It should be understood that the Japanese house of today and yesterday are in many ways different things. In our world, old traditions, materials, and technologies are being replaced everywhere by new ones; the Homeland of the Samurai is no exception. Architecture keeps up with the times and changes; in megacities this is more noticeable, in rural areas not so obvious.
🈚In urban housing you can find much more similarities with traditional design in the internal arrangement, which cannot be said about appearance.
🈵Attention! Although Japanese style house building was formed largely under the influence of Chinese architecture, it has a number of important features - simplicity, good lighting and an asymmetrical layout!
🈯Minimalism is the main component of Japanese life and interior.
How a traditional house works in Japan
The classic housing of Japanese commoners is called Minka. In such buildings lived artisans, fishermen, merchants, in other words, all those segments of the population that did not belong to the samurai and nobility.
Minka can be divided into several types:
- matiya: where the townspeople lived;
- noka: lived by peasants;
- gyoka: fishermen's buildings;
- gassho-zukuri: mink in inaccessible mountainous areas with steep and massive thatched roofs, silkworm hut.
🈚Matiya roofing - tiles or tiles. The roof of Nok is straw or shingles.
🈯Although Minka, in the classical sense of the word, implies medieval buildings, these days this term is applied to any residential building in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Key Features
Element Minka | Material | Peculiarities |
| Basic materials | wood, bamboo, clay, grass, straw | Easily accessible and inexpensive materials. |
| Roof | straw, tiles | Based on wooden beams, can be straight, pointed at the corners or raised. |
| Walls | clay, wood | Interior walls are usually omitted, and Fusuma or Shoji (movable screens) are used instead - Washi paper attached to a wooden frame. For this reason, Minka can safely be called open-plan housing. |
| Foundation | stone | This is the only purpose. |
| Floor | earthen or wooden, raised on stilts (50-70 cm) | Covered with tatami or musiro mats. Tatami is a more durable and beautiful option, made from special igusa bamboo and rice straw. |
| Furniture | tree | There is little furniture. Built-in wardrobes. You can highlight Kotatsu. This is a kind of small Japanese table. Consists of three elements: a support, a tabletop and a spacer between them in the form of a heavy blanket or futon mattress. Often under this table in the floor there was a heat source in the form of a fireplace. The most important things are stored in special Japanese chests on Tansu wheels; in case of fire, they can be easily saved by rolling them outside. |
| Windows and doors | wood and washi paper | All windows and doors, with the exception of the main entrance, are not stationary; their role is played by Fusuma or Shoji. |
| Decor | calligraphy, paintings, ikebana | Everything is very meager compared to European houses. Basically, one small niche (tokonama) is allocated to the decorative elements. |
🈯There are practically no chimneys. This is explained by the floor raised by stilts and the high roof.
Increasingly traditional japanese houses are built from several floors, although previously only one level was used.
In general, the history of architecture developed according to the characteristics of climate, relief and other features. Eg, heat and humidity influenced the fact that the Japanese home was made as open, ventilated and bright as possible.
And the danger of earthquakes and tsunamis prompted the use of piles in design. They softened the shocks. They also tried to lighten the roof as much as possible so that if the house was destroyed, it could not cause critical physical damage to the owners.
Japanese style presupposes a reverent attitude towards purity and harmony. After all, the room was originally a project for a person living on the floor. And for such a philosophy, the absence of dirt and chaos is extremely important. It is not for nothing that such things as special slippers in front of the restroom and bathroom or exclusively white socks have become customary.
🈚To be fair, we note that maintaining cleanliness in Japanese square meters is easier than in our apartments. This is due to the minimal presence of furniture - the main place where dust accumulates.
The Japanese garden deserves special mention
Picture: Garden
Harmony with the surrounding world and nature is deeply rooted in the philosophy of this eastern people. And this could not but affect them Everyday life, including designing your home.
The Japanese surrounded their houses with wonderful and characteristic gardens. Travelers were amazed by the beautiful and harmonious combination natural components and man-made products: bridges, ponds, lanterns wrapped in transparent paper, figurines and much more.
But, perhaps, Sakura is the most common element in a Japanese garden. This is not just a plant, it is a real symbol of all eras, dynasties and empires.
