nana’s green tea AEON MALL OKAYAMA
Okayama, Japan / 2014

“Chisen Garden”

Nanaha Co., Ltd. is a company that sends the “new form of Japan” to the world through “mattcha”. They provide high quality mattcha in menus that are arranged modernly, such as mattacha latte. The space inside the shop is desired to be a “modern tearoom”, not a “Japanese style tea room”. According to the owner, it is a way of expressing their feeling to make a shop that allows the customers to enjoy the traditional Japanese culture with a modern interpretation.

The traditional style of a Japanese garden is classified into three types:
“Chisen Garden” that signifies a pond garden, “Karesansui” that means a dry landscape garden and “Roji Garden” that is a garden outside the tearoom.
The most typical style of Chisen garden is called Chisen-Kaiyu style garden, in which a big pond is placed at the center, walking paths are provided around the pond, and local scenic spots are reproduced with miniature hills, small islands in the pond, bridges and beautiful stones.
Several tearooms are placed at various spots in the garden for taking a rest while walking and for enjoying views of the garden.
“Korakuen” and “Tokoen” are famous Chisen gardens in Okayama.

In nana’s green tea Okayama I focus on “reflection” of the pond and reproduce the pond in the space by using mirror reflection, based on a concept of Chisen garden viewed from the tearoom. Actually the mirrors are placed in niches with an inclination of 45 degrees and reflect graphics on the bottom through the glass balls.
My proposal is a restful tearoom encircled by pond garden.

Photos by Keisuke Miyamoto

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