Just answer a few questions about your ideal garden image and conditions, and Toyomi Ohta, the female master of Ohta Niwaishi, will propose the best garden stones and landscaping style from a professional perspective. Please try it as the first step towards creating your ideal garden.
Choose an exquisite stone with nobility and presence as the main stone. Subordinate stones are also necessary to enhance the main stone. "Ishigumi" (stone arrangement), which symbolizes Japanese garden culture, is the cornerstone of the garden's dignity, so the shape and size of the stones, as well as the balance with the house, are extremely important.
■ Recommended stones: Ontake Stone, Shikoku Blue Stone, Kishu Red Stone
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
The main stone's "face" is its life! We carefully determine the position, height, and angle that befit its presence at the top of the entire garden. At Ohta Niwaishi, we have our customers watch this important installation process, and we finish it together while confirming until a satisfactory landscape is achieved.
For the front garden welcoming guests, we recommend a modest yet dignified and valuable stone that doesn't assert itself too much. Since it is a place where people come and go, avoid low branches that spread out. A garden stone or stone lantern placed under the branches conveys a spirit of hospitality to passersby.
■ Recommended stones: Hotaru Stone (Fluorite), Kikko Stone, Blue Stone, Ontake Stone, Stone Lanterns
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
The front garden is a prologue that raises expectations for the main garden, so you want to be particularly particular about the garden materials. Considering a placement that does not obstruct the passage of people and an easy-to-walk path is also part of hospitality.
The idea of condensing the beauty of a garden into a small space is a unique Japanese sensibility. A "Tsuboniwa" (courtyard) is an extraordinary space that makes people feel as if they have entered another world, easing daily tension. Therefore, we combine refined materials that make viewers feel they have gained something special.
■ Recommended stones: Ontake Stone, Fuji Stone, Blue Stone, Red Stone, Stone products such as Stone Lanterns and Water Basins
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
To create a landscape that strikes the viewer's heart in a limited space, we pursue an arrangement where good "actors" are gathered and resonate with each other. The stone acts as the leading role of the Tsuboniwa and has the power to bring the whole together.
・Drainage: Spaces surrounded by buildings tend to have poor ventilation. Design drainage facilities thoroughly at the initial stage.
・Lighting: For places where sufficient light cannot be obtained, we recommend a garden with a Tsukubai and moss that utilizes the shade to create a moist atmosphere, or a clean gravel stone garden.
・Maintenance: In isolated areas, pruning and cleaning can be difficult. It's better to design a neat and simple space with minimal management. (Related: Q6 About Maintenance)
A garden focused on stones, like an art museum, evokes a stylish and meaningful design. By maximizing the original beauty of the stones themselves, you can create a landscape where you can feel the joy of owning natural stones born over a long period.
A garden that showcases stones can be perfectly incorporated into any garden style.
★ Japanese garden -> Stone garden: Implied expression of the depth of another space through stone arrangement.
★ Western garden -> Rock garden: Using the natural shapes created by nature, you can create a quiet and refined landscape.
■ Recommended stones: Quarried mountain stones (Kiso stone, Mikage stone, Komatsu stone, Aji stone, etc.)
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
Entrusting wishes and thoughts to the garden space, such as making stones look like something else or embedding messages, is a unique Japanese view of nature. Please tell us your thoughts, and get a landscape that will be passed down for generations.
A landscape where greenery and flowers sway in the wind allows you to feel life and seasons, giving you daily vitality. By combining tall trees, shrubs, and ground cover plants, and adding natural stones as accents, the whole area is tightened, creating a beautifully natural landscape.
■ Recommended stones: Ontake Stone, Kiso Stone (Ena Stone), Mikage Stone
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
Seasonal trees and flowers have an excellent affinity with stones. You can feel the changing of the seasons from the flowers peeking through the stones and the sunlight filtering through the trees reflected on the stones. Creating a flower bed with natural stones gives it a more natural look and can also serve as a bench to rest on.
In modern gardening, highly convenient and practical exterior products are indispensable. Prioritizing essential structures for daily life while creating a comprehensive space as part of the garden enriches your outdoor life.