🈚By removing everything Fusuma or Shoji, the Japanese turns the house into a kind of “gazebo” in his own garden, thereby satisfying the innate need to think about the meaning of life. This partly explains the absence of windows and doors that are classical in our understanding.
🈯By the way, many European and American landscape specialists garden design They take the Japanese design style as the basis for their projects. local area
Device diagram
So, to summarize, the layout of a traditional Japanese home will consist of the following places:
- external fence;
- kindergarten;
- tea house (usually among the nobility);
- outbuildings(barn or storage place for tools and tools);
- veranda (engawa);
- main entrance (odo);
- hallway Genkan;
- kitchen;
- toilet;
- bathroom or Japanese bathhouse ofuro;
- rooms (washitsu).
🈯The central part of the house may consist of several washitsu. If a large gathering of guests is planned, then all partitions are removed, creating one large hall!
🈵Important! The Japanese often measure rooms not by square meters, but by the number of tatami mats. A standard mat is 90 cm wide and twice as long.
In general, tatami is important element Japanese culture. Their number and arrangement can determine the character of the washitsu. For example, this could be a bedroom. In this case, a Japanese Futon mattress is placed on the mats and the result is a standard sleeping place for a resident of the area where Sumo wrestling originated.
Tea house or Chashitsu
Important and wealthy families had a tea house on their property. The first such structures appeared in the 15th century AD. From the name it follows that these places were intended for the tea ceremony and, in general, had the main properties and signs of culture - minimalism, asceticism, space and illumination.
🈯A pond or lake around is a classic of the genre!
At the same time, a number of features are observed:
- A low entrance requiring the person to kneel. The main message of this idea is that, regardless of status, everyone must bend down to enter this “temple of tea drinking and spiritual pleasure.” The second point is that people with weapons were not allowed here; such a door prevented a samurai from entering Tyashitsa with weapons.
- Opposite the entrance there was a place where certain attributes were concentrated. These were either traditional calligraphic designs and texts, which were the subject of discussion, or relaxing objects such as ikebanas or lavish incense sticks and incense burners.
🈚Japanese tea houses promote meditation and tranquility, or vice versa – they encourage philosophical conversations.
Picture: Tea house in Japan
Ryokan Hotels
These hotels can also be classified as traditional Japanese houses. For tourists and travelers, this is a kind of temple of traditional Japanese culture. Everything in the rooms is furnished in a manner consistent with the Mink hut.
Here you can plunge headlong into Japanese identity. Sleep on mattresses laid on tatami. Spend time in o-furo. See the traditional kimono attire that the staff wears. Taste using Japanese hashi chopsticks national cuisine, rich in seafood and vegetables.
Modern Japanese style house
As mentioned at the beginning, modern Japanese housing has changed a lot, especially on the outside, but interior design The interior design of almost any person from the Land of the Rising Sun contains a touch of national traditions.
In the current realities, when the cost per square meter and interior elements is rising, the Japanese style with its minimalist approach to arrangement is becoming the most practical. And the free layout of their home provides people with the opportunity to realize their design fantasies and ideas.
Buildings in the city and rural areas should be considered separately.
City. The appearance of ancient and modern Japanese cities has changed dramatically. The wooden Matiyas were replaced by buildings erected using materials such as brick, concrete, iron, and bitumen.
In the central parts of the cities, business skyscrapers rise, where the foundation of a strong and stable economy is forged. World famous corporations are located here.
The majority of citizens live in apartments located in multi-storey buildings. As a rule, these are five to seven storey buildings. Prevail one-room apartments. The area of the rooms does not exceed 10 square meters.
The layout of such housing is simply surprising with its rationalism when using such a limited area. Upon entering you will see this view:
- Small narrow corridor.
- On one side of the corridor there is a combined bathroom.
- On the other side there is a built-in wardrobe and a kitchen.
- Further small room.
- Miniature balcony with drying stick.
Space saving is evident in everything. This includes a kitchen built into a closet, placing plants on the walls, and a miniature bathroom. Well, the tradition of sitting on the floor, and, consequently, the lack of chairs and armchairs.
