Japanese architecture

thumb|240px|[[Kinkaku-ji, Kyoto, originally built in 1397 (Muromachi period)]]

has been typified by wooden structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. Sliding doors (fusuma) and other traditional partitions were used in place of walls, allowing the internal configuration of a space to be customized for different occasions. People usually sat on cushions or otherwise on the floor, traditionally; chairs and high tables were not widely used until the 20th century. Since the 19th century, however, Japan has incorporated much of Western, modern, and post-modern architecture into construction and design, and is today a leader in cutting-edge architectural design and technology.

The earliest Japanese architecture was seen in prehistoric times in simple pit-houses and stores adapted to the needs of a hunter-gatherer population. Influence from Han dynasty China via Korea saw the introduction of more complex grain stores and ceremonial burial chambers.

The introduction of Buddhism in Japan during the sixth century was a catalyst for large-scale temple building using complicated techniques in wood. Influence from the Chinese Sui and Tang dynasties led to the foundation of the first permanent capital in Nara. Its checkerboard street layout used the Chinese capital of Chang'an as a template for its design.

In 894 during the Heian period (794–1185), Japan abolished kentōshi (Japanese missions to Tang China) and began to distance itself from Chinese culture, and a culture called Kokufu bunka (lit., Japanese culture) which was suited to the Japanese climate and aesthetic sense flourished. The shinden-zukuri style, which was the architectural style of the residences of nobles in this period, showed the distinct uniqueness of Japanese architecture and permanently determined the characteristics of later Japanese architecture. Its features are an open structure with few walls that can be opened and closed with doors, shitomi and sudare, a structure in which shoes are taken off to enter the house on stilts, and sitting or sleeping directly on tatami mats without using chairs and beds.

During the Meiji Restoration of 1869 the history of Japanese architecture was radically changed by two important events. The first was the Kami and Buddhas Separation Act of 1868, which formally separated Buddhism from Shinto and Buddhist temples from Shinto shrines, breaking an association between the two which had lasted well over a thousand years. Secondly, it was then that Japan underwent a period of intense Westernization in order to compete with other developed countries. Initially, architects and styles from abroad were imported to Japan, but gradually the country taught its own architects and began to express its own style. Architects returning from study with Western architects introduced the International Style of modernism into Japan. However, it was not until after the Second World War that Japanese architects made an impression on the international scene, firstly with the work of architects like Kenzo Tange and then with theoretical movements, like Metabolism.

General features of Japanese traditional architecture

In traditional Japanese architecture, there are various styles, features and techniques unique to Japan in each period and use, such as residence, castle, Buddhist temple and Shinto shrine. On the other hand, especially in ancient times, it was strongly influenced by Chinese culture like other Asian countries, so it has characteristics common to architecture in Asian countries.

Partly due, also, to the variety of climates in Japan, and the millennium encompassed between the first cultural import and the last, the result is extremely heterogeneous, but several practically universal features can nonetheless be found. First of all is the choice of materials, always wood in various forms (planks, straw, tree bark, paper, etc.) for almost all structures. Unlike both Western and some Chinese architecture, the use of stone is avoided except for certain specific uses, for example temple podia and pagoda foundations.

The general structure is almost always the same: posts and lintels support a large and gently curved roof, while the walls are paper-thin, often movable and never load-bearing. Arches and barrel roofs are completely absent. Gable and eave curves are gentler than in China and columnar entasis (convexity at the center) limited.

During the Yayoi period, the Japanese people began to interact with the Chinese Han dynasty, whose knowledge and technical skills began to influence them. Some authors credit the raised structure designs of this period to contact with the rice-cultivating Austronesian peoples from coastal eastern China or Taiwan, rather than the Han.

The Kofun period 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. Early in the period, the tombs, known as "keyhole kofun" or , often made use of the existing topography, shaping it and adding man-made moats to form a distinctive keyhole shape, i.e. that of a circle interconnected with a triangle. Access was via a vertical shaft that was sealed off once the burial was completed. There was room inside the chamber for a coffin and grave goods. The mounds were often decorated with terracotta figures called haniwa. Later in the period mounds began to be located on flat ground and their scale greatly increased. Among many examples in Nara and Osaka, the most notable is the Daisen-kofun, designated as the tomb of Emperor Nintoku. The tomb covers and it is thought to have been decorated with 20,000 haniwa figures.

Heijō-kyō, modern day Nara, was founded in 708 as the first permanent capital of the state of Japan. The layout of its checkerboard streets and buildings were modeled after the Chinese capital of Chang'an. The city soon became an important centre of Buddhist worship in Japan. The most grandiose of these temples was Tōdai-ji, built to rival temples of the Chinese Tang and Sui dynasties. Appropriately, the 16.2-m (53-ft) Buddha or Daibutsu (completed in 752) enshrined in the main hall is a Rushana Buddha, the figure that represents the essence of Buddhahood, just as Tōdai-ji represented the centre for imperially sponsored Buddhism and its dissemination throughout Japan. Only a few fragments of the original statue survive, and the present hall and central Buddha are reconstructions from the Edo period. Clustered around the main hall (the Daibutsuden) on a gently sloping hillside are a number of secondary halls: the Hokke-dō (Lotus Sutra Hall),

File:Horyu-ji11s3200.jpg|Kon-dō and pagoda at Hōryū-ji, Ikaruga, Nara Built in 7th century

