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Japan Architecture

Japan has historically been prone to earthquakes, influencing its architectural development with wooden structures and stone foundations. Traditional Japanese architecture aims to be open to nature using materials like wood, earth, and paper. Structures include temples with main halls, lecture halls, and towers; shrines with guardian figures and borrowing from Buddhist architecture; and palaces for the emperor. Architecture responds to the natural environment with consideration for climate, using southern orientations and deep eaves.

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Tatiana Jewel Dela Rosa
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646 views31 pages

Japan Architecture

Japan has historically been prone to earthquakes, influencing its architectural development with wooden structures and stone foundations. Traditional Japanese architecture aims to be open to nature using materials like wood, earth, and paper. Structures include temples with main halls, lecture halls, and towers; shrines with guardian figures and borrowing from Buddhist architecture; and palaces for the emperor. Architecture responds to the natural environment with consideration for climate, using southern orientations and deep eaves.

Uploaded by

Tatiana Jewel Dela Rosa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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JAPAN

• PREVALANCE OF EARTHQUAKES IN JAPAN HAD A PROFOUND EFFECT


BUILDING DEVELOPMENT
• RUGGED HILL COUNTRY AND OCCUPIED BY FOREST AND WILD VEGETATION
• BAMBOO IS PLENTIFUL AND EXTENSIVELY USED IN BUILDING
• STONE IS MAINLY OF VOLCANIC ORIGIN AND UNSTRATIFIED
• USED FOR FOUNDATION WORK, OR POLYGONAL FORM OF LOWER
PORTIONS OF WALLING UPON WHICH WOULD BE ERECTED AN UPPER
TIMBER STRUCTURE.
• COLD MAINSTREAM FROM ASIA IN WINTER AND BY INCURSION OF WARM
MOIST AIR FROM THE PACIFIC IN SUMMER
• HOUSES WHEREVER, POSSIBLE, FACE SOUTH AND DEEPLY PROJECTING EAVES
ARE PROVIDED TO GIVE PROTECTION AGAINST THE SUN
• HIGH COURTYARD WALL SCREEN – COLD WIND OF WINTERS
A.D. 552 – 645 (SUIKO PERIOD)
• BUDDHISM BECAME FIRMLY ESTABLISHED AND THE NATION TENDED TO BECOME A
BUREAUCRATIC STATE WITH CHINESE LAWS AND CEREMONIALS

13TH CENTURY (FEUDALISM)


• RECOGNIZED 3 GROUPS
• THE EMPEROR AND NOBLES
• THE SHOGUNS WITH THE MILITARY CASTE
• THE PEOPLE

INTENDED A SELF – IMPOSED ISOLATION

1549
• CHRISTANITY WAS INTODUCED BY ST. FRANCIS XAVIER

1614
• ALL FOREIGN PRIEST WERE EXPELLED

FOR ALMOST 200 YEARS, JAPAN WAS CLOSED TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD
THE DISTINCTIVE FEATURE OF A TRADITIONAL JAPANESE BUILDING IS THE WAY IN WHICH THE
HOUSE IS OPEN TO NATURE. THE MAIN MATERIALS USED ARE WOOD, EARTH, AND PAPER, AND
THE CONSTRUCTION SPREADS OUT SIDEWAYS.

• SPECIAL CHARACTERISTIC OF LIGHTNESS AND DELICACY


• COMBINED WITH MINUTES IN CARVING AND DECORATION ARE NOTICEABLE IN TIMBER
CONSTRUCTION
• DOMINANT ROOFS ARE NOTABLE
• ROOF COVERINGS CAN BE THRATCH, SHINGLES AND TILES
• TEMPLE WALLING IS A STRICTLY TRABEATED ARRANGEMENT OF POSTS AND RAILS DIVIDING
SURFACES IN REGULAR OBLONG SPACES, FILLED IN PLASTER, BOARDING, OR CARVED AND
PAINTED PANELS

*TRABEATED – the beam that conforms the constructive feature


Throughout the History
• Dwellings were built directly over an earth floor with a wood foundation and thatched
straw roof
• Inside the house, their floors are hollowed in that’s why they are often called “pit
dwellings”

• Yayoi Architecture is similar to Southeast Asia where buildings were raised up from the
ground
• Used gable roofs
• Houses were built on stilts to keep away pests

