JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE Two types of towers predominated: one with

bells that announced the times of religious

REVIEWER observance each day and another in which
canonical texts were stored (the sutra repository).
1 Geographical:
● eastern coast of Asian mainland Priests - contributed to the general development of
● Principal island Honshu, and smaller islands the country, (road-making and bridge-building).
at north and smaller islands at north and
south, lies off the east coast of China, with Main Hall (Hondô, Kondô or Butsuden) and
the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Pagoda - most important buildings in the temple.
Japan on the west. ● Worshippers stand in the outer chamber
● Geographical resemblance to Great Britain: facing the inner sanctuary, with its images of
both have deeply indented coast-lines with the Buddha, to pray, pressing their palms
good harbors; both are island empires well together.
situated for commerce, as they both lie 3 Historical:
opposite populous continents; both are at • Chinese influence – painted; Japan has not been;
the head of great ocean water-ways, the • Chinese – lifestyle/chair; Japan – floor
one of the Pacific, the other of the Atlantic, • Feudalism, with castes of emperor and nobles,
and both are warmed by ocean currents shoguns and military, people
● Earthquakes and volcano • 200 years - closed to outside world
● Hilly and forested country
2 Religious: Prehistoric Period (Jomon, Yayoi & Kufon)
Jomon Period
Shinto - Indigenous religion, without any definite - Dwellings were built directly over an earth
moral code, consisted of ancestor and nature floor with a wood foundation and a thatched
worship and did not involve a desire for graven straw roof.
images or elaborate temples - Inside the house, their floors are hollowed in
that’s why they’re often called “pit dwellings”
Buddhist religion - introduced the building of Yayoi Period
temples, the mysterious and awe-inspiring - Yayoi architecture is similar to Southeast
symbolism acted on the artistic Japanese Asia where buildings were raised up from
temperament as to result in the production of the ground.
numberless images of every possible size, and of - Used gable roof
various fantastic forms of demons and monsters, - Houses were built on stilts to keep away
woven into conventional representations of pests.
landscapes under the changing seasons. Kofun Period
- marked the appearance of
Priests - contributed (in early times)to the general many-chambered burial mounds or tumuli
development of the country, matters of road-making (kofun literally means "old mounds"). Similar
and bridge-building, as in Medieval Europe. mounds in the Korean Peninsula are
thought to have been influenced by Japan.
Shinto Architecture
● Shrine buildings are situated according to Architectural Character
the environment. ● Much are not native but was imported from
● Komainu - pairs of lionlike figures placed in China and other Asian cultures over the
front of the gates or main halls of many centuries
shrines, serve as shrine guardians. ● Wood - the choice of materials, in various
● The nature of Shinto worship changed, forms for almost all structures.
following the introduction of Buddhism, and ● The use of stone is avoided except for
shrine buildings borrowed certain elements certain specific uses, for example temple
from Buddhist architecture. Ex. Many podia and pagoda foundations.
shrines were painted in the Chinese style: ● The general structure is almost always the
red columns and white walls. same: post and lintel supports a large and
gently curved roof, while the walls are
Jinja, or shrine - is where believers in Japan's paper-thin, often movable and in any case
indigenous religion, Shintô, go to worship. non-carrying.
● Gable and eaves are gentler than the
Shintô - originated in ancient peoples' fears of China and columnar entasis limited.
demons and supernatural powers, and their ● Roof is the most visually impressive
worship of these. It has no written body of doctrine, component, often constituting half the size
but it is Japan's main religion and is practiced of the whole edifice
widely through ceremonies and festivals. ● The slightly curved eaves extend far beyond
the walls, covering verandas, and their
Buddhist Architecture weight must therefore be supported by
Main hall - contained the most prominent object of complex bracket systems called Tokyo, in
worship. the case of temples and shrines.
● Tokyo - a system of supporting blocks and
Lecture Hall - was most often the largest structure brackets supporting the eaves of a
(in early temples), was used by monks as a place Japanese building, usually part of a
for study, instruction, and performing rituals. Buddhist temple or Shinto Shrine.
Interior:
● Consist of a single room at the center called 8. Byobu – folding screens, often decorated with
moya from which depart any less important art that are used to partition rooms for privacy.
saves. - Historically considered essential furniture because
● Inner space divisions are fluid, and room Japanese homes weren’t designed for privacy.
size can be modified through the use of _________________________________________
screens or movable paper walls Parts of traditional Japanese House
● Some walls can be removed and different
rooms joined temporarily to make space for Shoin - an elevated bay or projected window with a
some guests. raised sill serving as a desk for writing or reading,
● The use of construction modules keeps usually placed at a right angle to the tokonoma in the
proportions between different parts of the reception room of a shoin-zukuri style residence.
edifice constant, preserving its overall
harmony. Kakemono - A vertical hanging scroll containing either
text or painting. Intended to be viewed on a wall and
Moya - – the core of the building; central part of a rolled when not in use.
residential building;used to denote the sacred
Engawa - extension of the floor on one or more sides of
central area of a temple building in a japanese-style house, usually facing a garden and
buddhism;surrounded by an isle called hisashi. serving as a passageway or sitting space.
_________________________________________
Elements of Japanese House Tokonoma - picture recess: a shallow, slightly
raised alcove for display of a kakemono or flower
Ken – traditional Japanese unit of length equal to 6 arrangement .
Japanese feet or shaku.
- Exact value has varied over time and Tokobashira - a post making the front of the
location but has generally been a little partition between the tokonoma and the tana,
shorter than 2 meters sometimes exquisite wood of particular grain and
- Not based on a Chinese original but is a shape.
local development.
- Could change from building to building, but Shoin-Zukuri - a ceremonial style of japanese
was usually kept constant within the same residential architecture in the Kamakura period,
structure. deriving its name from the characteristic shoin or
Parts of Japanese House study-bay and marked by a hierarchical
1. Shoji – a door, window or room divider arrangement of public and private rooms.
consisting of translucent paper over a frame of
wood which holds together a lattice of wood or Zashiki - reception room: the main room in a
bamboo. traditional japanese house, used for receiving and
● Shoji doors – often designed to slide open entertaining guests. Its importance is evident in the
and thus conserve space that would be presence of a tokonoma, tana, and shoin.
required by a swinging door
● Washi – traditional paper Tana - in japanese residential architecture, a
recess with built-in shelving, usually adjoining a
2. Engawa – wooden strip of flooring immediately tokonoma.
before windows and storm shutters inside
traditional Japanese rooms. Shoji - one of the series of sliding translucent
- Veranda outside the room. panels used in Japanese architecture between the
exterior and the interior, or between two interior
3. Fusuma- vertical rectangular panels which can spaces, consisting of a light wooden framework
slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a covered on one side with rice paper, the lower
room, or act as doors. section is occasionally filled by a thin wooden
panel.
4. Tokonoma – a picture recess: a shallow, slightly
raised alcove for display of a kakemono or flower Tatami - a thick straw mat, covered with smooth,
arrangement . One side of the recess borders the finely woven reeds and bound with plain or
outside wall of the room through which the light decorated bands of silk, cotton or hemp.
enters, while the interior side adjoins the tana. As - Serving as a floor covering and a standard
the spiritual center of a traditional Japanese house, for designating room size in a traditional
the tokonoma is located in its most formal room . japanese house. Tatami measured
approximately 3 x 6 ft. (0.9 x 1.8 in) but
5. Ranma – panels found above shoji or fusuma varied in actual dimension according to
that are designed to let light into rooms. They are region and method for determining column
often ornate wooden carvings or shoji screens. spacing.

