The Importance of Shadows in Japanese Architecture

Introduction:

Louis Khan famously said, “The sun never knew how wonderful it was, until it fell on the wall of a building” (Pattison, 2020) A lot of architecture is experienced along with the bright light of the sun dancing through our windows and filling our lives. But just as musicians create music to capture the silence, Architects design spaces, to envelope the vast emptiness. (Tanizaki, 1977) A dark space is capable of evoking two kinds of feelings. Firstly, there's the sense of danger that comes with not being able to see your surroundings well. Second, watching items emerge from, or merge with, darkness creates a sense of mystery and intrigue. Juhaani Paalasma in his book, ‘The Eyes of the Skin’ discusses how modernist architecture was able to construct spaces for the brain and the eye, but left the body and other senses, as well as our memories, ideas, and dreams, homeless. (Pallasmaa, 2012). Whenever one goes through a very strong emotional experience, we tend to close our eyes and cut off the sense of vision. For example, when we are dreaming, listening to music or being intimate with our loved ones. So in a way, deep shadows and darkness are also important since they blur depth and details and promote unconscious peripheral perception. It is when the sharpness of vision is suppressed, we can finally start to think clearly. (Pallasmaa, 2012)

The ancient Taoist scholar, Laotse said that the true beauty of a room is in the vacant space within the roof and the walls and not the roof and walls themselves. (Black, 2000) This is the very essence of Japanese Architecture. The Japanese, according to Frank Lloyd Wright, have the most idealistic approach to organic building that responds to

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place, time, and being. (Nute, 2004) This literature review will cover how the Japanese, over the years, learned how to create beauty from these shadows.

Shadows in the materiality of Japanese Architecture

Japanese Architecture has an unique quality of using materials that reflect less light and instead absorb it and envelope it gently, creating a play of shadows and softness. They do not use materials that glitter and shine as opposed to the western culture of polished silverware. Even though they use silver, they prefer not to polish it and instead, enjoy when it has worn off its luster and develops a dark smoky layer on the surface. Even their jewelry has a murky light quality to them as opposed to a shining brilliance. They tend to even idealize the old rusty nature of things which can even call to mind the past stories that’s behind them (Tanizaki, 1977) The Japanese use materials for their individuality. Wood, bamboo, straw and paper are the materials that are still used today even though the past century has changed so many things in the urban culture of Japan.

(Black, 2000)

Tanizaki talks about how only in dim light can the true beauty of the Japanese lacquerware, be revealed. (Tanizaki, 1977) He explains how the glossy surface of the lacquerware has a richness to it that it similar to that of the depths of a dark pond. The diffused lighting of a candle or a lantern can create a quality to these objects that are more solemn, austere and refined. Japanese furniture in general is not meant to be experienced in bright daylight at a single glance. It should be experienced slowly with bits appearing here and there in the faint flickering light.

Shadows in the elements of Japanese Architecture:

The Japanese Roof

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A very important aspect of the architecture of Japan lies in the heavy spacious darkness that hangs beneath the large eaves of the roof tiles. Wherever the roof casts a shadow is part of the interior of the house. (Lazarin, 2014) The Japanese tend to top off their living rooms with a huge mountainous roof that one might think of the Japanese house as a roof. (Fawcett, 1980) This gives an impression of being much heavier and larger than what stands beneath. This goes for all kinds of architecture in Japan including temples, palaces of the nobles, farmhouses of the countryside etc. (Tanizaki, 1977) The roof is depicted in a lot of the original Chinese ideographic language from which Japanese is derived. The slope of the roof is also a main indication of the climate of a region. The attic space is where one can see the bare rafters of the framework and experience the ambiguity overhead, where the shadows will play about the rafters.

The Japanese Walls

Japanese Walls act like a natural element, transformed by its surroundings but also in harmony with them. Lattice work in windows and walls allow the diffused flickering light to enter at varying times of the day enticing the inhabitants inside with its patterns of shadow and play of light. They also use doors and partitions made of handmade paper or washi, that allow soft light to enter and also provide a unobtrusive privacy and delicacy. (Hibi, 1987) Another very important aspect about them is its impermanent nature (Black, 2000).The doors are usually both movable and removable because the Japanese value flexibility and functionality. The walls are usually painted with neutral colours so that the sun rays can sink into them. The Japanese shojis are used in spaces like study areas to filter the light that comes in from the gardens. They radiate a pale white glow from its paper surfaces but does not have the stark brilliance of direct light. (Pallasmaa, 2012) The paper shojis are replaced with bamboo blinds called sudare in the summer to allow more ventilation and it also has a natural beauty to it because of its raw knotted joints and smooth surface. (Black, 2000)

