Japan Architecture

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ARCHITECTURE: TRADITIONAL AND MODERN�

An exploration of Japanese architecture might well begin with the explanations of the wide variety of traditional styles -- temple, shrine, teahouse, rural farmhouse, urban townhouse, castle, aristocratic mansion -- provided in a series of nicely illustrated articles found at Japanese Architecture in Kansai, a site maintained by KANSAI WINDOW. Although focused on the plains area in south-central Honshu where the cities of Kyoto and Osaka can be found, the series covers all the major architectural types one is likely to encounter in the traditional built environment.�

Miwa Hiroshi's article on "The History and Future of Wooden Architecture in Kansai", for example, provides a good comprehensive overview examining the extensive use of wood as a building material in traditional Japan.

a building material in traditional Japan.
Interestingly, the same topic is considered in an article written for the Swiss Asia Foundation by Marc Tabacchi and Lionel Jacquod entitled "Why Wood - a Research Project on Wood Construction in Japanese Architecture".
Other articles on The KANSAI WINDOW site center on minka (farmhouses), the tea room sukiya style, castle precincts, and machiya urban townhouses. There are discussions, too, of the measurements and tools used in traditional building construction as well as lists of famous castles and preserved traditional buildings found throughout the region. Major examples of Buddhist temple architecture at Horyuji (the oldest wooden building in the world), Todaiji (the largest wooden building in Japan) and Toji (which houses Japan's tallest pagoda) are also described.

A brief overview of several forms of traditional architecture can be found on the ThinkQuest site, The Art of Japan, developed by Chris McFall, Ben Meyers, and Andrew Miller of Palo Alto, California. Kevin Matthews and Artifice, Inc. provide information about five major examples of traditional architecture on their Traditional Japanese Architecture web site.


A course web site from Cornell University on "Elements, Principles, and Theories in Japanese Architecture" contains a database illustrating a wide variety of traditionalarchitectural types with diagrams, photographs and drawings in thumbnail view which can then be enlarged to show useful details. Likewise the Kansai Digital Archives houses a database preserving pictorial examples of historical architecture found in some eighteen different towns and cities in the Kansai plains area of south-central Honshu.

Brief illustrated introductions to major examples of traditional Kyoto area religious and secular architecture can be found at a site maintained by the Leo Masuda Architectronic Research Office. Seventeen World Cultural Heritage sites in the vicinity of the ancient capital of Kyoto (many of architectural importance and interest) are illustrated and discussed on a KYOTOday site maintained by the Kyoto Prefectural Office Department of Planning and the Environment.
More detailed considerations can be found in Jiro Harada's online collection of articles and lectures entitled "A Glimpse of Japanese Ideals". Chapter Four, for example, deals specifically with forms of traditional Japanese architecture.

HOMES AND URBAN RESIDENCES
A more specific illustrated overview discussion of domestic architecture undertaken as a course project at CalPoly focuses on the impact of religion.
From the Documentation Office for Fundamental Studies in Building Theory in Zurich, Switzerland, comes The Japanese House, an extended article by Nold Egenter, which examines traditional Japanese domestic dwellings and the Western concept of 'general human needs', presenting a comparative view within the framework of cultural anthropology.

The Association for the Promotion and Advancement of Science Education's Charolette project also discusses the various architectural elements, shapes and spaces utilized in The Traditional Japanese House as part of a larger comparative consideration of the "built environment" in general.

Shoin architecture, an aristocratic style of mansion and temple construction, is the subject of a student presentation undertaken at Columbia University for a course on "Buildings and Cities in Japanese History". The course web site also houses discussions of traditional cities, other architectural concepts and urban building types worth examination.

RURAL FARMHOUSES
Japan Information Network's Japan Atlas: Architecture provides details about traditional gassho style buildings, a form of rural architecture common in Shirakawago and Gokayama.

The Chiiori Project web site features information about attempts to preserve and restore a rural farmhouse deep in the remote mountains of Tokushima Prefecture.





JAPANESE CASTLES
Takashi Toyooka has pulled together an extensive indexed collection of information on castles located throughout the empire.
Eric Obershaw provides similar information on his Japanese Castles web site along with discussions of defense mechanisms, history and structure.

[img]Atul Varma from Kenyon College discusses the architecture of Japanese castles in an illustrated essay from 1999; Linda Williams completed a similar project on castles at The Australian National University.[/img]

BUDDHIST TEMPLES AND SHINTO SHRINES
In his online consideration of Sacred Places, Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe (Professor of Art History at Sweet Brier College) includes a discussion of the Grand (Shinto) Shrine at Ise

Japanese Temple Geometry is the subject of a 1998 report by Tony Rothman, a featured article from Scientific American.
Temples, shrines and castles also are discussed on the beautifully designed web pages devoted to Architecture and Gardens at the Virtual Museum of Traditional Japanese Arts sponsored by the Japan Information Network.

MODERN ARCHITECTURE
A nicely-illustrated consideration of recent architecture found in the vicinity of Nagoya looks primarily at Japanese-style modern architecture (mainly formalism and expressionism before the Pacific War).
Architect K. Hayashi's web site illustrates a half dozen projects incorporating traditional architectural motifs into contemporary structures - homes, inns, hotles and restaurants - in a variety of different locations.
Photographs of the newly-constructed Kyoto Station Building on the West Japan Railway Company web site demonstrate the latest in contemporary large scale architectural design, resulting in a truely awesome public space well worth examination.
Other examples of Japanese contemporary architecture and design can be found on the associated Telescoweb site.

Ever wonder about how a typical Japanese house might be furnished? Schauwecker's Guide to Japan includes a discussion of the furnishings likely to be found in many traditional and contemporary homes and features interesting links to other related web sites.

TEACHING MATERIALS

Horace Mann Academic Middle School in San Francisco includes on its web site a WebQuest adventure worksheet using a set of questions about architecture in Japan to motivate students to seek out basic information using Internet resources.

OTHER OFF-LINE RESOURCES
From Omega23 comes a bibliographic listing of currently available books on Japanese architecture.
The Asia Society in New York City also has pulled together a good brief bibliography of useful titles.