Shakkei (Borrowing landscape) (借景)
"Shakkei" (borrowing landscapes) is one type of landscape gardening techniques in Chinese and Japanese gardens.
With incorporation of the natural scenery such as trees, mountains, or bamboo forests outside the garden as the background for the scenery inside the garden, it is a technique to form a dynamic spectacle which integrates the garden as the foreground and the borrowed landscape as background. The natural scenery outside the garden is also considered to be an important component of the garden spectacle. However in recent years, there are changes because of urban development and construction of skyscrapers in the mountains, which are borrowed landscapes, this has caused disputes in respect of destruction of the borrowed landscapes.
Famous gardens of borrowed landscape and background assumed to be borrowed landscapes
Shugakuin Imperial Villa (Mt. Hiei)
Garden of dry landscape style in Entsu-ji Temple (Kyoto City) (Mt. Hiei)
Hojo urateien (Head Monk's Garden at the backyard) of Tenryu-ji Temple (Mt. Arashi-yama, Mt. Kame-yama)
Ritsurin Park (Mt. Shiun)
Genkyu-en Park (castle tower of Hikone Castle)
Garden of Adachi Museum
Sengen-en Park (Mt. Sakurajima)