ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

• The architecture of Japan was derived from China, but maintained its own special characteristics
of lightness as delicacy.
• Refinement in Japanese architecture is combined with carving and decoration which is noticeable
in timber construction.
• Flat terrace roof that are dominant to form contrast from Middle-East and India.
• 'Iramoya gable' at the upper part of roof while the lower part of roof is in a hipped form.
• Roof covering can be thatch, shingles or tiles.
• Column that found in temples or gateway is followed from Chinese form.
• 'Ken' is known as standard measurement of intercolumniation.
• 'Yariganna' is used to split timber and beautify it.
• 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 rather than upwards.
 Early Japanese architecture
Jomon period
• The earliest period of japan lasted from around 13000 BC to 300 BC.
• Dwellings were built directly over an earth floor with a wood foundation and a thatched straw roof.
• Inside the house, the floor may have been hollowed in, which is why jomon period houses are often called
"pit dwellings".
Jomon characteristics
• Huts built by digging as deep as 2 - 3 feet deep.
• Trees used as pillars to support roof.
• Roof is made of long grass or skins of wood.
• Shape like tent with small ridge on the roof for ventilation.
Yayoi period
• The yayoi period lasted from around 300 BC to 300 AD.
• Characterized by the start of widespread rice farming, resulting in the appearance of permanent settlements
with bigger populations.
• Communities became organized in villages as a whole, with areas demarcated for granaries, storehouses and
living quarters.
• Houses were built on stilts to keep away pest. Structures such as village fences and watch towers were
applied
• Yayoi characteristic
• Yayoi architecture is similar to architecture of south east Asia where buildings are raise up from ground.
• Used gable roof
• The roof is over a wattle screen wall surrounded by a damp-excluding ditch
 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.

Shinto architecture
• Shrine buildings are situated according to the environment
• Komainu, pairs of lion like figures placed in front of the gates
or main halls of many shrines, serve as shrine guardians.
• The nature of Shinto worship changed, following the
introduction of Buddhism, and shrine buildings borrowed
certain elements from Buddhist architecture. For example,
many shrines were painted in 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
peoples' fears of demons and supernatural powers, and their
worship of these. It has no written body of doctrine, but it is
Japan's main religion and is practiced widely through
ceremonies and festivals.
SHRINES
 1. Torii – Shinto gate
Parts of a
2. Stone stairs
Japanese Shrine
3. Sandō – the approach to the shrine

4. Chōzuya or temizuya – purification font to cleanse

one’s hands and mouth

5. Tōrō – decorative stone lanterns

6. Kagura-den – building dedicated to Noh or the sacred

Kagura dance

7. Shamusho – the shrine’s administrative office

8. Ema – wooden plaques bearing prayers or wishes

9. Sessha/massha – small auxiliary shrines

10. Komainu – the so-called “lion dogs”, guardians of

the shrine

11. Haiden – oratory or hall of worship

12. Tamagaki – fence surrounding the honden

13. Honden – main hall, enshrining the kami

Japan Buddhist Temple and Pagodas
The most important buildings in the temple are the main hall
(Hondô, Kondô or Butsuden) and the pagoda. Worshippers stand
in the outer chamber facing the inner sanctuary, with its images
of the Buddha, to pray, pressing their palms together.
Parts of a
Pagoda
Plan
Square plan
•Five- storey height (45 meters)
•In construction they are virtually suspended
around a central timber, to provide stability
against earthquake.
•The ground storey contains images and shrines
•The upper storey serve as 'belvederes'
 Palaces
Castles in Japan underwent their most
intensive phase of development in the
Sengoku (Warring States) era from the
15th to the 16th century. Built with the
object of keeping the enemy out, they
are elaborate in design and strongly
fortified. Their magnificent architecture
also served to demonstrate the power
of the joshu, or lord of the castle.
 Construction Method of The Japanese
Traditional House

Japanese cities have come to look like those of

Europe because of the increase in the number of
prefabricated and ferroconcrete buildings. However,
the style of building that is best suited to the
Japanese climate and natural conditions is probably
still the traditional wooden house, and it is certainly
nicer to look at.
 SHINDEN-ZUKURI HOUSES

