Tea House Viewed from Tea Garden after Rain

A Japanese tea garden [cha-niwa or roji] is a place for quiet reflection on the beauty of nature and the art of living in harmony. A pathway of carefully placed stepping stones, lined by lanterns, leads through the rustic garden to the tea house. Tea gardens were historically designed as peaceful, natural spaces to detach oneself from the hectic everyday world before entering the tea house and the tranquil world of tea ceremony [chanoyu].