This study has examined how Silla Korea and Heian Japan diverged from the pond-garden tradition of Tang China and developed their own localized forms in terms of landscape and religious studies. In Tang China, the Grand Fluid Pond occupied a prominent position within the highly symmetrical palace compound, yet it was excluded from the imperial sacrificial rituals. The pond primarily functioned as a space for courtly recreation, while Daoism survived largely as a symbolic vocabulary and formal embellishment. By contrast, the Wŏlji pond in Kyŏngju more actively incorporated celestial elements of garden Daoism and indigenous beliefs. They included the three immortal islands, the Twelve Peaks of Mount Wu, wild animals for hunting, and the worship of the Dragon King. More importantly, the pond was deliberately situated adjacent to a royal Buddhist temple, and, over time, a large number of Buddhist artifacts were placed in the pond area. Taken together, the Silla pond functioned not merely as an idealized landscape but also as an ideological space that reinforced the royal authority and glorified the dynasty through a syncretic religious landscape. Although the imagery of Amitābha’s Western Paradise was only partially expressed in the Silla garden, it was fully realized in garden form under the patronage of the Fujiwara clan in eleventh-century Heian Japan. By this time, Pure Land Buddhism had permeated all levels of society, while widespread anxieties over the “Latter Days of the Law” encouraged devotion to Amitābha as the primary means of salvation. Against this religious background, the Fujiwara sponsored temple complexes with expansive pond gardens. Two of the most prominent examples, Hōjōji and Byōdōin, were deliberately designed to represent Amitābha’s Western Paradise and to serve as ritual settings for Pure Land devotion. This religiosity therefore represented a fundamental departure from both the Daoist garden of Tang China and the syncretic gardens of Silla Korea.