File:Hokiji03ds1536.jpg|Pagoda at Hokki-ji, Ikaruga, Nara Built in 706

File:Yakushiji Toto.jpg|Pagoda at Yakushi-ji, Nara, Nara Originally built in 730

File:Todaiji10s3200.jpg|Hokkedō at Tōdai-ji, Nara, Nara Founded in 743

File:Shoso-in.jpg|Shōsō-in at Tōdai-ji, Nara, Nara Built in 8th century

File:Toshodaiji Nara Nara pref01s5s4290.jpg|Golden Temple at Tōshōdai-ji, Nara, Nara Built in 8th century

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Heian period

Although the network of Buddhist temples across the country acted as a catalyst for an exploration of architecture and culture, this also led to the clergy gaining increased power and influence. Emperor Kanmu decided to escape this influence by moving his capital first to Nagaoka-kyō and then to Heian-kyō, known today as Kyōto. Although the layout of the city was similar to Nara's and inspired by Chinese precedents, the palaces, temples and dwellings began to show examples of local Japanese taste. It was sometime during this period that the hidden roof, a uniquely Japanese solution to roof drainage problems, was adopted.

The increasing size of buildings in the capital led to an architecture reliant on columns regularly spaced in accordance with the ken, a traditional measure of both size and proportion. The imperial palace Shishinden demonstrated a style that was a precursor to the later aristocratic-style of building known as shinden-zukuri. The style was characterised by symmetrical buildings placed as arms that defined an inner garden. This garden then used borrowed scenery to seemingly blend with the wider landscape. A gradual increase in the size of buildings led to standard units of measurement as well as refinements in layout and garden design.

thumb|A model of the inner structure that represents the characteristics of [[shinden-zukuri. an open structure with few walls and openable doors and shitomi and sudare. The residents take off their shoes and go inside the house on stilts, where they sit or sleep directly on tatami mats spread over only part of the room without using chairs or beds.]]

In 894, Japan abolished kentōshi (Japanese missions to Tang China) and began to distance itself from Chinese culture, and a culture called Kokufu bunka (lit., Japanese culture) which was suited to the Japanese climate and aesthetic sense flourished. The shinden-zukuri style, which was the architectural style of the residences of nobles in this period, showed the distinct uniqueness of Japanese architecture and permanently determined the characteristics of later Japanese architecture. Its features are an open structure with few walls that can be opened and closed with doors and shitomi and sudare, a structure in which shoes are taken off to enter the house on stilts, sitting or sleeping directly on tatami mats without using chairs and beds, a roof made of laminated hinoki (Japanese cypress) bark instead of ceramic tiles, and a natural texture that is not painted on pillars. A Buddhist architectural style called Wayō, which developed in accordance with the Japanese climate and aesthetic sense, was established.

The priest Kūkai (best known by the posthumous title Kōbō Daishi, 774–835) journeyed to China to study Shingon, a form of Vajrayana Buddhism, which he introduced into Japan in 806. At the core of Shingon worship are the various mandalas, diagrams of the spiritual universe that influenced temple design.

At this time the architectural style of Buddhist temples began to influence that of the Shintō shrines. For example, like their Buddhist counterparts the Shintō shrines began to paint the normally unfinished timbers with the characteristic red cinnabar colour.

File:Byodo-in Uji01pbs2640.jpg|Phoenix Hall at Byōdō-in, Uji, Kyoto Built in 1053

File:Ujigami jinja01 2816.jpg|Ujigami Shrine, Uji, Kyoto Built in 1060

File:Itsukushima Honden Haiden.jpg|Itsukushima Shrine Honden, Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Built in 1168

File:Ichijoji Kasai13bs4272.jpg|Pagoda of Ichijō-ji, Kasai, Hyōgo Built in 1171

File:Japan Tottori MitokuSan Nageiredo DSC01248.jpg|Nageire-dō of Sanbutsu-ji, Misasa, Tottori

File:Gassho-zukuri farmhouse-01.jpg|Typical minka-style gasshō-zukuri farmhouse

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Kamakura and Muromachi periods

During the Kamakura period (1185–1333) and the following Muromachi period (1336–1573), Japanese Buddhist architecture made technological advances that made it diverge from its Chinese counterpart. In response to native requirements such as earthquake resistance and shelter against heavy rainfall and the summer heat and sun, the master carpenters of this time responded with a unique type of architecture, creating the Daibutsuyō and Zenshūyō styles. The Wayō style was combined with Daibutsuyō and the Zenshūyō to create the Shin-Wayō and the Setchūyō styles, and the number of temples in the pure Wayō style decreased after the 14th century.

The Kamakura period began with the transfer of power in Japan from the imperial court to the Kamakura shogunate. During the Genpei War (1180–1185), many traditional buildings in Nara and Kyoto were damaged. For example, Kōfuku-ji and Tōdai-ji were burned down by Taira no Shigehira of the Taira clan in 1180. Many of these temples and shrines were later rebuilt by the Kamakura shogunate to consolidate the shōguns authority.

