Illustrated by haiku from 1200 yrs of Japanese poetry, with original music from WOMAD artist Joji Hirota and with stunning images from the temples and gardens of Kyoto, Shishu (poetic beauty) sets out to capture the mesmerising mystique of actually being in those gardens. Drawing deep from one of the world's oldest garden traditions, it offers a profound insight into the intuitive appeal of Kyoto's gardens and the legendary beauty of the Japanese aesthetic. That aesthetic draws its power from a refined and elevated awareness of the heart, of the centre of human emotion. Being a highly integrated society, the sensitivity to and respect for individual feeling permeates all Japan's cultural forms, such as ikebana and haiku. The gardens are an accessible and immediate way of connecting with this realm of intuition.