• Marked the appearance of many-chambered burial mounds or tumuli (kofun literally


means “old mounds”). Similar mounds in Korean Peninsula are thought to have been
influenced by Japan.
• THE MAIN HALL CONTAINED MOST PROMINENT OBJECT OF WORSHIP
• THE LECTURE HALL, WHICH IN EARLY TEMPLES WAS NOT OFTEN THE LARGEST
STRUCTURE, WAS USED BY MONKS AS A PLACE TO STUDY, INSTRUCTION AND
PERFORMING RITUALS
• THE TWO TYPES OF TOWERS PREDOMINATED: ONE WITH BELLS THAT
ANNOUNCED THE TIMES OF RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE EACH DAY AND
ANOTHER IN WHICH CANONICAL TEXT WERE STORED (THE SUTRA
REPOSITORY)
• MOST IMPORTANT BUILDINGS IN THE TEMPLE ARE THE
MAIN HALL (HONDŌ, KONDŌ OR BUTSUDEN) AND THE
PAGODA
• WORSHIPPERS STAND IN AN OUTER CHAMBER FACING
THE INNER SANCTUARY, WITH ITS IMAGES OF THE
BUDDHA, TO PRAY, PRESSING THEIR PALMS TOGETHER
*Beldeveres – an open roofed
gallery in upper storey built for
giving a view of the scenery
• SHRINE BUILDINGS ARE SITUATED ACCORDING TO THE
ENVIRONMENT
• KOMAINU – PAIRS OF LION - LIKE FIGURE PLACED IN FRONT OF
GATES OR MAIN HALLS OF MANY SHRINES, SERVES AS SHRINES
GUARDIANS
• THE NATURE OF SHINTO WORSHIP CHANGED, FOLLOWING THE
INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM, AND SHRINE BUILDINGS
BORROWED CERTAIN ELEMENTS FROM BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE.
FOR EXAMPLE, MANY SHRINE WERE PAINTED THE CHINESE STYLE:
RED COLUMNS AND WHITE WALLS
• THE JINJA OR SHRINE IS WHERE BELIEVERS IN JAPAN’S INDIGENOUS
RELIGION, SHINTO, GO TO WORSHIP
• SHINTO ORIGINATED IN ANCIENT PEOPLE’S FEAR OF
DEMONS AND SUPERNATURAL POWERS
• PRACTICED WIDELY THROUGH CEREMONIES AND FESTIVALS
- Places of worship and
the dwellings of kami,
the Shinto “gods”

Main features
• Komainu
• Torii
• Chozaya
• Main Sanctuary
• THE IMPERIAL PALACES WERE SIMPLE TYPE, CONSIST OF
PRINCIPAL HALL, JOINED BY THE THREE CORRIDORS TO
THREE SEPARATE PAVILIONS FOR THE FAMILY OF THE
EMPEROR
• PROTECTED BY WALLS OF MASONRY, OFTEN FORMED
WITH A BATTER, CONCAVE ON THE EXTERNAL FACE
AND WITH TILTED QUOIN STONES, TO RESIST
EARTHQUAKE SHOCKS A MOST INWARDLY ENCIRCLED
WALLS.
Date: 1609
Location: Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture

Himeji, known as Shirasagi or White Egret


Castle for its plaster walls, is often referred to
as the most magnificent/ most elegant of the
surviving Castle in Japan.
Date: C. 1596
Location: Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture

Inside the main donjon

- Stands in a flat plain with a view of Japan alps


- A three-story tower, two-story turret, and moon –
viewing pavilion connect to the five story main
donjon, all sharing one stone foundation
“A RESPONSE TO NATURE”
• THE JAPANESE LOVE OF NATURE IS THE
SINGLE FORCE THAT INFLUENCE LIFE
IN JAPAN. THE JAPANESE RESPECT
NATURE, AND TO RESPECT NATURE IS
TO LIVE NATURE’S WAY

• JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE IS LARGELY


CONSIDERED A REALISTIC RESPONSE
TO NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.
Date: LATE 16TH – 17TH CENTURY
Location: Takayama, Gifu Prefecture

Wooden storefronts and stone


drainage system

Straw ball
designated sake
breweries

Tall single stories with an extra overhang at mid level let merchants
show off their wealth without breaking aa law prohibiting them
from building two story structures
• FOR TEA
CEREMONIES

• MUST HAVE AN
ATMOSPHERE OF
CALM AND
MEDITATION

• THE ONLY
ADOREMENT WAS
HANGING
CALIGRAPHY OR A
FLOWER
ARRANGEMENT

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