Overview
A few weeks ago, while this paper was already taking shape in my mind, I visited a Botanic Garden. What stayed with me most was not the size of the grounds, but their still center: two gardens presented under the contemporary name Japanese gardens, each reflecting a different historical moment in the distant past. A Chinese friend later told me that even this label may be historically debatable. I am not qualified to settle that question here, so I will simply use the name by which such gardens are commonly known today.