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, 4(1), 175. https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.v4i1.175 DOI: https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.v4i1.175
Law, S. S., & Blishen, T. (2024). Reading Chinese painting: Beyond forms and colors, a comparative approach to art appreciation. Shanghai Press.
Li, Q., & Ryan, J. (2017). Nature, engagement, empathy: Yijing as a Chinese ecological aesthetics. Environmental Values, 26(3), 343–364. https://doi.org/10.3197/096327117X14913285800698 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/096327117X14913285800698
Li, J., Huang, Z., Zhu, Z., & Ding, G. (2024). Coexistence perspectives: Exploring the impact of landscape features on aesthetic and recreational values in urban parks. Ecological Indicators, 162, 112043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.112043 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2024.112043
Masset, C. (2023). Why we garden: The art, science, philosophy and joy of gardening. Batsford Books.
Mu, J. (2023). Landscape art in A treatise on garden design and The craft of gardens: A comparative analysis. Science Insights, 42(1), 771–776. https://doi.org/10.15354/si.22.or051 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15354/si.22.or051
McNaught, S. (2020). Investigating Japanese "heritage for diplomacy": An analysis of local narratives at controversial UNESCO World Heritage sites in Japan [Doctoral dissertation, American University]. http://hdl.handle.net/1961/auislandora:85268
McNair, A. (2023). Garden space: Spatial design in traditional Chinese and Japanese gardens, fourteenth to nineteenth centuries. In Perspective: Selected essays on space in art and design (p. 65).
Niala, J. C. (2023). (Re)creating a living memorial: Urban gardening as a multispecies co-creating practice. Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, 14(1), 40–55. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2023.14.1.4830
Norviel, J. A. (2023). Taboo ecologies: Material and lyric dispossession in Anne Spencer's garden and seed catalogs. Ecozon@: European Journal of Literature, Culture and Environment, 14(1), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2023.14.1.4890 DOI: https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2023.14.1.4890
Nadri, C., Anaya, C., Yuan, S., & Jeon, M. (2023). From visual art to music: Sonification can adapt to painting styles and augment user experience. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 39(15), 3032–3044. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2022.2091210 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2022.2091210
Puttaiah, V. (2023). Verses without borders: Vikram Seth's transnational poetry. International Journal on Multicultural Literature, 13(1).
Pratama, A. D. Y. (2023). The form, meaning and function of the Hana ecolexicon in Matsuo Basho and Natsume Soueki's haiku. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Student Conference on Linguistics (ISCL 2022) (Vol. 734, p. 389). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-014-5_36 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-014-5_36
Pyshkin, E., & Blake, J. (2023). Music and choreography metaphors in spoken language rhythm modelling and their application to computer-assisted pronunciation training for mora-timed Japanese. In The Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture 2023: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 497–511). https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2436-0503.2023.43 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2436-0503.2023.43
Poplavskyi, M., Rybinska, Y., & Ponochovna-Rysak, T. (2020). The specific of synesthesia in contemporary American and English poetry and its impact on the reader. Cogito, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v13n8p558 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v13n8p558
Riccò, D. (1999). Sinestesie per il design: Le interazioni sensoriali nell'epoca dei multimedia. Etas. https://doi.org/10.13140/2.1.4021.9524
Rodemeyer, L. (2023). What about synesthesia? A phenomenological analysis of a perceptual phenomenon. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 61, 39–49. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12533 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12533
Recording poetry source. (n.d.). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCydTdIw4P0
Schlaepfer-Miller, J., Kueffer, C., & Dahinden, M. (2023). Climate Garden 2085: An easily applicable transdisciplinary public art-science experiment for transformative learning about climate change. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03899-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03899-2
Stryk, L., & Ikemoto, T. (Eds.). (2007). Zen poems of China and Japan: The crane's bill. Grove/Atlantic.