Entrance to the apartment
Kitchen in the closet
But some Western influence can also be identified, for example, the presence of a European bed or console under the TV.
More affluent people buy so-called family apartments (60-90 m2) or private houses on the outskirts.
🈵It is practically not practiced in Japanese houses central heating, instead, gas, electric, infrared and even kerosene heaters are used.
Countryside. Houses outside the city are less susceptible modern trends. Although many of them today are built on the model of Western society using know-how materials, it is still possible to draw an analogy with the traditional Minko.
Everyone decides for themselves to what extent their housing should correspond to classical Japanese culture and style.
Let us highlight several of the most common common features that are inherent in houses in the outback today:
- Minimum amount of furniture. Ignoring chairs and armchairs.
- Elevation of the floor half a meter above the ground.
- Free layout provided by movable screens (Fusuma or Shoji).
- High roof.
🈯The more prosperous the peasant, the more he enjoys the achievements modern science. Poor people in the village still make a roof out of thatch, sleep on a futon, and warm themselves at a kotatsu.
Frame buildings
Whatever global trends in architecture occur, the Japanese build only frame houses. This technology is simply necessary for them to survive in an earthquake zone.
A frame house is incredibly resistant to earthquakes; it seems to absorb and dampen them. Known frame buildings, which have survived a large number of earthquakes over a thousand years and were practically undamaged.
This technology has some advantages! They are relatively easy to restore when destroyed. These structures are lightweight, and if they collapse, they are unlikely to cause severe fatal damage.
There are three types frame houses:
- Wooden. These are traditional Japanese Minka, tea houses, temples;
- Reinforced concrete. Modern skyscrapers.
- Unusual futuristic buildings. Frame technology allows you to build fancy buildings of unusual shapes and their combinations.
Unusual frame structure
Dome houses are the most modern Japanese technologies in the field of architecture and construction
They have unusual design in the shape of a hemisphere. It looks like alien earth settlements of the future.
The most unique thing is the material. Essentially, it's a home made of reinforced polystyrene foam! It endows these buildings with properties that are useful and necessary for the Japanese climate, such as strength and high thermal insulation. You can also avoid spending on the frame and foundation, which significantly reduces its cost.
In Europe, they are actively beginning to introduce this technology in the production of seasonal suburban housing.
At the end of the video on the topic:
Minka (literally "people's house(s)") is a traditional Japanese house.
In the context of the division of Japanese society into classes minka were the dwellings of Japanese peasants, artisans and traders, i.e. non-samurai part of the population. But since then, the class division of society has disappeared, so the word “minka” can be used to refer to anyone of the appropriate age.
Minka have a wide range of styles and sizes, which is largely due to geographical and climatic conditions, as well as the lifestyle of the inhabitants of the house. But in principle, mink can be divided into two types: village houses(noka; nōka) And town houses (machiya). In the case of village houses, one can also distinguish a subclass of fishermen's houses, which are called gyoka.
In general, surviving minkas are considered historical monuments, and many are protected by local municipalities or the national government. Of particular note are the so-called "gasshō-zukuri", which survive in two villages in central Japan - Shirakawa (Gifu Prefecture) and Gokayama (Toyama Prefecture). Collectively, these buildings were listed World Heritage UNESCO. The peculiarity of these houses is their roofs, which meet at an angle of 60 degrees, like hands folded in prayer. Actually, this is reflected in their name - “gassho-zukuri” can be translated as “folded hands”.
The central principle in the construction of the mink was the use of cheap and accessible building materials. The peasants could not afford to import something very expensive or use something that was difficult to find in their home village. So, almost all nokas are made exclusively from wood, bamboo, clay and various types of grass and straw.
The “skeleton” of the house, roofs, walls and supports are made of wood. Bamboo and clay were often used to make external walls, but internal walls were not built and instead sliding partitions or fusuma screens.
Grasses and straw were also used to make roofing, musiro mats and mats. Sometimes the roof, in addition to thatch, was covered with baked clay tiles. Stone was often used to create or strengthen the foundation of a house, but stone was never used in the construction of the house itself.
