The Traditional Japanese Tea garden begins with a path.  Your cares of the outside world are left behind at the entrance to the garden.  The journey down the gardens dewy path (or "roji"), brings you into a greater appreciation and awareness of nature, it mentally calms and prepares you for the tea ceremony in the inner garden. The Japanese tea garden was created as a place for privacy and the designers made good use of evergreen screens, bamboo hedges as well as fences and gates to create an environment of true intimacy.

Traditionally, At the end of the journey guests purified themselves by washing their hands and mouths in the "Tsukubai" or water basin before entering the tea house. The Tsukubai was fed from a bamboo pipe which also provided water for the tea. Gravel or small river stones were used to keep the mud down while large boulders were used for places to sit or kneel or place the tea set while washing.