After the fall of the Kamakura shogunate in 1333, the Ashikaga shogunate was formed, having later its seat in the Kyoto district of Muromachi. The proximity of the shogunate to the imperial court led to a rivalry in the upper levels of society which caused tendencies toward luxurious goods and lifestyles. Aristocratic houses were adapted from the simple buke-zukuri style to resemble the earlier shinden-zukuri style. A good example of this ostentatious architecture is the Kinkaku-ji in Kyōto, which is decorated with lacquer and gold leaf, in contrast to its otherwise simple structure and plain bark roofs.

In an attempt to rein in the excess of the upper classes, the Zen masters introduced the tea ceremony. In architecture this promoted the design of chashitsu (tea houses) to a modest size with simple detailing and materials.

In the garden, Zen principles replaced water with sand or gravel to produce the dry garden (karesansui) like the one at Ryōan-ji.

File:Jōdo-ji, Jōdo Hall 002.jpg|Jōdodō of Jōdo-ji, Ono, Hyōgo Built in 1194

File:Koyasan Danjogaran Fudodo.JPG|Danjogaran Fudo-dō in Mt. Kōya, Wakayama Built in 1197

File:Sanjusangendo temple02s2040.jpg|Sanjūsangen-dō, Kyoto Built in 1266

File:Kozanji Temple (Shimonoseki).JPG|Butsuden of Kōzan-ji, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Built in 1320

File:Shofukuji Jizo Hall Left Front.JPG|Shōfuku-ji, Tokyo, Completed in 1407

File:GinkakujiTemple.jpg|Ginkaku-ji, Kyoto Built in the 15th century

File:Negoroji03s3200.jpg|Pagoda of Negoro-ji in Iwade, Wakayama Built in 1547.

File:RyoanJi-Dry garden.jpg|Ryōan-ji dry garden in Kyoto

File:Tenryuji Kyoto41n4592.jpg|Garden of Tenryū-ji in Kyoto

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Azuchi-Momoyama period

During the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568–1600) Japan underwent a process of unification after a long period of civil war. It was marked by the rule of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, men who built castles as symbols of their power; Nobunaga in Azuchi, the seat of his government, and Hideyoshi in Momoyama. The Ōnin War during the Muromachi period had led to rise of castle architecture in Japan. By the time of the Azuchi-Momoyama period each domain was allowed to have one castle of its own. Typically it consisted of a central tower or surrounded by gardens and fortified buildings. All of this was set within massive stone walls and surrounded by deep moats. The dark interiors of castles were often decorated by artists, the spaces were separated up using sliding fusuma panels and byōbu folding screens. Ostentatious buildings that demonstrated the wealth and power of the feudal lords were constructed, such as the Kamiyashiki of Matsudaira Tadamasa or the Ōzone Shimoyashiki.

Edo suffered badly from devastating fires and the 1657 Great Fire of Meireki was a turning point in urban design. Initially, as a method of reducing fire spread, the government built stone embankments in at least two locations along rivers in the city. Over time these were torn down and replaced with dōzō storehouses that were used both as fire breaks and to store goods unloaded from the canals. The dōzō were built with a structural frame made of timber coated with a number of layers of earthen plaster on the walls, door and roof. Above the earthen roofs was a timber framework supporting a tiled roof. Although Japanese who had studied with the Dutch at their settlement in Dejima advocated building with stone and brick this was not undertaken because of their vulnerability to earthquakes. Machiya and storehouses from the later part of the period are characterised by having a black coloration to the external plaster walls. This colour was made by adding India ink to burnt lime and crushed oyster shell.

The clean lines of the civil architecture in Edo influenced the sukiya style of residential architecture. Katsura Detached Palace and Shugaku-in Imperial Villa on the outskirts of Kyōto are good examples of this style. Their architecture has simple lines and decor and uses wood in its natural state. The sukiya style was applied not only to villas but also to ryōtei (Japanese-style restaurants) and chashitsu, and later it was also applied to residences.

File:Matsue castle01bs4592.jpg|Tenshu of Matsue Castle in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture Built in 1607

File:Hirosakijo.jpg|Tenshu of Hirosaki Castle in Hirosaki, Aomori Completed in 1611

File:Genkyuen03s3000.jpg|Hikone Castle in Hikone, Shiga Completed in 1622

File:Kiyomizu-dera (18199680391).jpg|Hondo of Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto, Built in 1633

File:Enryakuji Konponchudo04n4272.jpg|Konponchudo of Enryaku-ji in Ōtsu, Shiga Built in 1641

File:NikkoYomeimon5005.jpg|Yomeimon of Tōshō-gū, Nikkō, Tochigi

File:Shokin-tei.jpg|Inside the Shokintei at Katsura Imperial Villa, Kyoto Built in 17th century

File:Kochi Castle04s3872.jpg|Tenshu of Kōchi Castle in Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture Built in 1748

File:Engyoji05s4592.jpg|Three halls of Engyō-ji in Himeji, Hyōgo, Completed in 18th century

File:Edogura.jpg|Townhouse with black (edoguro) colouring to upper floor

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Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa periods

Towards the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, Western influence in architecture began to show in buildings associated with the military and trade, especially naval and industrial facilities. After the Emperor Meiji was restored to power (known as the Meiji Restoration) Japan began a rapid process of Westernization which led to the need for new building types such as schools, banks and hotels.

Early Meiji Architecture was initially influenced by colonial architecture in Chinese treaty ports such as Hong Kong. In Nagasaki, the British trader Thomas Glover built his own house in just such a style using the skill of local carpenters. His influence helped the career of architect who designed the Osaka Mint in 1868, a long, low building in brick and stone with a central pedimented portico. In Tōkyō, Waters designed the Commercial Museum, thought to have been the city's first brick building.

