枯山水是日本式园林的一种，但也是日本画的一种形式。一般是指由细沙碎石铺地，再加上一些叠放有致的石组所构成的缩微式园林景观，偶尔也包含苔藓、草坪或其他自然元素。枯山水并没有水景，其中的「水」通常由砂石表现，而「山」通常用石块表现。有时也会在沙子的表面画上纹路来表现水的流动。枯山水字面上的意思为「干枯的景观」或「干枯的山与水」，通常出现在室町时代、桃山时代以及江户时代的庭园中。

枯山水常被认为是日本僧侣用于冥想的辅助工具，所以几乎不使用开花植物，这些静止不变的元素被认为具有使人宁静的效果。

The Japanese rock garden(枯山水,karesansui) or "dry landscape" garden, often called a zen garden, creates a miniature stylized landscape through carefully composed arrangements of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and uses gravel or sand that is raked to represent ripples in water. A zen garden is usually relatively small, surrounded by a wall, and is usually meant to be seen while seated from a single viewpoint outside the garden, such as the porch of the hojo, the residence of the chief monk of the temple or monastery. Classical zen gardens were created at temples of Zen Buddhism in Kyoto during the Muromachi period. They were intended to imitate the intimate essence of nature, not its actual appearance, and to serve as an aid to meditation about the true meaning of life.