Suzuki, M. (1990). An experimental study on the structure of garden landscape evaluation. Zouen Zasshi, 53(5), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.5632/jila1934.53.5_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5632/jila1934.53.5_1
Sheppard, R. (1972). The decay of the formal garden: Late romanticism to expressionism. In Colloquia Germanica (Vol. 6, pp. 238–256). Narr Francke Attempto Verlag. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23980379
Tanaka, Y., & Shimoyama, H. (2020). Uncertain garden—Space design for fertilizing uncertainty at IdeaSquare, CERN. Acta Astronautica, 172, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.03.032 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2020.03.032
Takeuchi, T. (1992). An introduction to comparative Japanese studies: Exploring the ethnic characteristics of the Japanese (p. 59). Asaibunsha. https://doi.org/10.15084/00002531
Takei, J., & Keane, M. P. (2011). Sakuteiki: Visions of the Japanese garden. Tuttle Publishing.
Tschumi, C. (2020). Mirei Shigemori—Rebel in the garden: Modern Japanese landscape architecture. Birkhäuser. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783035621761 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783035621761
Ullah, U., Ullah, S., & Noureen, R. (2023). Japanese sense of place and time: A descriptive study. Pakistan Languages and Humanities Review, 7(2), 491–499. https://doi.org/10.47205/plhr.2023(7-II)43 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47205/plhr.2023(7-II)43
Vedal, N. (2015). Never taking a shortcut: Examination poetry of the Tang Dynasty. Tang Studies, 33(1), 38–61. https://doi.org/10.1179/0737503415Z.00000000014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tan.2015.0001
Verstegen, I. (2023). Morphogenesis of symbolic forms: A synthesizing formulation. Cognitive Semiotics, 16(2), 169–181. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogsem-2023-2009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cogsem-2023-2009
Winner, E. (2019). How art works: A psychological exploration. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190863357.001.0001
Waters, F., Barnby, J. M., & Blom, J. D. (2021). Hallucination, imagery, dreaming: Reassembling stimulus-independent perceptions based on Edmund Parish's classic misperception framework. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376(1817), 20190701. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0701 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0701
Wang, H. (2024). A comparative analysis of imagery in Chinese and Japanese poetry from the perspective of international Chinese education. International Public Relations, (15), 179–181. https://doi.org/10.16645/j.cnki.cn11-5281/c.2024.15.009
Webpage 2. (n.d.). https://www.google.com/search?q=%E2%80%9C%E5%BD%92%E5%9B%AD%E7%94%B0%E5%B1%85%E2%80%9D%E6%9C%97%E8%AF%B5
Yan, M. (2024). Study on the restoration and characteristics of the entrance space of Zuoyin Garden in Huizhou. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1), 2313838. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2313838 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2313838
Ye, X. (2021). Reviving a sense of poetry: Assessing Wang Shu's contemporary design practice. Arq: Architectural Research Quarterly, 25(4), 324–336. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135522000124 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s1359135522000124
Little, K. (2020). Pastoral. In Oxford research encyclopedia of literature. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.1078 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.1078
Yip, W. L. (2023). Diffusion of distances: Dialogues between Chinese and Western poetics. University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.7994689
Zhang, Z., Li, G., & Liang, Z. (2023). Differences in rock stacking and water feature design in gardens under the influence of geocultural factors: A case study of gardens in the south of Yangtze River in China and Japanese courtyards. Urban Architecture, 20(08), 61–65. https://doi.org/10.19892/j.cnki.csjz.2023.08.17
Wu, J. (2011). The rhythm of Japanese waka poetry. Journal of Foreign Literature. https://doi.org/10.16430/j.cnki.fl.201101010
Zhu, W. (2016). Boundless poetry and painting, everlasting charm in spring breeze and autumn moon: A brief analysis of the harmony between Chinese classical poetry and classical gardens. Packaging World, (05), 71–73. https://doi.org/10.13337/j.cnki.packaging.world.2016.05.018
Zhang, H. (2024). Multimedia technologies for presenting poetry in online educational blogs: Interpreting the poems of Chinese poets in contemporary music of China. Education and Information Technologies, 29(10), 12001–12021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12340- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-12340-0
Downloads
Published
Versions
- 2026-10-19 (2)
- 2025-06-17 (1)
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Future Cities and Environment
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