In around the eleventh century,

when Japan's unique culture came
into full bloom, members of the
aristocracy began to build a
distinctive style of house for
themselves called shinden-zukuri.
This type of house, which stood in
the midst of a large garden, was symmetrical, and its rooms were connected with long
hallways. It allowed residents to enjoy seasonal events and the beauty of nature.
 SHOIN-ZUKURI HOUSES TEA HOUSE

As political power passed from the nobles to

the samurai (warrior class) and a new form of
Buddhism made its way to Japan, core aspects
of traditional Japanese culture as we know it
today began to take root, including ikebana
(flower arranging), the tea ceremony, and
Noh. The samurai created their own style of
house called shoin-zukuri. This influence can
be seen in the alcove ornament of the guest
 JAPANESE ZEN GARDENS
• The Japanese rock garden or "dry landscape"
garden, often called a zen garden, creates a
miniature stylized landscape through carefully
composed arrangements of rocks, water
features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, and
uses gravel or sand that is raked to represent
ripples in water.
• A zen garden is usually relatively small,
surrounded by a wall, and is usually meant to be
seen while seated from a single viewpoint
outside the garden, such as the porch of the
hojo, the residence of the chief monk of the Ryōan-ji (late
temple or monastery. 15th century)
• Classical zen gardens were created at temples in Kyoto,
of Zen Buddhism in Kyoto, Japan during the Japan, a
Muromachi Period. famous
• They were intended to imitate the intimate example of a
essence of nature, not its actual appearance, zen garden
and to serve as an aid to meditation about the
true meaning of life.
• Zen gardens however, are created with
little plant material, and have neither pond
nor river. This garden has only rock, gravel,
sand, and perhaps a few pieces of moss.
• The Zen garden originally was created as
an aid to meditation and to teach the
principles of the religion.
• Zen gardens are regarded as
representational of Zen discipline, because
the garden is regarded as expressions of
individual worlds of thought, therefore, The Japanese Zen gardens often are not to be entered,
copying was strictly forbidden. especially the sand areas of the garden. In the Zen
• Their true meaning lies in the viewer's garden, sand represents water, and these areas often
were preciously racked into circles that signify water
imagination and interpretation of the ripples. It is to be viewed from a designated distance.
abstract symbolism landscape.
• Most Zen gardens rely on a strong sense of
enclosure for its mood.
• Enclosure functions as the garden's
definition, and is often a quiet escape
place.
• The surrounding wall represents a visual
boundary or by placing stones against the
ground and gravel.
ELEMENTS OF A ZEN GARDEN:-
• The main components that are used in the
Karesansui or "dry-landscape" gardens are
earth and natural elements.
• Every stone, plant, wood, or sand spread has
meaning and representation in its placement.
• In addition to natural elements, some man-
made architectural elements can be added.
• Bridges, pathways, and lanterns are usually
found in Zen gardens.
• Wooden and stone lanterns are chosen over The gravel representing the water gleams when light
metal because the main focus of a Zen garden is falls upon it thus mimicking the behavior of a water
body. The raking created the mirage of waves and
to create a natural atmosphere, a peaceful, ripples.
balanced environment that is quiet and
meditative.

The white gravel

"ocean" of the Composition
garden of Daisen-ji, of rocks
to which the gravel
river flows
 MODERN JAPANESE ARCHITECTURE- Skyscapers
•The need to rebuild Japan after World War II was a powerful stimulus to
Japanese architecture, and within a short time, the cities were functioning
again. Modern technology brought about a noticeable change in
architectural styles, and the new cities built to replace the old ones looked
very different.

•New steel and concrete structures contrasted strongly with traditional

styles, and there was a great difference between the appearance of new,
modern landmarks and more traditional residences and small businesses.

•After World War II, most buildings were no longer made of wood, which
caught fire so easily during earthquakes and bombing raids, and internal
steel construction was used instead.

