The Japanese House Explained by Benjamin Everitt

The Japanese House Explained

A Newcomers Guide to Some of the Cultural Origins of the Japanese Home

Curtain House Designed by Shigeru Ban, by 準建築人手札網站 Forgemind ArchiMedia

Benjamin Everitt (Tokyo)

Adjusting to a Japanese home may be daunting for many residents new to Japan. Whether it is a small 1DK apartment within a dense metropolis, or a standalone house within the rural backcountry, newcomers face the challenge of adjusting their social habits and lifestyles to fit the small confines of the Japanese home. The definition of ‘small’ in this context is not limited to the floor area, but also relates to a home’s permeability and fragility. Paper thin, uninsulated walls are battered with constant natural disasters and the close proximity to neighbours may lead to spaces within feeling more vulnerable and smaller than they actually are. Despite these initial differences, it is possible to find comfort within your new Japanese home by exploring the cultural background of spaces that are commonly found within almost every Japanese dwelling.

Many aspects of the modern Japanese home are adapted from the vernacular housing made for the common folk known as the minka (民家・みんか). As Japan is a volcanic island with frequent natural disasters, minka housing is structured with timber

「縁側」

“Engawa” by Ocdp CC

posts and beams in which the flexibility of the material allows for the house to shake independently from the ground or gusts of wind. Although minka are generally utilitarian, variations of materials and finishes are applied depending on the geography of the local region (fudo・不動・ふどう )[1]. For example, an urban house with a shop front known as a machiya (町家・まちや) as you might find in Kyoto, may be clad with clay roof tiles (瓦屋根・かわらや ね) to prevent the outbreak of fire, or a rural village would have thatched hipped roofs made of straw to accommodate the harsher climate, a style known as gasshozukuri (合掌造り・がっしょうづくり ) and made famous by the UNESCO world heritage site of Shirakawago in Gifu prefecture.

Building upon these practical adaptations, the spaces beneath these heavy roofs are configured to cater towards the unique domestic lifestyle that encompasses Japanese culture. As the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma describes his design process: “I first design the roof of the building which provides shade. I consider shade to be the most important

part of the building. As the roof casts a shadow within the building, it creates a dialogue with the plants.” (Kuma, Goethe Institute) What Kuma refers to in this instance is how the shadow cast from the roof and eaves (noki・軒・のき ) creates a very dark interior, which draws the inhabitants’ attention outward towards the bright view of the garden, the street life, or the surrounding landscape. As the timber posts and beams hold up the majority of the load, this allows the walls to be designated as any material, such as opaque wooden or paper screen doors (fusuma・襖・ふすま ) acting as a partition that separates spaces temporarily, or the iconic plant fibre paper screen doors (shoji・障子・しょうじ) that acted in lieu of glass windows to diffuse light into the building.

Life within the home is embodied by how the need for privacy and comfort is controlled by the seasonal arrangements of the sliding paper partitions. During the hot summer months, the entire house may be exposed, the sliding doors opened fully, with families enjoying watermelon along the veranda (engawa・縁 側・えんがわ) as the fresh air passes through; during the winter seasons the entire house is enclosed with the sliding doors boarded shut, to create individual pockets of heat for people to gather in.

It is both peculiar and saddening how these whimsical images of the traditional Japanese home are becoming fleeting. The rustic beauty and warm textures of natural materials have been substituted with artificial synthetics; the obsessive use of concrete and steel has reduced the importance of timber to Japanese society. However, within contemporary homes, the traditional and the modern have been combined to preserve the most significant cultural aspects, in adaptation to the demands of the present day.

Bespoke homes such as the Curtain House by Shigeru Ban, located in the Itabashi neighborhood of Tokyo, reinterpret the engawa veranda into a protruding open deck. Although the house is completely exposed to the environment, the main living space is elevated on the second floor to prevent onlookers at street level from gazing into the entire home. Paper screens are exchanged for a western curtain, a single thin cloth providing privacy, while still diffusing light into the building.

Another home, the Sumiyoshi Row House by Tadao Ando found in the Sumiyoshi area of Osaka, is a reinterpretation of the machiya style, minka dwelling. Borrowing from the way a machiya house has the street-facing side of the building closed off to preserve the privacy of its customers, this home follows the same principle using a thick concrete facade with a penetrated hole that implies the door to the home.

Although the above works are the exception and not the standard, they are helpful examples towards understanding how many traditional elements of Japanese architecture are reinterpreted in the contemporary environment. As we spend a very large portion of our stay in Japan within our residences, the process of learning to love our Japanese homes can be an invaluable cultural experience.

Footnotes: [1] ‘fudo’[不動・ふどう ] meaning ‘milieu’ is a philosophy that outlines certain characteristics in geography, climate and culture that defines a local sense of place. From a western perspective, the Romans had a similar philosophy of the ‘genius loci’(Spirit of the place). The same kanji is used to describe a real estate agent, (fudo-san・不動産・ふ どうさん) who generally lacks any sense of spirit or culture within their line of work.

References: Goethe-Institut. (2015, Jun 23). Kengo Kuma - Nezu Museum Tokyo English [Video]. YouTube.

Ben is a Graduate of Victoria University of Wellington, Te Whare Wanaga o te upoko o te ika a Maui, and currently working at an architectural practice in Tokyo, Japan. He enjoys photographing and drawing Japanese temples when he is not overworked at his Japanese company. He would like to explore how timber can be used abundantly in contemporary architecture in the near future.

Sumiyoshi Row House Designed by Tadao Ando, by Het Gallery

“A machiya style house near Nijojo” By Japanexperterna