The Japanese Architects and their play with shadows

What makes Japanese Architects stand apart from Western Architects is their love of impermanence. A sense of fragility and ruination is used to judge Japanese architecture. (Lazarin, 2014) The shadows and dents of the materials used in the construction create this sense of time that architects like Tadao Ando are trying to master. Makoto Susuki’s houses have a consistent mood apparent throughout that makes you feel like someone has just left. (Fawcett, 1980) Tadao Ando is a master of spaces that encapture silence and seem to freeze in time. He believed that light was a jewel that was to be found in the shadows. (Paiva, 2015) The Japanese Architect, Kurokawa Kisho, in his book Rediscovering Japanese Space, claims that Westerners create buildings with obvious internal and exterior walls. On the other hand, Eastern culture emphasizes a 'grey space' where public and private life interpenetrate, exist in harmony, and invigorate one another. (Kurokawa, 1988) This lack of clarity of spaces is created from the deep shadows and dark corners. The Japanese thus create spaces not to withstand the test of time but change along with it.

Conclusion and Gap

The West calls the Japanese form of art and film as the ‘Mysterious Orient’ because of how they make everything meaningful by relating it to their history and religion. (Lehman, 1987) It could also be because of the deep meaning they have in their shadows that fall under their crossbeams and alcoves and around their vases. We have gotten so

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enamored with electric lights in today's environment that we are oblivious to the dangers of excessive illumination. Light should be used for reading, writing or sewing, but instead, we use it to dispel the shadows in the furthermost corners of a room. (Tanizaki, 1977) The sparkling white walls of a hospital do not always provide the ideal healing and calming environment which the patients, dealing with pain and ailments, would need. Walls, equipment’s and surroundings should be done in much more muted colours that will absorb light and not reflect (Tanizaki, 1977)

Because light and whiteness are associated with health and vigor, the contemporary era strives to attain the same. The point of this literature review is not to say that light in a space is not important or of value, but that the light and shadow should be meaningful to its context and its users. As the Mexican Architect, Luis Barragan said in his 1980

Pritzker Architectural Prize acceptance speech ‘We have lost our sense of intimate life, and have become forced to live public lives, essentially, away from home’. (Rispa, 2003) He talks about how modernity has become fixated with enormous glass facades and bright lighting, depriving places of intimacy and ambience. (Pallasmaa & Zambelli, 2020)

James Turrell talks about "the thingness of light". He essentially create spaces that draw in light and keep it for your bodily experiencing. It is based on the understanding that the eyes can also touch and feel things. (Govan & Kim, 2013) (Pallasmaa, 2016)

Thus the questions that the architects and designers of the current generation need to be pondering upon are , ‘What is the optimum amount of light that can be allowed in a space that can effectively enable its users to experience it as a whole being and not just visually ?’. Just as the Japanese have been doing in their interiors, how can we experience a space as a whole, which can speak to all your senses at once? (MerleauPonty, 1969) The notion of lighting where the whole space is lit so brightly and uniformly such that it has no mystery or nothing left to reveal to its users, needs to be changed. The inhabitants need to feel like they are participating in the space. Design methodologies that help one to design with shadows along with light, just as the Japanese have done for years, need to be studied more efficiently and implemented more extensively.

References

Ando, T., 1992. Tadao Ando : beyond horizons in Architecture. Tokyo: Ando Tadao Kenchikuten Jikko Iinkai.

Black, A., 2000. the japanese house-architecture and interiors. 1 ed. United Kingdom: Scriptum Editions.

Fawcett, C., 1980. The New Japanese House. s.l.:Granada Publishing Limited.

Govan, M. & Kim, C. Y., 2013. James Turrell, A Restrospective. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Prestel.

Heneghan, T., 2000. Tadao Ando, The Colours of Light. London: Phaidon Press.

Hibi, S., 1987. Japanese Detail - Traditional Architectural Gardens-Interiors. Japan: Thames and Hudson Ltd., London.

Kite, S., 2017. Shadow-Makes-A Cultural History of Shadows in Architecture. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Kurokawa, K., 1988. Rediscovering Japanese Space. London: Weatherhill Inc.

Lazarin, M., 2014. Temporal Architecture: Poetic Dwelling in Japanese Buildings. Footprint-Delft Architectural Theory Journal, Issue 3.

Lehman, P., 1987. The Mysterious Orient, The Crystal Clear Orient, The Non-Existent Orient: Dilemmas Of Western Scholars Of Japanese Film. Journal of Film and Video, University of Illinois Press on behalf of the University Film & Video, Volume 39, pp. 5-15.

Merleau-Ponty, M., 1969. The Visible and the Invisible (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy). Illinois: Northwestern University Press.

Nute, K., 2004. Place, Time and Being in Japanese Architecture. London: Routledge.

Paine, R. T., 1981. The Art and Architecture of Japan. Connecticut: Yale University Press.

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