In Tokyo, after the Tsukiji area burnt to the ground in 1872, the government designated the Ginza area as model of modernization. The government planned the construction of fireproof brick buildings, and larger, better streets connecting the Shimbashi Station and the foreign concession in Tsukiji, as well as to important government buildings. Designs for the area were provided by the British architect Thomas James Waters; the Bureau of Construction of the Ministry of Finance was in charge of construction. In the following year, a Western-style Ginza was completed. "Bricktown" buildings were initially offered for sale, later they were leased, but the high rent meant that many remained unoccupied. Nevertheless, the area flourished as a symbol of "civilization and enlightenment", thanks to the presence of newspapers and magazine companies, who led the trends of the day. The area was also known for its window displays, an example of modern marketing techniques. The "Bricktown" of Ginza served as a model for many other modernization schemes in Japanese cities.

thumb|Rokumeikan in 1883–1900

One of the prime examples of early western architecture was the Rokumeikan, a large two-story building in Tokyo, completed in 1883, which was to become a controversial symbol of Westernisation in the Meiji period. Commissioned for the housing of foreign guests by the Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru, it was designed by , a prominent foreign government advisors in Meiji Japan (o-yatoi gaikokujin). The Ryōunkaku was Japan's first western-style skyscraper, constructed in 1890 in Asakusa. However traditional architecture was still employed for new buildings, such as the Kyūden of Tokyo Imperial Palace, albeit with token western elements such as a spouting water fountain in the gardens.

thumb|left|Kaichi Primary School, [[Matsumoto, Nagano|Matsumoto, built in 1876]]

In contrast to Waters's neoclassical style building, Japanese carpenters developed a pseudo-Japanese style known as giyōfū chiefly using wood. A good example of which is Kaichi Primary School in Nagano Prefecture built in 1876. The master carpenter Tateishi Kiyoshige travelled to Tōkyō to see which Western building styles were popular and incorporated these in the school with traditional building methods. Constructed with a similar method to traditional () storehouses, the wooden building plastered inside and out incorporates an octagonal Chinese tower and has stone-like quoins to the corners. Traditional namako plasterwork was used at the base of the walls to give the impression that the building sits on a stone base. Another example was the First National Bank building in Tokyo, built in 1872.

thumb|[[Nara National Museum in Nara, , built in 1894]]

The Japanese government also invited foreign architects to both work in Japan and teach new Japanese architects. One of these, the British architect went on to train many of the most prominent of the Japanese Meiji era architects, including Kingo Tatsuno, Tatsuzō Sone and Tokuma Katayama. Tatsuno's early works had a Venetian style influenced by John Ruskin, but his later works such as the Bank of Japan (1896) and Tōkyō Station (1914) have a more Beaux-Arts feel. On the other hand, Katayama was more influenced by the French Second Empire style which can be seen in the Nara National Museum (1894) and the Kyōto National Museum (1895).

In 1920, a group of young architects formed the first organization of modernist architects. They were known as the Bunriha, literally "Secessionist group", inspired in part by the Vienna Secessionists. These architects were worried about the reliance on historical styles and decoration and instead encouraged artistic expression. They drew their influence from European movements like Expressionism and the Bauhaus and helped pave the way towards the introduction of the International Style of Modernism.

thumb|right|Yamamura House, Ashiya, Frank Lloyd Wright, built in 1924

In the Taishō and early Shōwa periods two influential American architects worked in Japan. The first was Frank Lloyd Wright who designed the Imperial Hotel, Tokyo (1913–1923) and the Yodokō Guest House (1924), both of which used locally quarried Ōya stone. Wright had a number of Japanese apprentices under his tutelage, such as Arata Endo, who constructed the Kōshien Hotel in 1930.

The second was Antonin Raymond who worked for Wright on the Imperial Hotel before leaving to set up his own practice in Tōkyō. Although his early works like Tōkyō Women's Christian College show Wright's influence, he soon began to experiment with the use of in-situ reinforced concrete, detailing it in way that recalled traditional Japanese construction methods. Between 1933 and 1937 Bruno Taut stayed in Japan. His writings, especially those on Katsura Imperial Villa reevaluated traditional Japanese architecture whilst bringing it to a wider audience.

As in the Meiji era experience from abroad was gained by Japanese architects working in Europe. Among these were Kunio Maekawa and Junzo Sakakura who worked at Le Corbusier's atelier in Paris and Bunzō Yamaguchi and Chikatada Kurata who worked with Walter Gropius. such as Bunzō Yamaguchi's Number 2 Power Plant for the Kurobe Dam, (1938).

A large number of buildings from the Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa eras were lost during and after World War II, such as the Rokumeikan. Taniguchi Yoshirō (谷口吉郎, 1904–79), an architect, and Moto Tsuchikawa established Meiji Mura in 1965, close to Nagoya, where a large number of rescued buildings are re-assembled. A similar museum is the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum.

Colonial architecture

thumb|Datong Avenue in Shinkyō (Xinjing), Manchukuo (1939)

The colonial authorities constructed a large number of public buildings, many of which have survived. Examples include the large-scale concept of what is today Ketagalan Boulevard in central Zhongzheng District of Taipei that showcases the Office of the Governor-General, Taiwan Governor Museum, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei Guest House, Judicial Yuan, the Nippon Kangyo Bank and Mitsui Bussan Company buildings, as well as many examples of smaller houses found on Qidong Street.