• While important pre-war buildings, such as the Wako Department Store,

Tokyo Station, Alasaka Palace, and the Bank of Japan had been designed
along European classical lines, post-war buildings adopted an efficient
"unadorned box" style.

•As a result of Japan's rapid economic growth from the 1950s until the
1980s, later redevelopment, and the destruction caused by earthquakes
and wartime bombings, most of the architecture in the cities is from the
period when the style of Brutalist Modern architecture was at its height.
• The appearance of modern Japanese cities is both the
result of, and a catalyst in, the development of
twentieth and twenty-first century attitudes towards
architecture.
• One of the greatest architectural challenges was
creating tall buildings that were resistant to Japan's
frequent earthquakes. Japanese engineers and
architects pioneered techniques that are now used all
over the world.
• The 1991 completion of the postmodernist Tokyo
Metropolitan Government Building marked a turning
point in skyscraper design. It was followed by the
Yokohama Landmark Tower, and in 1996, the Tokyo
International Forum, which besides a unique design,
sported a landscaped area outside where people could
relax and chat. Roppongi Hills, one of Japan's largest
integrated property developments, incorporating office
space, apartments, shops, restaurants, cafés, movie
theaters, a museum, a hotel, a major TV studio, an Yokohama Landmark Tower
outdoor amphitheater, and a few parks, opened in
2003, in the Roppongi district of Minato, Tokyo.
• Shiodome , an area located adjacent to Shimbashi
and Ginza, near Tokyo Bay and the Hamarikyu
Gardens, has recently been transformed into one
of Tokyo's most modern and architecturally
stunning areas. Its 13 skyscrapers house the
headquarters of All Nippon Airways, Dentsu,
Bandai Visual, Fujitsu, Nippon Television and
Softbank, as well as numerous hotels and
restaurants.
• Despite this new trend in contemporary Japanese
architecture, most suburban areas still exhibit
cheap, uninspired designs.
• Japanese expertise played a role in
modern skyscraper design, because of its long
familiarity with the cantilever principle to support
the weight of heavy tiled temple roofs. Frank Lloyd
Wright was strongly influenced by Japanese spatial
arrangements and the concept of interpenetrating
exterior and interior space, long achieved in Japan
by opening up walls made of sliding doors. In the
late twentieth century, Japanese style was
commonly employed only in domestic and religious
architecture. Cities sprouted modern skyscrapers,
epitomized by Tokyo's crowded skyline, reflecting
a total assimilation and transformation of modern
Western forms.
 MODERN JAPANESE ARCHITECTS
• The best-known modern Japanese architect
is Kenzo Tange , whose National
Gymnasiums (1964) for the Tokyo Olympics
emphasizing the contrast and blending of
pillars and walls, and with sweeping roofs
reminiscent of the tomoe (an ancient whorl-
shaped heraldic symbol) are dramatic
statements of form and movement.
National
• Tadao Ando embodied postmodernist gymnasiums
concerns for a more balanced, humanistic
approach than that of structural
modernism's rigid formulations. Ando's
buildings provided a variety of light sources,
including extensive use of glass bricks and
opening up spaces to the outside air. He
adapted the inner courtyards of
traditional Osaka houses to new urban Church of light
architecture, using open stairways and
bridges to lessen the sealed atmosphere of
the standard city dwelling.
Spiral building, Tokyo
• In 1989, Ando became the third Japanese to receive France's prix de l'académie
d'architecture, an indication of the international strength of the major Japanese
architects, all of whom produced important structures abroad during the 1980s.

• Fumihiko Maki advanced new city planning ideas based on the principle of layering or
cocooning around an inner space (oku), a Japanese spatial concept that was adapted
to urban needs. He also advocated the use of empty or open spaces (ma), a Japanese
aesthetic principle reflecting Buddhist spatial ideas. Another quintessentially Japanese
aesthetic concept was a basis for Maki designs, which focused on openings onto
intimate garden views at ground level while cutting off sometimes-ugly skylines. A
dominant 1970s architectural concept, the "metabolism" of convertibility, provided for
changing the functions of parts of buildings according to use, and remains influential.

Kenzo Tange Tadao Ando Fumihiko Maki