How to Rake Your Zen Garden

For centuries, monks in Japan have perfected the art of raking Karesansui (Zen) Gardens into beautiful patterns to reach the desired meditative state. Much of the practice of caring for your Zen Garden comes from the realization that you're taking care of yourself as well. Repetitive motions of designing circles, waves, or other patterns are a positive way to calm the mind, establish attentiveness, and cultivate personal discipline. If you read the article above you may have learned how to make your own DIY garden at home, now let us put your imagination and designing skills to the test and help you feel confident in your raking. Start with one of the most common patterns, the water drop design, and then after you’ve learned the basics and feel comfortable, try experimenting with other patterns or create your own. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to rake your sand or gravel.

What is the Water Drop Wave Pattern?

As I stated above, the water drop wave pattern is one of the most common designs. It’s called maru-uzu-mon in Japanese, and features straight lines across the whole garden, broken up by circles tracing around the large stones. The circles create the illusion of a water drop with ripples.

Step 1: Prepare the Surface

Remove any flowers, rocks, or accessories to create a flat surface- you want your design to stand out, and you can always put accessories back after raking your pattern.

Smooth the gravel or sand to again create a flat surface so that there are no dips or mounds.

Choose a pattern that accommodates your garden’s best features. Consider the elements in your garden, such as large stones, artificial plants, or flowers, and plan your design to accentuate these elements. 

• Keep in mind it’s important to think of a pattern before you start raking. That way, you can plan where to start raking, and don’t mess up as much.

Step 2: How do I rake the sand?

The wide-toothed rake is different from most rakes because they are specifically used for raking the sand to help you achieve straight lines. Start at one side of the garden and pull the rake all the way to the other side keeping it as straight as you possibly can. Then turn around rake beside those previous lines.

To go over stones or other large elements, pick up your rake when it stops and continue raking as close as possible on the other side. Also remember that raking a Zen garden is more about your state of mind and the benefits that will come than the finished product. Take a deep breath if you need and try to focus on the calming motion of raking. Don’t worry if the pattern doesn’t look perfect! After lots of practice, the raking will get easier.

Step 3: Experiment with Other Designs

Play around with long, wavy lines to imitate a stream. Just drag your rake with a gentle wiggle to create this effect.

Try simple, straight lines that extend across the whole garden. These patterns are called chokusen-mon. If your garden has elements like many rocks or a big plant, a simple straight-line design can help make it feel less cluttered and lead the eye smoothly across the landscape.

Construct raised mounds in the sand or gravel. These mounds are called mori-zuna. They traditionally represent the water that visitors to a temple would use to ritually purify themselves. The mounds can also have an aesthetic purpose to guide the eye around the garden. You can then make the ripple pattern around your mound to accentuate it.

Create your own design. Combine elements of circles, straight, and wiggly lines to make your own pattern that best fits your garden, the season, and your mood. In traditional Japanese gardens, monks often change the raking patterns to fit the season.

·      A straight line can evoke a frozen winter landscape.

·      Curvy lines can bring to mind rushing water in spring or summer.

·      Trace the shape of a fallen leaf in a meandering stream pattern to create an autumn scene.