In Korea under Japanese administration, public buildings such as train stations and city halls were also constructed in various styles. Although the largest Japanese colonial building, the immense Government-General Building, was demolished in 1995, many colonial buildings have been preserved. These include the former Keijo City Hall, today Seoul Metropolitan Library; the former Keijo station, today Old Seoul Station; the former Bank of Chosen, designed by Tatsuno Kingo, today the headquarters of the Bank of Korea; and the former branch of Mitsukoshi department store, today the flagship of Shinsegae department store.

After winning Dalian as the result of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, Japan continued to build the Russian-built city with the modern buildings on "Large Square". With the conquest and establishment of the puppet state Manchukuo, massive funds and efforts were invested into the master plan for the construction of the capital city of Shinkyō (Xinjing). Many official buildings erected during the colonial period still stand today, including those of the Eight Grand Ministries of Manchukuo, the Imperial Palace, the headquarters of the Kwantung Army and Datong Avenue.

File:Taipei Taiwan Presidential-Office-Building-01.jpg|Presidential Office Building in Taipei, built in 1919

File:臺灣總督府臺北醫院.jpg|National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, built in 1921

File:Taipei_Guest_House_Front_Near_View.jpg|Taipei Guest House in Taipei, built in 1901

File:08.01 總統出席「國家人權委員會揭牌典禮」 (50174832218).jpg|Control Yuan Building in Taipei, built in 1915

File:國立臺灣博物館正門.jpg|National Taiwan Museum Building in Taipei, built in 1915

File:Judicial Yuan Building central 20230503.jpg|Judicial Yuan Building in Taipei, built in 1934

File:專賣局(今臺灣菸酒股份有限公司)古蹟.jpg|Monopoly Bureau Building in Taipei, built in 1915

File:Former Osaka Shosen Taipei Branch restoration 20190525b.jpg|Former Osaka Shosen (now Mitsui O.S.K. Lines) Office Building in Taipei, built in 1937

File:Taichung prefectural hall 1 cathypeng81.jpg|Taichung Prefectural Hall in Taichung, built in 1913

File:台中市役所 (4).jpg|Taichung Shiyakusho in Taichung, built in 1911

File:臺南州廳西側入口2.jpg|National Museum of Taiwan Literature Building in Tainan, built in 1916

File:Seoul-City.Hall-02.jpg|Seoul Metropolitan Library, built in 1925

File:Manchukuo State Council Building cropped.jpg|Manchukuo State Council building, Changchun

File:Краеведческий музей Южно-Сахалинска.jpg|The Museum of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, completed in 1937

File:Yokohama Specie Bank Dalian.JPG|Bank of China Dalian branch, designed by Tsumaki Yorinaka in 1909

File:Kyoto National Museum 01.jpg|Kyoto National Museum in Kyōto, Tōkuma Katayama, built in 1895

File:Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.jpg|Bank of Japan, Tokyo, Kingo Tatsuno, built in 1896

File:Osaka prefectural nakanoshima library01 1920.jpg|Osaka Prefectural Nakanoshima Library, Osaka, , built in 1904

File:Imperial Hotel Wright House.jpg|Imperial Hotel, Tōkyō, Frank Lloyd Wright, built between 1913 and 1924

File:Sumitomo bld02s3200.jpg|Sumitomo Building, Osaka, , built in 1924

File:Diet of Japan Kokkai 2009.jpg|National Diet Building in Tōkyō, Kenkichi Yabashi, , built in 1936

File:090408 aichi kenchou.jpg|Main building of Aichi Prefectural Office, , Jin Watanabe, built in 1938

File:Kurobe Daini Hydropowerstation.jpg|Kurobe Dam No 2 Power Plant, , built in 1938

File:Japanese-style House in Sujeong-dong, Busan.jpg|Jeong Ran Gak House in Busan, built in 1943

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Late Showa period

thumb|[[Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, built in 1955]]

After the war and under the influence of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur, Japanese political and religious life was reformed to produce a demilitarised and democratic country. Although a new constitution was established in 1947, it was not until the beginning of the Korean War that Japan (as an ally of the United States) saw a growth in its economy brought about by the manufacture of industrial goods. In 1946 the Prefabricated Housing Association was formed to try and address the chronic shortage of housing, and architects like Kunio Maekawa submitted designs. However, it was not until the passing of the Public Housing Act in 1951 that housing built by the private sector was supported in law by the government. Also in 1946, the War Damage Rehabilitation Board put forward ideas for the reconstruction of thirteen Japanese cities. Architect Kenzō Tange submitted proposals for Hiroshima and Maebashi.

In 1949, Tange's winning competition entry to design the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum gave him international acclaim. The project (completed in 1955) led to a series of commissions including the Kagawa Prefectural Office Building in Takamatsu (1958) and Old Kurashiki City Hall (1960). At this time both Tange and Maekawa were interested in the tradition of Japanese architecture and the influence of local character. This was illustrated at Kagawa with elements of Heian period design fused with the International Style.

thumb|left|[[National Museum of Western Art, Tōkyō, built in 1955]]

In 1955, Le Corbusier was asked by the Japanese government to design the National Museum of Western Art in Tōkyō. He was assisted by his three former students: Maekawa, Sakakura and Takamasa Yoshizaka. The design was based upon Le Corbusier's museum in Ahmedabad, and both of the museums are square and raised on piloti.

