Jo Ryo En Japanese Garden, Japanese garden at Carleton College in Northfield, United States.
Jo Ryo En is a Japanese garden on the Carleton College campus that spans about a quarter-acre. It features stone lanterns, a bamboo drip basin, flat stones arranged to suggest a stream, and white gravel representing a lake.
Bardwell Smith, John W. Nason Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies at Carleton College, instigated the garden's design and construction, and David Slawson guided the design; it was conceived and built between 1974 and 1976. In 2000 the Journal of Japanese Gardening named it one of the 10 highest-quality gardens outside Japan.
The name Jo Ryo En is commonly translated as "garden of quiet listening." The garden was instigated by Bardwell Smith, John W. Nason Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies at Carleton College, and designed under the guidance of David Slawson. It is built in the karesansui, or dry landscape, style, with a viewing pavilion where visitors sit to look at the raked white gravel and stones.
The garden sits behind Watson Hall on the Carleton College campus and is free to visit throughout the year. The best time to experience it is during dry weather, when the garden's details and stone arrangements are most visible.
In 2000 the Journal of Japanese Gardening ranked Jo Ryo En among the ten highest-quality gardens outside Japan, a listing that brought attention to a quarter-acre site behind Watson Hall. The garden was conceived and built between 1974 and 1976, with design guidance from David Slawson and instigation from Bardwell Smith, professor emeritus of Asian studies at Carleton.
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