When you first see interior of a Japanese home, what is most striking is the complete absence of any furniture. You see only the bare wood of the supporting pillars and rafters, the ceiling made of planed boards, lattice frames shoji, whose rice paper softly diffuses the light coming from outside. They spring slightly under your bare feet tatami - hard, three fingers thick mats made of quilted straw mats. The floor, made up of these golden rectangles, is completely empty. The walls are also empty. There are no decorations anywhere, except for a niche where a scroll with a painting or a calligraphic poem hangs, and under it there is a vase of flowers: .
Just feeling it on my skin in a Japanese house, what its closeness to nature turns into on winter days, you truly understand the meaning: this is the main type of self-heating. In the daily life of every Japanese, regardless of his position and income, there is no greater joy than basking in a deep wooden vat filled with incredible amounts of water. hot water. In winter, this is the only opportunity to truly warm up. You need to get into the furo after first washing yourself out of the gang, like in a Russian bathhouse, and rinsing thoroughly. Only after this do the Japanese plunge up to their necks into hot water, pull their knees up to their chin and blissfully remain in this position for as long as possible, steaming their body until it turns crimson red.
In winter, after such a bath, you don’t feel a draft for the whole evening, from which even the picture on the wall sways. In summer it provides relief from the sweltering humid heat. The Japanese are accustomed to bask in furo, if not every day, then at least every other day. So much misfortune hot water per person would be an unaffordable luxury for most families. Hence the custom of washing from the gang so that the vat remains clean for the whole family. In villages, neighbors take turns heating furo to save on firewood and water. For the same reason, public baths are still widespread in cities. They traditionally serve as the main place of communication. After exchanging news and gaining some warmth, the neighbors disperse to their unheated homes.
IN summer time When it is very hot and humid in Japan, the walls move apart to allow the house to be ventilated. In winter, when it gets colder, the walls are moved to create small interior rooms that can be easily heated with braziers.
The floor of a traditional Japanese house is covered with tatami - square straw mats.. The area of one is about 1.5 square meters. m. The area of a room is measured by the number of tatami mats that fit in it. The tatami mats are cleaned and replaced periodically.
In order not to stain the floor, in traditional Japanese houses they do not wear shoes - only white tabi socks.. Shoes are left at the entrance to the house on a special step - genkan(it is done below floor level).
They sleep in traditional Japanese houses on mattresses - which are put away in the closet in the morning - osi-ire. The bedding set also includes a pillow (previously a small log was often used as such) and a blanket.
They eat in such houses, sitting on futons. Small table with food is placed in front of each of the eaters.
There must be an alcove in one of the rooms of the house -. This recess contains art objects that are in the house (graphics, calligraphy, ikebana), as well as cult accessories - statues of gods, photographs of deceased parents, and so on.
Style motivation
Why is the Japanese house a phenomenon? Because its very nature goes against our usual concept of home. Where, for example, does construction begin? an ordinary house? Of course, from the foundation, on which strong walls and a reliable roof are then erected. everything is done the other way around. Of course, it does not start from the roof, but it also does not have a foundation as such.
When building a traditional Japanese house factors of a possible earthquake, hot and extremely humid summer are taken into account. Therefore, it is basically a construction of wooden columns and roofs. The wide roof protects from the scorching sun, and the simplicity and lightness of the structure allows the damaged house to be quickly reassembled in case of destruction. Walls in a Japanese house- This is just filling the gaps between the columns. Usually only one of the four walls is permanent, the rest consist of movable panels various densities and textures that play the role of walls, doors and windows. Yes, In a classic Japanese house there are no windows that we are used to!
The external walls of the house are replaced - these are wooden or bamboo frames made of thin slats assembled like a lattice. The spaces between the slats used to be covered with thick paper (most often rice paper) and partially covered with wood. Over time, more technologically advanced materials and glass began to be used. Thin walls move on special hinges and can serve as doors and windows. During the hottest part of the day, the shoji can generally be removed, and the house will receive natural ventilation.
