Arboretum Abroad - Japan, Spring 1962
The beginnings of E. Lowell Kammerer's trip and his view of Japanese garden design
The Japanese conception of a garden bridge is not by any means that of a passage over water, instead, it is the love of picturesqueness or sometimes a fondness for enjoying the cool breezes and watching the fish in the water below.
A Secret of Japanese Gardens (1958), Takuma Tono, Landscape Architecture Department, Tokyo Agricultural University, Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan
Lowell Kammerer frequently traveled within the United States as part of his work as well as for pleasure, visiting arboreta and botanic gardens nationwide and participating in conferences and flower shows. In the Spring of 1962, he embarked on a more extensive trip—traveling to Asia on behalf of the Morton Arboretum. He certainly made the excursion count, spending time in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore during the nearly two-month-long trip alongside his brother Robert.
Learned the trustees had OK’d my trip to Japan!
E. L. Kammerer Journal, September 28, 1961
In choosing where to focus his international travel for the Arboretum, my grandfather was undoubtedly influenced by his appreciation for Japanese garden design and aesthetics. His love of Japanese gardens isn’t much of a surprise, given his eye for form and shape. Far from valuing only the showy flowers or unique foliage of plants, he saw the potential in a tree’s profile, what the shape and bark of a bare branch could add to a landscape. He also shared a respect for natural beauty, the sort of precise impreciseness that cannot develop out of overwrought design but only from the intentional use of effective native plants.
A good Japanese garden is a true work of art which usually reveals three fundamental characteristics: naturalism, an effect induced by a combination of the natural elements considered by the artist to be most pertinent to the composition; asymmetry, or the suggestion of incompleteness which the Japanese compare to the irregularities of nature and which is purposely left for the imagination to finish; and harmony, the assimilation of natural and architectural forms into a unified composition.
E. Lowell Kammerer, Bulletin of Popular Information, Morton Arboretum, 1964
Before traveling there in the 60s, Lowell Kammerer (and the Morton Arboretum more broadly) had established connections with some Japanese academic institutions, arboreta, and botanic gardens. Whether through the Arboretum’s seed exchange or lectures and professional organization meetings, the Arboretum staff made an effort to foster relationships that broadened the scope of its influence far beyond Chicagoland. During my grandfather’s trip to Japan, he met with many horticultural collaborators and even (noted in a few instances throughout his journal) observed specimens from Arboretum exchanges growing halfway across the world.
Met Dr. Misao Tatewaki, Director, the Botanic Garden of Hokkaido Univ. (garden 70 years old)…He walked around Arb. + alpine garden with me. Had an assistant collect any Herbarium specimens I wanted.
E. L. Kammerer Journal, May 24, 1962
We treat natural stones as materials which have vital factors. That is because we feel life and soul in the natural stones which are frequently used as an idealistic and also as a realistic representation.
A Secret of Japanese Gardens (1958), Takuma Tono, Landscape Architecture Department, Tokyo Agricultural University, Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan
As someone who valued the aesthetic appeal of stones and rock gardens, my grandfather was undoubtedly intrigued by the importance of stone in Japanese garden design, how even the thing least alive has vitality and narrative. Additionally, Japanese gardens favor form, texture, and multi-seasonality in their living aspects, which are principles my grandfather championed in his work.
The plant effects favored by the Japanese are predominately restrained and subdued in character, with full advantage being taken of such subleties as the color and textural variation of foliage in its various stages of development, the picturesqueness of branch and twig in leaf, bare, or snow covered, and the miracle of flowering, from bud to full blown blossom.
E. Lowell Kammerer, Bulletin of Popular Information, Morton Arboretum, 1964
In the “Kammerer Wild Garden” at Riverby, his home in Warrenville, my grandfather highlighted native plants used to their maximum effectiveness. He assuredly appreciated the Japanese emphasis on natural beauty and utilizing native species in their gardens.
Of one thing one may always be certain, whatever plants are used will be chosen on the basis of their ecological compatibility.
E. Lowell Kammerer, Bulletin of Popular Information, Morton Arboretum, 1964
The focus on plants that can be effectively grown in Chicagoland was one of the Morton Arboretum’s early principles and carries through to this day. The reverence and admiration displayed throughout Lowell Kammerer’s journals show how much these thoughtfully interpreted natural landscapes inspired him as a landscape architect.
Chaste simplicity, refined elegance and tranquil solitude are among the ideas expressed by the [Japanese] garden representation.
E. L. Kammerer Journal, 1962
For my grandfather, traveling to Japan wasn't just about the destination. Like bridges in Japanese gardens, the act of passage wasn’t the focus. What mattered to him most was learning from people who knew what he didn’t about landscape design, experiencing the auras of spaces he visited, connecting with the natural beauty of those places and internalizing it. The materials he brought back with him certainly mattered, but from his writing, it’s clear he focused on savoring the place while he was in it. He brought home intangible things—knowledge, experience, appreciation—in addition to herbarium specimens and souvenirs.
On garden gates:
Having a definite relationship to its surrounding, there is no break between inside and outside of ground.
A Secret of Japanese Gardens (1958), Takuma Tono, Landscape Architecture Department, Tokyo Agricultural University, Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan
I’m so excited to step through this particular garden gate to explore this facet of my grandfather’s larger journey. In issues to come, I’ll outline his trip in more detail, delving into the gardens he saw, people he met, and the influence his trip had on the Arboretum. Many more slides, journal excerpts, and (hopefully, if I’m able to dig up a projector) 8mm film to share!
I hope you enjoyed this jaunt abroad, and I’m looking forward to sharing more about my grandfather’s travels in Asia over the coming months!
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