6. Amado – storm shutters that are used to Ken - a linear unit for regulating column spacing in
completely seal a home or apartment for security, traditional japanese construction. Initially set t 6ft or
privacy and safety. Particularly important as 1.8m, but later varying according to room width as
protection from typhoons. It can be wooden planks determined by tatami units.
or sheets of metal.

7. Genkan – the main entrance to a house that has

a lower level floor where you remove your shoes.
This area is considered extremely dirty.
HOUSE: To - japanese pagoda, enshrining buddhist holy
• no other architecture reveals the structural and relics.
aesthetic qualities of wood
• unpainted wood without any surface treatment Sorin - crowing spire on a Japanese pagoda.
• walls of light timber vertical and horizontal
members covered by weatherboarding Kondo - golden hall, the sanctuary where the main
image of worship is kept in a japanese buddhist
typical 1-storey rectangular plan: temple.
• vestibule - The jodo, shinshu and nichiren sects of
• veranda, engawa buddhism used the term hondo for this
• living and dining sanctuary
• guest rooms - The shingon and tendai sects use chudo.
• recess for flowers and art - Zen sect uses butsuden.
• rooms for host and hostess
● no distinction between living and sleeping Nandaimon - principal south gateway to a
apartments Japanese temple or shrine.
● room determined by tatami or floor
coverings 1 x ½ ken (1.8 x 0.9 m) Chumon - inner gateway to the precinct of a
japanese buddhist temple.
TEMPLES:
Shoro - structure from which the temple bell is
hung, as one of a pair of small, identical
1.) Shinto temples: symmetrically placed pavilions in a japanese
● Torii gateways: upright posts supporting 2 or buddhist temple.
more horizontal beams
● Worshippers have to pass under this for Kairo - covered gallery surrounding a precinct of a
prayers to be effective. Japanese temple or shrine.
Katsuoji - the short wooden billets at right angles
to the ridge of sinto shrine.
Palaces
plan:
● Principal hall
Chiji - the crossed finial formed by the projecting
● 6 corridors to 3 different pavilions for the
barge boards at each end of the ridge of a shinto
Emperor's family
shrine.
● Sometimes protected by concave batter
walls and a moat.
Hashira - a sacred post in shinto architecture,
shaped by human hands.
Example: Himeji Castle, Hyogo Prefecture
Haiden – the hall of worship of Shinto shrine,
usually in front of the honden Pagodas
Honden – the main sanctuary of a Shinto shrine . ● Square plan.
● Mostly 5 storeys, 45 m in height
Nagare Zukuri - style of shinto shrine based on the ● Virtually suspended around a central timber
Ise prototype, but with a front slope extending to (stable against earthquake shocks)
form a canopy over the entrance stair, this space is ● Upper storeys are belvederes.
developed into a prayer room for worshippers. ● Wide projecting roofs to each storey, subtly
curved.
Kasuga-Zukuri - style of shinto shrine
characterized by a hipped roof extending from the Example: Goju no To Pagoda, Nara
main roof, over a centrally placed entrance stair at
one gable end.

Shinto - indigenous religion in japan, marked by

cultic devotion to deities of natural forces, ancestor
worship, and veneration of the emperor as a
descendant of the Sun-goddess, Amaterasu.

Shinmei Zukuri - style of shinto shrine embodying

the original style of japanese building. Consists of
small unpainted rectangular structure raised above
ground level on posts inserted directly into the
earth.

2. Buddhist temples:

● 2-storey gateway, surmounted by a room

under an ornate roof
● columned loggia at façade

Kodo - an assembly hall for monks in a japanese

buddhist temple
- Sacred texts are read.