Interior walls of a Japanese house even more conventional. They are being replaced fusuma– light wooden frames, covered on both sides with thick paper. They divide their home into separate rooms, and if necessary they are moved apart or removed, forming a single large space. Besides, interior spaces separated by screens or curtains. Such “mobility” of a Japanese house gives its inhabitants unlimited possibilities in planning - according to needs and circumstances.
Floor in a Japanese house traditionally made of wood and raised at least 50 cm above the ground. This provides some ventilation from below. Wood heats up less in hot weather and cools down longer in winter; moreover, it is safer during an earthquake than, for example, masonry.
A European person entering a Japanese home has the feeling that this is just the scenery for a theatrical production. How can you live in a house that has practically paper walls? But what about “my home is my castle”? Which door should be bolted? Which windows should I hang curtains on? And which wall should you put the massive cabinet on?
In a Japanese house you will have to forget about stereotypes and try to think in other categories. For for the Japanese, what is important is not “stone” protection from the outside world, but the harmony of the inner.
Inner world
To some extent, the house in which we live reflects our character, vision of the world, and aspirations. The atmosphere inside the house for the Japanese is perhaps the most important thing. they prefer minimalism, which allows them not to overload the space and energy of the house. Everything is extremely functional, compact and light.
When entering the house, you must take off your shoes to your socks. In Japanese tradition, socks are white, because the house is always perfectly clean. However, maintaining it is not so difficult: the floor is lined tatami- dense mats made of rice straw, covered with igus grass - swamp reed.
There is practically no furniture in the house. The one that exists has been reduced in size to a minimum. Instead of bulky cabinets, there are built-in wardrobes with sliding doors that match the texture of the walls. Instead of chairs there are pillows. They usually eat at low portable tables. Instead of sofas and beds - futons (mattresses filled with compressed cotton). Immediately after waking up, they are put away in special niches in the walls or in built-in closets, freeing up space for living.
The Japanese are literally obsessed with cleanliness and hygiene. At the border of the sanitary zones of the house - the bathroom and toilet - special slippers are placed, which are worn only in these rooms. It is worth recognizing that in the absence excess furniture, unnecessary trinkets and non-functional items, dust and dirt simply have nowhere to accumulate, and house cleaning is kept to a minimum. In a classic Japanese house, everything is designed for a “seated person.” And sitting on the floor. In this you can see the desire to be closer to nature, to the earth, to the natural - without intermediaries.
Light is another Japanese cult. In a house where both external and internal walls are made of translucent materials, a lot of natural light penetrates, even if all shoji closed. Their lattice frames create a special light pattern. The main requirement for light in a Japanese home is that it be soft and dim. Traditional rice paper lampshades diffuse artificial light. It seems to permeate the air itself, without drawing attention to itself, without distracting.
Clean space and peace - this is what the inhabitant of a Japanese home should provide. If we can fill our rooms with flowers, vases, souvenirs and over time we even stop noticing these things, then the Japanese do interior decoration rooms there is only one accent (painting, ikebana, netsuke) that will please the eye and set the atmosphere. Therefore, in every house there is a wall niche - tokonama, where a neat Japanese will place the most beautiful or valuable thing he has.
Japanese style
Of course, time and technical progress changed their way of life and... Classic in the full sense of the word japanese houses now they remain only in rural areas. But every Japanese tries to preserve the spirit of national traditions in their home. Almost every Japanese apartment, even the most modern and “European” apartment building, has at least one room in a traditional style. And this is not a tribute to fashion, but something natural and logical, without which a Japanese cannot imagine his home.
The style of minimalism also prevails in Europeanized Japanese housing - it perfectly corresponds to the conditions of scarcity and high cost of square meters, overloaded with the stress of life in megacities. The attitude towards one’s space, towards residential territory in overpopulated Japan is reverent, because out of the seven thousand islands under the Japanese flag, only 25% of the land is suitable for living.
Modern housing in Japan
The average size of a house/apartment in Japan is 5 rooms. There are three bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen/dining room. The living area of such a house is about 90 square meters. m. For private houses, this is, respectively, 6 rooms and about 120 sq. m. m of living space. In Tokyo, where housing prices are significantly higher, apartments and houses are on average one room smaller.
The vast majority of Japanese children have their own room (for each child).
