Meanings
- attributiveoftenA Japanese rock garden or Zen garden.
To some observers a karesansui is just twigs, rocks and grit.
2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, Granta Books, published 2013, page 1932 more examples
Wall of offices, windows, the fabulous design of the Japanese architects—and the surrounding gardens of dwarf evergreens, rocks, the karesansui landscape, sand imitating a dried-up stream winding past roots, among simple, irregular flat stones….
1962, Philip K. Dick, “The Man in the High Castle”, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America, published 2007, page 27Suden commissioned master garden-designer Kobori Enshu to build the karesansui garden south of the hojo.
2002, Alison Main, Newell Platten, The Lure of the Japanese Garden, page 101
Origin
- Japanese枯山水
- Englishkaresansui
From Japanese 枯山水.
More words from Japanese
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
karesansui. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/karesansui
“karesansui.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/karesansui. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “karesansui,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/karesansui.
Source: karesansui on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.