■ Recommended stones: Irregular paving stones, Stone car stops, Natural top stones (for benches)
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
Artificial materials and natural materials seem to have contrasting textures at first glance, but by combining them, they enhance each other's charm and create a refined space. Incorporating natural materials into the approach path significantly upgrades the exterior appearance.
Colored stones bring brilliance and luxury to a Japanese garden with their vivid colors and diverse textures. In a modern Japanese garden starring colored stones, keeping decorations to a minimum highlights the beauty of the stones themselves, resulting in an exceptionally refined space.
■ Recommended stones: Shikoku Blue Stone, Yoroi Stone, Shiun Stone
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
If you want to incorporate colored stones into a modern Japanese garden, choose a single stone with a unique shape or color. The formative beauty created by eternity vividly conveys to the viewer that the natural stone itself is a one-of-a-kind work of art.
You can create a chic, highly designed modern Japanese garden by choosing stones in calm natural colors with prominent surfaces and corners, and arranging them three-dimensionally and geometrically.
■ Recommended stones: Ontake Stone, Kiso Stone, Komatsu Stone, Nebukawa Stone
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
Dark-colored stones can give an inorganic impression depending on the arrangement. By combining plantings that draw patterns and neat "lines" created by pruning, a sense of unity is born throughout the garden, resulting in a refined and stylish space.
Processed stones with cut surfaces, split surfaces, and straight outlines have a sculpture-like presence in the garden. Utilizing blank spaces and height differences accentuates the shapes and shadows of the stones, resulting in a landscape that maximizes the characteristics of the stones.
■ Recommended stones: Processed stones such as Mikage stone, Aji stone, Komatsu stone, Nobeseiki, and plate stones
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
With custom-made processed stones, the design you envision can be faithfully formed. Illuminating the stone surface beautifully at night allows you to enjoy a slightly different expression than in the daytime.
Stones with a glossy finish, as if wet with rain, are well-suited for a garden reminiscent of a tropical rainforest. By placing round and glossy stones among dark green leaves and fresh plantings, you can finish a deep landscape that makes you feel the presence of water.
■ Recommended stones: River stones, Sea stones
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
Glossy stones change their expression by receiving the light shining through the leaves and water droplets after the rain. Ensure drainage and ventilation to prevent moisture buildup while considering an arrangement where you can enjoy the beauty of the stone surface.
Stones with bright colors and rough textures suit a Mediterranean-style garden based on white. By combining white walls, light-colored paving, and plantings such as olive trees, it creates a bright, open landscape that shines refreshingly in the sunlight.
■ Recommended stones: Limestone, Funahara stone, Oya stone
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
White-based stones show clear shadows under strong sunlight, making the entire garden look bright. Arranging large and small stones rhythmically and adding drought-resistant flowers creates a fun and light atmosphere.
Stones with a powerful sense of mass and weathered expressions look great in a garden reminiscent of the dry earth of a desert. Combining dry-colored gravel, rough-surfaced rocks, and dry-zone plants creates a wild landscape where you can feel the harshness and openness of nature.
■ Recommended stones: Chert stone, Gifu stone, Rust Mikage stone
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
The point is to pile the stones randomly and arrange gravel and drought-resistant plants with good spacing. By bringing the expressions of the stones and the earth to the forefront without packing too many plants, it becomes a garden where you can feel the majesty of the dry land.
By effectively utilizing the surface area of stones such as Ishigumi and paving stones, you eliminate spaces where weeds can grow. Also, taking advantage of the fact that weeds are hard to thrive in the shade, plant trees with low, widely tailored branches. Tree species that can be pruned are relatively easy to manage.
■ Recommended stones: Kiso stone, Mikage stone, Tanba stone, Flat stones
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
For weed countermeasures, the best thing is not to give weeds a chance to enter, but we also recommend contriving ways to reduce the bare ground area as much as possible so you can also enjoy taking care of the garden.
Weeds take root quickly on bare ground, so it's important to create as little bare ground as possible. Covering the ground with ground cover plants such as moss prevents weeds from entering and goes perfectly with natural stones.
■ Recommended stones:
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
The balance between stones and greenery is important for the overall landscape. Since ground cover plants often grow vigorously, be sure to trim or cut them back to reset them if they overgrow.