There is almost always at least one traditional style room. The rest of the rooms are usually done in European style, with wooden floors, carpets, beds, tables, chairs and so on.
In modern Japanese houses It's cold to walk in the tabi (the floor is not heated), so the Japanese wear slippers. There are special slippers for the toilet to avoid spreading dirt. In general, the Japanese are very scrupulous about personal and home hygiene.
Only in your own home can you feel relatively safe, take a break from the pressure of the outside world and be alone with your family. What is a traditional Japanese house like?
In traditional Japan, the architecture and style of a house depended on the position of its owner - wealthy samurai used the most best materials and attracted the most skilled carpenters to the work. The house of such a samurai was usually surrounded by a wall with a gate, the size and decoration of which corresponded to the position of the owner of the house in the samurai hierarchy. The house had a rectangle at its base and was one-story (now traditional houses after all, they are already making them two-story). The entire structure was raised on stilts (60-70 cm), which protected it from dampness and mold, as well as from small earthquake shocks. The main characters in the design are support pillars, which were dug into the ground or placed on stone “pillows”. The roof plays second fiddle in the construction of a Japanese house - it is much larger than the roofs built in the West, and is designed to protect the house from scorching heat. sun rays and heavy rain or snow.
Walls facing the street are fixed and motionless, while walls facing the street patio, were made sliding. External sliding walls – amado- were made from solid wooden plates and were removed for good during the warm season. There were (and still are) other partitions separating the living quarters from the veranda - shoji. Originally the veranda ( engawa) was done so that the guard (and subsequently all the residents of the house), when walking around the territory, would not disturb the peace of the house and would not damage the beauty of the garden, which is an integral part of the Japanese house. When the shoji and amado are removed or moved apart, the interior of the house forms a single whole with the surrounding nature. The frame and lattice are made of wood, and the upper part from the outside is covered with rice paper, which allows light to pass through. The division into rooms occurs using internal sliding walls - fusuma, whose upper part was covered on both sides with opaque rice paper, whose surface was often decorated with a drawing. For practical reasons, the paper is secured at the bottom of the frames with bamboo strips.
When entering a house, they must take off their shoes, which can be left on a special stone at the entrance. By wooden floor Verandas or rooms are now allowed to wear slippers, but when entering the area lined with tatami, you must also take off your slippers. Tatami are mats made of pressed rice straw, covered with grass mats and secured at the edges with a special dense fabric (usually black). Tatami is always made rectangular shape, which makes them a convenient unit for measuring the area of a room. The size of tatami varies in different areas of Japan, in particular, in Tokyo the standard tatami is 1.76 x 0.88 m.
In a traditional Japanese house, according to the principle, there is very little furniture, and it is important not to confuse the ascetic bushi house itself with a truly traditional Japanese house. IN best houses the living room had a built-in writing board, shelves for displaying books, and tokonoma(niche) - the aesthetic center of the entire house, where a scroll could hang ( Gakemono) with sayings or a drawing, stand a bouquet of flowers or a valuable piece of art. Scrolls can change depending on the time of year or at the request of the owners. During the holidays, appropriate attributes and decorations are placed in the tokonoma, however, recently, most often a TV is placed in a niche...
Let's start our tour of Japanese style from a traditional Japanese house. Many articles on the Japanese home mention Minka, which literally translates as the house of people.
Minka is the housing of peasants, artisans, merchants, but not samurai. Minka can be divided into two types: village houses (noka) and city houses (machiya). In turn, in village houses one can distinguish a separate type of traditional Japanese fishermen's houses called gyoka.
Minka were built from cheap and available materials. The frame of the house was made of wood, the outer walls were made of bamboo and clay, and interior walls there was no partition or fusuma screen instead. The roof of the house, mats and tatami mats were made from grass and straw. Rarely, the roof was covered with baked clay tiles; stone was used to strengthen the foundation of the house.
| Rice. 1. |
There were two sections inside the mink, the first section had an earthen floor (this part was called doma), the second rose 50 cm above the level of the house and was covered with tatami. Four rooms were allocated in the “white” part of the house. Two rooms are residential, including the one where the fireplace was located. The third room is a bedroom, the fourth is for guests. The toilet and bath were located outside the main part of the house.
