This is a book I wish I had a dozen years ago when I made my first and so far only trip to Japan. Half of my two weeks was spent in Tokyo, while the other half was a road trip, two days of which were in Kyoto. There, my friends and I saw numerous temples and gardens, many that I fail to remember by name. Of course we went to see Ryoan-ji's famous rock garden, and I convinced my friends to see a modern glass temple on the outskirts of the town. With this book, we would have known about less-obvious, but still notable, gardens, such as Mirei Shigemori's traditional/contemporary Tofuku-ji. (Years later one of my friends reminded me we actually went there!)

Updated and revised from its initial 1980 release, the book is small, befitting a guidebook. The more than forty gardens, which span seven centuries, are organized geographically in six chapters that are accompanied by maps. Introductory chapters on the history, cultural context, and landscape morphology of Kyoto are particularly helpful, while some color plates up front partially make up for the b/w photos that predominate throughout the rest of the book. ( )