Abstract: The Kare San Sui, which represents Japanese gardens, attracts thousands of tourists every year with its rich “Zen spirit” connotation, but the research on the main driving factors in the evolution of Kare San Sui modeling, and the background and reasons of the concept of “Zen Kare San Sui” in the later period are quite insufficient. By summarizing relevant literature and ancient books, there is no evidence that there is an inevitable connection between Kare San Sui modeling and Zen Buddhism in the evolution process from ancient times to modern times, but this connection has become increasingly close after modern times due to Japanese cultural policies and related scholars’ esteem . Exploring the evolution of Kare San Sui modeling, its written use and the interpretation reason and background of Zen connotation have important reference significance for the future research of Kare San Sui.