The Doma section was used for cooking and contained a clay pot. kamado oven(Kamado), wooden washbasin, food barrels, water jugs. In principle, doma is the grandma of a Japanese-style kitchen; you are unlikely to want to replicate such a kitchen in your own home.
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| Rice. 2. Kamado stove in a Japanese house |
The entrance to the main building was closed by a large odo door; a built-in hotbed of irori(irori). The smoke from the hearth went up under the roof of the house, sometimes through a small vent, there was no chimney. The irori hearth was often the only way to illuminate the house in the dark.
Samurai House
Samurai House was surrounded by a wall with a gate; the larger it was and the better decorated, the higher the status of the samurai. The structure of the house is based on supporting pillars, the house is rectangular in plan, and it itself is raised on stilts 60-70 cm from the ground, which protected it from dampness and mold.
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| Rice. 4. Samurai residence |
The house visually resembles a panel house frame house, but only partially understandable depending on the season of the year. The outer walls, which face the street, are fixed and motionless, and the wall facing the courtyard was made sliding. This wall was called amado, it looks like a shield of tightly knit wide boards, installed in cold weather or the night before shoji.
Machiya - urban Japanese houses
Machiya These are traditional wooden town houses that, along with village houses (noka), represent Japanese folk architecture (minka).
Machiya in Kyoto for many centuries represented the standard that defined the form of Machiya throughout the country. That is, if you want to see the real ones matia, then go to Kyoto.
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| Rice. 8-9. Machiya in Kyoto |
A typical Machiya is a long wooden house with a front facing the street. The house itself can be one, one and a half, two or even three floors high.
At the front of the building there was often a store, which was closed from the outside with doors that rose or moved apart. This part of the house constituted the "shop space" of the house.
The rest of the house is the so-called “living space”, which consisted of rooms for various purposes, including storing goods, receiving clients and guests, cooking or relaxing.
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| Rice. 10. Machiya schematic illustration |
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Shoji and Amado
When closing, the amados were tightly adjacent to each other; the outermost amado was locked with a bolt lock. This wall reminds us of a clumsy big door compartment, which slides into an outer storage box made at the edge of the wall; the box itself can also be hinged. In a number of designs, the amado was removed completely, they were lifted up and hooked onto special hooks.
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| Rice. 14. Traditional Japanese minka house |
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| Rice. 18. Amados rise on hooks |
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| Rice. 21. Engawa - traditional Japanese house |
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| Rice. 22. Engawa in modern interpretation |
Shoji perform the function of both windows and doors and partitions. In English writing, shoji is written shoji.
In modern terms, shoji are traditional Japanese sliding doors. interior partitions, which operate on the principle of compartment doors. The frame and internal partitions of such a door are made of wooden blocks and bamboo.
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| Rice. 24. Shoji design |
The shoji design - upper and lower tracks are reminiscent of modern aluminum coupe door systems.
Inner space shoji, almost called it a compartment by analogy with our doors - the filling is covered with paper, which the Japanese themselves call washi - washi paper.
Washi paper is made from bark fibers. mulberry tree(kozo), Gampi bush (gampi), Mitsumata, as well as with the addition of bamboo fibers, wheat, and rice. Because of the latter component, the paper is mistakenly called rice paper.
Traditional technology The production of washi involves its natural whitening without chemicals, so the material is environmentally friendly. The paper turns out strong and elastic.
The division of the living space of a Japanese house into rooms was done using fusuma sliding partitions. There are no big differences between sliding doors and partitions. The main difference is in terms: if a doorway is closed, then it is a fusuma door, and these are always opaque partitions; if a whole room or a very large opening is partitioned, it is a shoji sliding partition.
Fusuma doors
Fusuma- This is a wooden frame covered with washi paper on both sides. Wealthier Japanese used silk to decorate their doors. Fusuma doors were opened similarly to shoji doors, that is, according to the principle of compartment doors. Fusuma doors had an integrated handle, the design of which was also given special attention.
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| Rice. 34. Interesting modern interpretation of Japanese partitions |
By the way, also interesting photo movable partitions from the museum house in Kamamura, Japan and a similar design already in a modern house.
