Shunmyo Masuno at World Design Rankings
Showcasing Best Designers from Japan
Shunmyo Masuno
Representing Japan in World Design Rankings
| Award Level | Count | Indicator |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum | 2 | |
| Gold | 0 | |
| Silver | 0 | |
| Bronze | 0 | |
| Iron | 0 |
More on Shunmyo Masuno : Shunmyo Masuno, born in 1953 in Tsurumi-ku Yokohama city, is one of the world’s preeminent Japanese garden designers, a landscape architect, a professor at Tama Art University and an eighteenth-generation Zen priest at the Kenko-ji Temple in Yokohama. In 2001 he was appointed Head priest of Kenko-ji Temple.
Renowned for his ability to blend modern design with traditional Japanese design, Shunmyo Masuno has established gardens around the world -traditional and contemporary, urban and rural, public and private - in a wide variety of settings that include temple, office, hotel, and campus venues.
Masunos overriding philosophy is that “the garden is a special spiritual place in which the mind dwells.” As a designer, his spiritual code guides all his works. For Masuno there is a difference between western ideals of beauty and the Japanese concept of beauty. Western beauty, for the most part, is focused on symmetry and perfection. This “completion” prevents the viewer from imagining anything else but what they see. The Japanese concept of beauty focuses on asymmetry, and imperfection/ incompletion. The imperfection is where the soul of the artist is expressed and identifiable.
His zen garden is intended to be viewed from specific viewpoints, to calm the mind and soul. As Masuno says, “You gaze upon the garden as though it is a picture.” It is a tool of concentration.
The another intention of the zen garden is to create “natural scenery,” a miniaturized version of the world, where one contemplates your place in the earth.
The contrasts in the garden is designed to contain “emptiness” and its that emptiness that gives the garden its meaning, and allows the mind to dwell in the space. With that emptiness, an element of tension is introduced, and that tension focuses the mind.
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Frequently Asked Questions on Japan Design Rankings
Designers in Japan were ranked based on the number and level of design awards won. Best designers from Japan are sorted and listed above based on the number of Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron Design Awards won, total score for each designer is calculated based on the table below.
| Color Legend | Award Level | Score Modifier |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum Design Award | +6 Points | |
| Golden Design Award | +5 Points | |
| Silver Design Award | +4 Points | |
| Bronze Design Award | +3 Points | |
| Iron Design Award | +2 Points |
Best designers in Japan are displayed in this page. To learn more about each designer, you will want to check their profiles and design portfolios.
The displayed Japan design rankings are based on the current aggregated scores of designers in Japan is between the years 2008 and 2025.
Press members are kindly invited to download WDR Japan Design Rankings press release and the press kit to have images and data to cover the Japan Design Rankings. When mentioning WDR Japan Design Rankings, international press members usually feature top ranking designers from Japan together with a short information on World Design Rankings.
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