The Beauty and Art of Japanese Moss

January 2020

Moss is an integral feature in many Japanese gardens, and a plant that carries special meaning and significance.

In Japanese culture, moss has represented concepts of beauty, simplicity, humility and refinement, as well as the aesthetics of wabi and sabi — transience and imperfection. Across Japan, moss is abundant in the wild as well as in manicured gardens, temples and museums — which are the focus of popular moss-viewing tours. Moss is also mentioned in Japan’s national anthem, “Kimigayo.”

Japanese aristocrats of the Heian period (794–1185) appreciated the beauty of moss, but it did not become a valued element of gardening until the proliferation of Zen culture in the 14th century. Zen Buddhist monks found serenity in moss, and over the subsequent centuries, garden designers have used it to produce memorable landscapes, while Japanese writers have used moss as a metaphor for the passage of time, longevity, mortality and many other aspects of the human condition.

In 2011, Hisako Fujii’s book “Mosses, My Dear Friends” sold over 40,000 copies and helped trigger a new wave of moss-viewing tours, moss-themed drinks and rings that sprout moss instead of gems. Kokedama (balls of peat and moss, sometimes suspended in the air) have also found renewed popularity.

A moss-covered garden at the Nakano House Art Museum.

Notable locations for viewing moss in Japan include the famed garden at Saihō-ji Temple in Kyoto (which contains about 120 different kinds of moss and is part of a Unesco World Heritage Site); the garden at the Hakone Museum Of Art in Kanagawa Prefecture; Tōfuku-ji and Sanzen-in Temple in Kyoto (where squares of moss and stone create a checked design called the Ichimatsu pattern); the “moss village” of Koke no Sato in Hiyomachi; and the Japanese garden at Ryōtanji in Shiga Prefecture (where moss represents islands and mountains).

In the United States, scenic examples of Japanese moss can be found in The Garden of the Phoenix at Jackson Park in Chicago, Seattle Japanese Garden, Portland Japanese Garden, and the Shofuso Japanese House and Garden in Philadelphia, among other locations (although the most popular moss in the gardens of Japan — haircap moss, or Polytrichum commune — is rarely found in U.S. Japanese gardens.) Learn more via Nippon.com, The New Republic, and The Independent.