The use of wooden lattice when creating the facade of furniture already indicates the Japanese style. The photo below is interesting design solution in this style when creating a cabinet for equipment.
Hallway or genkan in a Japanese house
In a Japanese house there is something like a hallway that is understandable to us. Noteworthy is the large difference in height between the entrance and the passage to the house. Such a difference has both special cultural significance and also serves as an “airlock” that separates inner part houses heated from a cold unheated entrance.
Almost every genkan There is a getabako shoe cabinet and a bench. In this nook, the Japanese leave their street shoes and put on slippers.
A few more photos of the genkan, but in a modern version. I’m adding a photo because the topic of minimalism in furniture is interesting to me. Light colors and a lot of wood reminiscent of Scandinavian style.
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Dojo
Dojo this is a place where a real Japanese person disciplines and improves himself to become a better person. Initially it was a place for meditation, later the term dojo began to be used to name the place where training and competitions in Japanese martial arts take place.
The photo below shows some examples of dojo. This is necessarily a large room, with tatami on the floor, sliding partitions shoji or fusuma.
Tatami in a Japanese house
The floor in a Japanese house is covered with tatami. Tatami these are mats made of pressed rice straw covered with mats, all of this is fastened at the edges with dense fabric, often black.
Tatami are made rectangular, their sizes vary different parts Japan, in Tokyo, size 1.76 m * 0.88 m. Poor townspeople and rural residents, unlike samurai, slept directly on the floor, laying down bags filled with rice straw.
Hibachi
An interesting part of the Japanese home is the portable fireplaces. hibachi, traditionally in the Japanese home they were used for heating.
Initially, hibachi were carved from wood and covered with clay, then from ceramics and metal. Again, wealthy Japanese craftsmen turned hibachi into an object of art based on the degree of finishing.
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| Rice. 54. Ceramic hibachi |
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| Rice. 55. Bronze hibachi |
Real hibachi were shaped like a pot, sometimes in the form of a wooden stand, with a container for coal in the center. Nowadays such pots are mostly used as decorative items for creating an interior in Japanese style.
Hibachi in the form of a cabinet resembles a modern stove, which was already used not only for heating, but also to boil a kettle.
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Irori and kotatsu
In addition to hibachi, there were more effective ways heating: irori And kotatsu. Irori is an open hearth, which was cut into the floor; people not only warmed themselves around it, but also boiled water.
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| Rice. 65-66. Kotatsu |
At all times there has been a fashion for houses built in unusual style. But Japanese houses are very different from imitations of Dutch, Italian or French architecture. Western projects are always aimed at embodying practicality and all modern amenities. Japanese houses are a calling card, a continuation of family traditions and worldviews of ancient culture.
Planning a project
Even a person far from Eastern culture, taking one look at a Japanese home, will confirm that it is very beautiful and unusual. Why not build yourself such a house? When planning, you just need to take into account a few nuances.
The building must have classic elements and features characteristic of Japanese architecture. The adjacent space must be designed in accordance with the requirements eastern tradition and style. The landscape and surrounding vegetation are like a continuation of the home.
Also, Japanese house designs require special walls, roofs and floors. Of course, it will be difficult to comply with all the architectural canons of the Land of the Rising Sun, especially if you are superficially familiar with its culture. Therefore, it may make sense to turn to specialists who will help develop the right project.
In fact, real Japanese houses are difficult to recreate due to the huge number of nuances and details. Therefore, when building a home, it is worth copying not the elements themselves, but the design style. And most likely, you will have to redo something in a Western way to suit your needs.
Layout features
Along the paths and at the entrance to the house you can plant ornamental trees, shrubs of unusual shape, Thunberg pine. The landscape will also be perfectly decorated with a quaint rock garden and a small pond with a waterfall.
A high fence with a gate is installed along the perimeter of the territory, which is most often made of thin steel tubes and tightly covered with bushes. Budget options for eastern houses are simply surrounded by a large stone wall.
The layout of a real Japanese house is an art that takes years to learn. And in some cases it only makes sense to copy individual elements eastern dwelling.