Due largely to the influence of Tange, the 1960 World Design Conference was held in Tōkyō. A small group of Japanese designers who came to represent the Metabolist Movement presented their manifesto and a series of projects. The group included the architects Kiyonori Kikutake, Masato Ōtaka, Kisho Kurokawa and Fumihiko Maki. Originally known as the Burnt Ash School, the Metabolists associated themselves with idea of renewal and regeneration, rejecting visual representations of the past and promoting the idea that the individual, the house and the city were all parts of a single organism. Although the individual members of the group went in their own directions after a few years the enduring nature of their publications meant that they had a longer presence overseas. The international symbol of the Metabolists, the capsule, emerged as an idea in the late 1960s and was demonstrated in Kurokawa's Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tōkyō in 1972.

In the 1960s Japan saw both the rise and the expansion of large construction firms, including the Shimizu Corporation and Kajima. Nikken Sekkei emerged as a comprehensive company that often included elements of Metabolist design in its buildings.

thumb|Yoyogi National Gymnasium, built for the 1964 Summer Olympics

The 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo saw a large boost to new design. Venues were constructed and the Yoyogi National Gymnasium, built between 1961 and 1964 by Kenzo Tange, became a landmark structure famous for its suspension roof design, recalling traditional elements of Shinto shrines. Other structures include the Nippon Budokan, the Komazawa Gymnasium and many others. The Olympic Games symbolised the re-emergence of Japan after the destruction of World War II, reflecting the new confidence in its architecture.

During the 1960s there were also architects who did not see the world of architecture in terms of Metabolism. For example, Kazuo Shinohara specialised in small residential projects in which he explored traditional architecture with simple elements in terms of space, abstraction and symbolism. In the Umbrella House (1961) he explored the spatial relationship between the doma (earth-paved internal floor) and the raised tatami floor in the living room and sleeping room. This relationship was explored further with the House with an Earthen floor (1963) where a tamped-down earthen floor was included in the kitchen area. His use of a roof to anchor his design for the House in White (1966) has been compared with Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Houses. Shinohara explored these abstractions as "Three Styles", which were periods of design that stretched from the early sixties to the mid seventies.

A former employee of Kenzo Tange was Arata Isozaki who was initially interested in the Metabolist Movement and produced innovative theoretical projects for the City in the Air (1961) and Future City (1962). However he soon moved away from this towards a more Mannerist approach similar to the work of James Stirling. This was particularly striking at the Oita Branch for Fukuoka Mutual (1967) with its mathematical grids, concrete construction and exposed services. In the Gunma Prefectural Museum (1971–74) he experimented with cubic elements (some of them twelve metres to a side) overlaid by a secondary grid expressed by the external wall panels and fenestration. This rhythm of panelling may have been influenced by Corbusier's detailing on the Museum of Western Art in Tōkyō.

Japanese cities where they lack European-like piazzas and squares often emphasise the relationship of people with the everyday workings of the street. Fumihiko Maki was one of a number of architects who were interested in the relationship of architecture and the city and this can be seen in works like Ōsaka Prefectural Sports Centre (1972) and Spiral in Tōkyō (1985). Likewise, Takefumi Aida (member of the group known as ArchiteXt) rejected the ideas of the Metabolist Movement and explored urban semiology.

thumb|left|Rokkō Housing 1, Kōbe, built in 1985

In the late seventies and early eighties Tadao Ando's architecture and theoretical writings explored the idea of Critical regionalism – the idea of promoting local or national culture within architecture. Ando's interpretation of this was demonstrated by his idea of reacquainting the Japanese house with nature, a relationship he thought had been lost with Modernist architecture. His first projects were for small urban houses with enclosed courtyards (such as the Azuma House in Ōsaka in 1976). His architecture is characterised by the use of concrete, but it has been important for him to use the interplay of light, through time, with this and other materials in his work. His ideas about the integration of nature converted well into larger projects such as the Rokkō Housing 1 (1983) (on a steep site on Mount Rokkō) and the Church on the Water (1988) in Tomamu, Hokkaidō.

The late eighties saw the first work by architects of the so-called "Shinohara" school. This included Toyō Itō and Itsuko Hasegawa who were both interested in urban life and the contemporary city. Itō concentrated on the dynamism and mobility of the city's "urban nomads" with projects like the Tower of Winds (1986) which integrated natural elements like light and wind with those of technology. Hasegawa concentrated on what she termed "architecture as another nature". Her Shōnandai Cultural Centre in Fujisawa (1991) combined the natural environment with new high-tech materials.

Highly individualist architects of the late eighties included the monumental buildings of Shin Takamatsu and the "cosmic" work of Masaharu Takasaki. Takasaki, who worked with the Austrian architect Günther Domenig in the 1970s shares Domenig's organic architecture. His Zero Cosmology House of 1991 in Kagoshima Prefecture constructed from concrete has a contemplative egg-shaped "zero space" at its centre.

