In the garden of Nippon style the pond plays a very important part, giving a variety and calm dignity to the landscape. In making the pond, the dug-up earth is generally used in forming hills on the back, though it is scarcely enough for them. Though the hills so made may first appear sufficiently high, they usually look too low when the pond is filled with water. So a caution is necessary to guard against the disappointment. The bed should preferably, if small, be cemented and covered over with ballast before filling it with water. The pond should not be too regular in order to let it appear natural. Its irregular banks should curve in and out, forming the shape of the Chinese character for "heart," or "water," or "one. " Or it may assume round, square, crescent or running water shape. From olden times it has been a subject of careful study, whether to make it appear as a big ocean, river, lake or swamp. It should be so curved, with the aid of trees and plants, as not to let its full extent be seen from any one position, and the water should have an outlet, which is generally concealed in a different direction from where it is fed. In the construction of its banks, some parts should be arranged with rocks, others with posts, for which chestnut is considered most durable in Nippon, and still others with turf coming to the edge of the water. In certain parts there should be stone steps leading down to the water.
