Script

Prehistoric Japan

inhabitants of Japan lived by fishing, hunting, and gathering

third century AD describes a queen named Himiko ruling over a country called
Yamatai
rice cultivation was introduced from the Korean Peninsula

Kofun Period

ancestors of the present imperial family established Japan's first unified state under
what is known as the Yamato court
manufactured articles, weapons, and agricultural tools were introduced from China
and Korea

Nara Period

A centralized government, with its capital in what is now the city of Nara
Chinese-style system of law codes introduced
Buddhism became the national religion, and Buddhist art and architecture flourished

Heian Period

capital moved to what is now Kyoto

certain noble families,especially the Fujiwara family, gained control of the
government, ruling on behalf of the emperor
palaces of the emperor and the residences of the noble families incorporated beautiful
gardens

Kamakura Period

The Taira family, a warrior family dominated the imperial court in the late Heian
period overthrown by the Minamoto family
Minamoto no Yoritomo was given the title of shogun
set up a military-style government at Kamakura - the Kamakura Shogunate

Muromachi Period

The beginning of this period was dominated by a political standoff between Emperor
Go-Daigo, and his former supporter Ashikaga Takauji.
Ashikaga Takauji had overthrown the Kamakura Shogunate but had then gone on to
establish the Muromachi Shogunate
the latter part of this period is referred to as the Sengoku period - a period of "warring
states
pursuits of tea ceremony and flower arrangement were born

Azuchi-Momoyama Period

The nation was reunified by Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi

increased contact with Europeans
lavishly ornate decorative style was developed at the hands of the warlords and the
emerging merchant classes
tea master Sen no Rikyu developed the tea ceremony into an esthetic discipline

Edo Period

Tokugawa Ieyasu, who defeated other vassals of the deceased Toyotomi Hideyoshi
gained control of Japan, established the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo (now Tokyo)
for some 200 of these years the country was virtually shut off from foreign contact by
the shogunate's policy of national seclusion
a colorful, down-to-earth new culture developed among the townsmen of the older
cities of Kyoto and Osaka
tragic puppet plays
comic haiku to literary art
art of the woodblock print (ukiyoe) was born

shoin-zukuri

nobles to the samurai (warrior class)

a new form of Buddhism made its way to Japan
samurai created their own style of house called shoin-zukuri

Materials

in Japan with its vast forests it was wood

The architecture of Japan is a response to its natural environment: its weather, its
geography and its harmony with all of those elements
It's the "man with nature, man vs. nature" philosophies which set the ground rules for
differences between Japan and western cultures in art, literature and also building
construction

Structure

The advantage of post and beam construction is that there are no bearing walls
The fact that the building's load is taken by the pillars frees the walls and interior
partitions to be not only light in weight but also mobile as well
The traditional house is really one large room that has numerous partitions
you can transform a sitting room into a banquet room just by taking down the shoji
and fusuma doors

Floors

the ruling classes always lived in structures elevated from the ground
The predominant flooring for the nobility was wooden planks

Tatami

A thick mat base of woven rice straw, toko, covered by woven rush, igusa
Tatami size is said to have been determined by the sleeping area of a person
the shoin-zukuri style expanded the use of tatami as the entire floor covering over the
wooden planks
Tatami became the unit of measure of room size
approximately six feet by three feet

Fusuma

opaque sliding doors seen in the interior of the house

Their origins come from the screens imported from China
They partition the interior rooms of the house and they provide artistic decoration

Shoji

the lattice frame sliding doors which are covered with translucent paper made from
mulberry bark
They usually partition the interior from the exterior
Shoji's translucence allows diffused light to filter into the house

Tokonoma

It was not until the shoin-zukuri that the tokonoma became the permanent formal area
of art display
several components of the tokonoma:
the tokobashira, the alcove pillar or post
Scrolls are placed in the center wall of the tokonoma
the other side of the tokonoma one might find a desk, tsukeshoin
staggered set of shelves, chigai-dana
Each tokonoma is unique to the space available for it