File:Kanagawa Concert Hall 2009.jpg|Kanagawa Prefectural Library and Music Hall, Yokohama, built in 1954

File:26 martyrs museum.jpg|Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument, Nagasaki, built in 1962

File:Kobe port tower11s3200.jpg|Kobe Port Tower, Kōbe, built in 1963

File:Azuma house.JPG|Azuma House, Ōsaka, built in 1976

File:Kirin Plaza.JPG|Kirin Plaza, Ōsaka, built in 1987 (now demolished)

File:ゼロのいえ - Zero House - ZERO COSMOLOGY.jpg|Zero House, Kagoshima, built in 1991

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Heisei period

thumb|right|Sendai Mediatheque, Sendai, 2001

thumb|right|Rolex Learning Centre, Lausanne, 2010

The Heisei period began with the collapse of the so-called "bubble economy" that had previously boosted Japan's economy. Commissions for commercial works of architecture virtually dried up and architects relied upon government and prefectural organisations to provide projects.

Building on elements from the Shōnandai Culture Centre, Itsuko Hasegawa undertook a number cultural and community centres throughout Japan. These included the Sumida Cultural Centre (1995) and the Fukuroi Community Centre (2001) where she involved the public in the process of design whilst exploring her own ideas about the filtration of light through the external walls into the interior. In his 1995 competition win for Sendai Mediatheque, Toyō Itō continued his earlier thoughts about fluid dynamics within the modern city with "seaweed-like" columns supporting a seven-story building wrapped in glass. His work later in the period, for example, the library to Tama Art University in Tōkyō in 2007 demonstrates more expressive forms, rather than the engineered aesthetic of his earlier works.

Although Tadao Ando became well known for his use of concrete, he began the decade designing the Japanese pavilion at the Seville Exposition 1992, with a building that was hailed as "the largest wooden structure in the world". He continued with this medium in projects for the Museum of Wood Culture, Kami, Hyōgo Prefecture (1994) and the Komyo-ji Shrine in Saijo (2001).

The UK practice, Foreign Office Architects won an international competition in 1994 to design the Yokohama International Port Terminal. It is an undulating structure that emerges from the surrounding city and forms a building to walk over as well as into. Klein Dytham Architecture are one of a handful of foreign architects who managed to gain a strong foothold in Japan. Their design for Moku Moku Yu (literally "wood wood steam"), a communal bathhouse in Kobuchizawa, Yamanashi Prefecture in 2004 is a series of interconnected circular pools and changing rooms, flat-roofed and clad in coloured vertical timbers.

After the 1995 Kōbe earthquake, Shigeru Ban developed cardboard tubes that could be used to quickly construct refugee shelters that were dubbed "Paper Houses". Also as part of that relief effort he designed a church using 58 cardboard tubes that were 5m high and had a tensile roof that opened up like an umbrella. The church was erected by Roman Catholic volunteers in five weeks. For the Nomadic Museum, Ban used walls made of shipping containers, stacked four high and joined at the corners with twist connectors that produced a checkerboard effect of solid and void. The ancillary spaces were made with paper tubes and honeycomb panels. The museum was designed to be disassembled and it subsequently moved from New York, to Santa Monica, Tōkyō and Mexico.

Historian and architect Terunobu Fujimori's studies in the 1980s into so-called architectural curios found in the city inspired the work of a younger generation of architects such as the founders of Atelier Bow-Wow. Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kajima surveyed the city for "no-good" architecture for their book Made in Tokyo in 2001. Their work in turn seeks to embrace its context rather than block it out. Although their office in Tōkyō is on a tight site they have welcomed the city in with huge windows and spacious porches.

Sou Fujimoto's architecture relies upon a manipulation of basic building blocks to produce a geometric primitivism. His buildings are very sensitive to the topographical form of their context and include a series of houses as well as a children's home in Hokkaidō.

Two former employees of Toyō Itō, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa formed a collaborative partnership in 1995 called SANAA. They are known for creating lightweight, transparent spaces that expose the fluidity and movement of their occupants. Their Dior store in Shibuya, Tōkyō, in 2001 was reminiscent of Itō's Mediatheque, with cool white acrylic sheets on the external facade that filter the light and partially reveal the store's contents. Their dynamic of fluidity is demonstrated by the Rolex Learning Centre at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, completed in 2010. This building has an undulating floor plane set under a continuous concrete shell roof that was poured in one go over two days. The plan is like a biological cell punctuated with tables and courtyards alike. In 2009 they designed the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London that comprised a reflective, floating aluminium roof supported by slender columns.

File:Church of Light.JPG|The Church of the Light, Ibaraki, Ōsaka, built in 1989

File:Pabellon de japon expo 92.jpg|Japanese pavilion at the 1992 Seville Exposition Built in 1992

File:Ki-no-dendo04s3200.jpg|Museum for Wood Culture, Kami, Hyogo Prefecture Built in 1994

File:Osanbashi Pier2.jpg|Yokohama International Port Terminal Built between 1994 and 2002

File:Takatori Catholic Church.JPG|Paper Church, Kōbe Built in 1995

File:Within the dome structure, Yamanashi Fruit Museum and Garden, Japan.jpg|Yamanashi Fruit Museum Built in 1996

File:Tama Art University Library.JPG|Tama Art University Library, Tōkyō Built in 2007

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Japanese interior design

Japanese interior design has a unique aesthetic derived from Shinto, Taoism, Zen Buddhism, world view of wabi-sabi, specific religious figures and the West. This aesthetic has in turn influenced Western style, particularly Modernism.