By covering the ground surface with stone materials, the exposure of soil is suppressed, reducing the occurrence of weeds and mud splashes, while maintaining a neat landscape regardless of the season. The colors, textures, and sizes of the stones are rich in variations, so you can enjoy combining them with landscape stones.
■ Recommended stones: Mikage stone, Teppei stone, Stepping stones, Decorative gravel
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
The less you use plants, the more the tone of the stones and the rhythm of the arrangement influence the overall impression. Think of a dynamic design so it doesn't become monotonous. Using weed control sheets or soil paving together is effective.
A relaxing garden with a table or sofa looks great with a scenery like a small open space in a copse. You can have the garden all to yourself in a hideaway-like space overlooking a forest-inspired garden.
■ Recommended stones: Flat stones such as Kiso stone, Ontake stone, Teppei stone, and Oya stone
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
The relaxing space in the garden is a blissful place to spend time unwinding. Using natural materials for the floor where outdoor furniture is placed makes it a more natural garden space.
For a garden where children enjoy playing in the water and sand, a clear, open space and a gentle footing that is safe to walk barefoot are important. By fitting stones with few corners and flat stones with moderate unevenness without steps, and connecting them naturally with the lawn and sand, the garden is finished to be easy to play in and easy for the family to watch over.
■ Recommended stones: River stone, Teppei stone, Suwa Teppei stone, Flat stone with rounded corners
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
In places where children play, prioritize a safe fit over the appearance of the stones. Choose a stone surface that does not slip easily even when wet, and consider safety by avoiding sharp corners and large steps.
In a garden where family and friends gather, place a flat landing where you can enjoy meals and conversation at the center, and place benches and water spots in easy-to-use positions. A floor made of paving stones, which makes it easy to place a stove or table stably and is easy to clean, gives you the unique atmosphere of natural materials.
■ Recommended stones: Teppei stone, Mikage stone, Irregular paving stones, Edge stones/Plate stones
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
For a gathering garden, it is important to arrange the flow of lines for the places to grill, eat, and clean up first. Installing stone benches and seats allows them to be used flexibly even when the number of people increases, making it visually stylish as well.
In a garden with ponds, Tsukubai, and streams, the colors and gloss of the stones, which deepen when wet, are maximized along with the sound of water. By placing colored stones around the water basin and stream, you can enjoy the cool, dynamic feel of the waterfront and the changing light.
■ Recommended stones: Shikoku Blue stone, River stone, Mikage stone, Natural stone Water basin/Tsukubai, Stepping stones
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
In a waterscape, not only the water itself but also the color of the wet stones and the reflection of light are important highlights. Adjust the height and volume of the water falling from the Kakehi (water spout), and arrange the position of the water basin and receiving stones so that a pleasant sound is created.
For a garden growing seasonal flowers, natural stone borders that enhance the color of the flowers while beautifully aligning the outline of the flower bed are very suitable. Light-colored stones make the garden bright and light, and dark-colored stones highlight the vividness of the flowers.
■ Recommended stones: Ontake stone, Fuji stone, Kiso stone, Sandstone
[Advice from Toyomi Ohta]
Edging stones suppress soil runoff and adjust the boundary with the path or lawn, but they also serve as an excellent supporting role that enhances the colors of the flower bed. Unifying the stone types to match the building or garden path creates a harmonious color tone where the flowers remain the main actors.
| Company Name | Ohta Niwaishi / Ohta Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Head Office Location | 2-53-2, Sohara Shinsakaemachi, Kakamigahara Shi, Gifu Ken, 504-0855, Japan |
| TEL | +81-58-389-2814 |
| FAX | +81-58-389-2580 |
| Business Hours Japan time | 8:00-17:00 Enquiries can be made outside of business hours |
| Regular Holiday | irregular days off |
| URL | https://ohta2814.com/english/ |
| Company Name | Ohta Niwaishi /
Ohta Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|
| Head Office
Location |
2-53-2, Sohara Shinsakaemachi,
Kakamigahara Shi, Gifu Ken, 504-0855, Japan |
| TEL | +81-58-389-2814 |
| FAX | +81-58-389-2580 |
| Business Hours
Japan time |
8:00-17:00
Enquiries can be made outside of business hours |
| Regular Holiday | irregular days off |
| URL | https://ohta2814.com/english/ |
