This rock is not a rock, but a sacred mountain. Hanbe garden, Hiroshima. Photo : Michel Lambert

Stone is the very embodiment of perpetuity, an indispensable component of any Japanese garden.

Not surprising, really, in a country 80% of which is covered by mountains-a delicate string of jagged islands, bristling with volcanoes and periodically devastated by typhoons and earthquakes.

	In the same garden, turtle island, also linked to Buddhist beliefs. Photo : Claude Gagné

Indeed, some Japanese gardens consist entirely of stone. Yet it may be these gardens in particular that carry the visitor's spirit farthest away, to a deeply profound peace.

For stone in its density represents an impressive combination of imagination and infinity, offering a harbour where our endlessly racing thoughts can rest.

Each stone is selected with such care and placed with such sensitivity that it can be a drop of water, an island or a Buddhist paradise. A fragment of eternity.

Open Windows on Japanese Gardens 1. Opening a window onto a universe 2. A very famous Zen garden 3. Step by step on stepping stones 4. Endless maintenance 5. Key to the project: the choice of stone 6. The birth of a "Japanese" garden in Montréal 7. Wanted: Hardy species 8. The three religions of Japan 9. Three gardens, three relationships between man and Nature 10. Shakkei or borrowed scenery 11. Living symbols 12. 3, 5, 7 13. Of appearance and essence 14. Precious, colourful carp 15. Mineral strength 16. Changing scale 17. The spirit of stone 18. Islands of the Immortals 19. Plants and time 20. Discreet but essential ground covers 21. Shrubs and the art of plant sculpture 22. Trees, venerable above all 23. Water, a moving mirror of life 24. A pond and its fish 25. Islands and bridges 26.Flowing, shimmering water 27. Listen to your Heart 28. Some important dates

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