Traditional Japanese aesthetic

What is generally identified as the Japanese aesthetic stems from ideals of Japanese Shinto and Chinese Taoism. Japanese culture is extremely diverse; despite this, in terms of the interior, the aesthetic is one of simplicity and minimalism.

The specific idea that a room's true beauty is in the empty space within the roof and walls came from Laozi, a philosopher and the founder of Taoism, who held to the "aesthetic ideal of emptiness",

Interiors are very simple, highlighting minimal and natural decoration. Traditional Japanese interiors, as well as modern, incorporate mainly natural materials including fine woods, bamboo, silk, rice straw mats, and paper shōji screens. Natural materials are used to keep simplicity in the space that connects to nature. Natural color schemes are used and neutral palettes including black, white, off-white, gray, and brown.

Impermanence is a strong theme in traditional Japanese dwellings. Shinto, the indigenous religious tradition of Japan, provides a basis for the appreciation of these qualities, holding to a philosophy of appreciation of life and the world. Sei Shōnagon was a trend-setting court lady of the tenth century who wrote in 'The Pillow Book' of her dislike for "a new cloth screen with a colourful and cluttered painting of many cherry blossoms",

Japanese Zen interior designs draw inspiration from elements of nature as they have immense respect for nature. Their designs have a strong connection with natural elements such as wood, plants, natural lighting and more.

A large portion of Japanese interior walls are often made of shōji screens that can be pushed open to join two rooms together, and then close them allowing more privacy. The shōji screens are made of paper attached to thin wooden frames that roll away on a track when they are pushed. Another important feature of the shōji screen, besides privacy and seclusion, is that they allow light through. This is an important aspect to Japanese design. Paper translucent walls allow light to be diffused through the space and create light shadows and patterns.

Tatami mats are rice straw floor mats often used to cover the floor in Japan's interiors; in modern Japanese houses there are usually only one or two tatami rooms. Another way to connect rooms in Japan's interiors is through sliding panels made of wood and paper, like the shōji screens, or cloth. These panels are called fusuma and are used as an entire wall. They are traditionally hand painted. This spilled into a broader interacting with the modern world, which in terms of interior design, resulted in the introduction of western style interiors, while the vernacular style came to be more associated with tradition and the past. In terms of architecture and interior design though, the influence on the West is much more centered on the United States of America.

Before the twentieth century, very little of the West's knowledge of the Japanese building was gained in Japan. Instead it was gained through exhibitions the Japanese partook in such as the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia.

The culture that created traditional Japanese architecture is so far removed from Western values philosophies of life that it could not be directly applied in a design context.

Notes and references

Bibliography

Bowring, R. and Kornicki, P. (1993), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan, pp. 201–208, Cambridge University Press, .
Coaldrake, William H. (1996) Architecture and Authority in Japan's hero (Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies Series), Routledge,
Daniell, Thomas (2008) After the Crash: Architecture in Post-Bubble Japan, Princeton Architectural Press,
Fiévé, Nicolas (1996).L'architecture et la ville du Japon ancien. Espace architectural de la ville de Kyôto et des résidences shôgunales aux XIVe et XVe siècles, Bibliothèque de l'Institut des Hautes Études Japonaises, Collège de France, Paris, Maisonneuve & Larose, 358 pages + 102 illustrations. .
Fiévé, Nicolas (dir.) (2008).Atlas historique de Kyôto. Analyse spatiale des systèmes de mémoire d'une ville, de son architecture et de ses paysages urbains. Foreword Kôichirô Matsuura, Preface Jacques Gernet, Paris, Éditions de l'UNESCO / Éditions de l'Amateur, 528 pages, 207 maps et 210 ill. .
Fiévé, Nicolas and Waley, Paul. (2003). Japanese Capitals in Historical Perspective: Place, Power and Memory in Kyoto, Edo and Tokyo. London: Routledge. 417 pages + 75 ill.
Gregory, Rob, August 2007, "Reading Matter", Architectural Review
Gregory, Rob, August 2007, "Rock Solid", Architectural Review
Payne, James, March 2010, "Lausanne", Architecture Today
Slessor, Catherine, October 2001, "Comment", Architectural Review
Slessor, Catherine, October 2001, "Common Ground", Architectural Review
Webb, Michael, October 2001, "Layered Media", Architectural Review
Webb, Michael, May 2006, "Container Art", Architectural Review
Spring 2005, "Do_co,mo.mo Japan: the 100 selection", The Japan Architect, No. 57
Fletcher, Banister; Cruickshank, Dan, Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture, Architectural Press, 20th edition, 1996 (first published 1896). . Cf. Part Four, Chapter 25
Koji Yagi (text), Ryo Hata (photos): A Japanese Touch For Your Home. Kodansha International, Tokyo, New York, London 1999 (Pbck.),

External links

mooponto — Portal for Japanese minimalist architecture Explore the vision behind the modern Japanese minimalist architecture
JAANUS (Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System) On-line dictionary of Japanese architectural and art historical terminology

General features of Japanese traditional architecture

Heian period

Kamakura and Muromachi periods

Azuchi-Momoyama period

Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa periods

Colonial architecture

Late Showa period

Heisei period

Japanese interior design

Traditional Japanese aesthetic

See also

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links