# Nature in Amano's works



## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

I recently obtained a copy of an English Aquajournal. In this magazine, there are some great articles and points on aquascaping. I would like to share this information with the rest of APC. Here is a summary of what he states:

Shakkei, originally termed as Ikedori which means "to capture alive," has been used by Japanese gardeners since the seventeenth century. For our purposes, it is the technique of borrowing creations of nature such as hills, sections of streams, and plains and incorporating them into the four distinct compositional planes of the rectangular aquarium. An important side note in this article is the emphasis he places upon the careful placement of different elements in the middleground to connect the foreground and background of an aquascape.

Takashi Amano's philosophy is to use nature as inspiration. His aquascapes are not meant to look natural or "wild." Instead, they are meant to be reinterpreted, abstracted, idealized visions of nature. Nature is to be studied --not imitated.

Hope all of you find this information helpful,

Carlos


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## HanshaSuro (Jun 22, 2004)

Carlos,

I've been interested in getting my hands on issues of that magazine (in Japanese _or_ English). Do you know of a good way to get issues or, better yet, a subscription?

Thanks


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

you can get a subscription from ADA they will ship to the US. I don't know the url off hand but it is something like www.vectrapoint.com


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

An inspiring source of information on Japanese aquascaping can be had by reading books on Japanese gardening. Japanese gardens are simply wonders, sometimes derived from Chinese gardens such as those at Hangzhou and Suzhou. I was reading a nice general book called Japanese Gardens by Günter Nitschke (Amazon.com link below):

Japanese Gardens

Do a search on Amazon.com for Japanese Gardens and you will come up with some interesting books. Here in NYC we are lucky enough to have some of these titles available at discount (subject to ghastly NY sales tax of 8.65%) at Strand Books.

Our terrestrial lives inspire our aquatic dreams.

Andrew Cribb


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## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

There was an ad in TAG that gave an email so that you could subscribe. I need to update my address info, so when I find the email, I will post it.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

What are "the four distinct compositional planes of the rectangular aquarium"?


Roger Miller


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

Direct quote: 

"While the foreground itself plays a minor role, the middleground is a section of carefully positioned elements serving to link the foreground and background together. The aquatic plants in the background create the frame to view the fourth and final plane containing the miniature representation." 

Could he be referring to the backing used as the fourth plane? In Amano's works, it sure seems that the backing serves as a continuation of the aquascape (perhaps a reason why he calls his backings "infinity boards?").

Carlos


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

dennis said:


> you can get a subscription from ADA they will ship to the US. I don't know the url off hand but it is something like www.vectrapoint.com


They do not distribute AJ anymore. English version was discontinued.

Please contact:

Nozomi Hayakawa
Aqua Design Amano Co

with the following email [email protected]


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## HanshaSuro (Jun 22, 2004)

Jay,

So if I emailed Ms. Hayakawa you think I could arrange to receive the Japanese edition?


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

HanshaSuro said:


> Jay,
> 
> So if I emailed Ms. Hayakawa you think I could arrange to receive the Japanese edition?


Sure. It will cost you ~$100 for annual subscription. This is what I have.


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## HanshaSuro (Jun 22, 2004)

How many issues for the subscription?


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

i got the 34-38 issues, i think they r the only issues published in english , i wish there was more (or in hebrew  )...


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

I wonder if TAG would consider licensing translation rights in selected back- and front-list AquaJournal articles both from Vectra (English) and ADA's Japanese original.

Selected articles would certainly make a much better selling point for TAG which otherwise seems a little bit short of hard-core aquascaping details.

If TAG wishes to speak with me further about this, they can. Licensing such rights is my business....

Andrew Cribb


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## tsunami (Jan 24, 2004)

AGA does have one Aquajournal article translated into English for each quarterly TAG magazine.

Carlos


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

Aha. I have only received one issue so far. Now I know.

Andrew Cribb


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## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

And I think the yearly subscription is more like $60 US. If you want something that I thought was a good deal, get the suikei mag. It was like $12 or $20 and had some great stuff. Maybe we can start a petition to get ADA to translate some of there articles to English with the subscriptions. I once looked into Japanese OCR software and translation software to do the job.


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## jerseyjay (Jan 25, 2004)

IUnknown said:


> And I think the yearly subscription is more like $60 US.


AJ is a little more then $100, not $60.


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