Overlooked side returns, tiny front yards and basement entrances can be transformed into peaceful, thoughtful spaces

The Japanese tsubo-niwa, or courtyard garden, became popular in the early Edo period (an era akin to our English Renaissance) of town planning. It was a little outdoor space – often not more than a corridor within the wings of a building – that became a hidden gem inside the home. A garden for looking on rather than being in, a place of contemplation. The best tsubo gardens are poised, breathtakingly beautiful spaces.

The tsubo garden has strict rules about the layering of elements: water, plants, sky and stone, all influenced by the constraints of space: these are small gardens. Some of the most striking examples are reduced to the essentials: a single clump of bamboo, a water basin, a rock.