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GEOLOGICAL INFLUENCES

• Prevalence on
earthquakes

History of Architecture - I • Volcanic Origin

Lecture : Japanese Architecture • Shortage in Lime and

Sandstones

Ar. Manavvi
Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture and Planning
manavvi.suneja@ar.iitr.ac.in

Feudalism (13th c.)

GEOGRAPHICAL INFLUENCES The Emperor
 The Emperor is called theTennō (
• Composed of chain of islands 天皇) in Japanese, literally
meaning "heavenly sovereign".
• Climatic conditions vary  The Emperor is the head of the
Japanese Imperial Family. He is
widely from the subarctic
also the highest authority of the
north to the subtropical Shinto religion.
south . The Nobles
 Social class which possesses
• Largest area of the more acknowledged privileges or
country is in the eminence than members of most
temperate zone. other classes in a society
The Shoguns
 “A commander of a force" one of
• Eastern shores of Japan the hereditary military dictators of
bounded Japan from 1192 to 1867.
by the Pacific Ocean.

•The context of the longitudinal alignment of the island nation of Japan provided for varying
weather conditions from subtropical in the southern regions to areas that receive substantial
amounts of snow fall to the north.
•This has caused a clustering in the center
•island which happens to be the largest but is also characterized by volcanic mountainous
terrain.
•The steep mountainous terrain with seventy-five percent of Japans land over fifteen percent
slope has limited the amount of developable land.
•This along with religious beliefs has made the land a valuable and precious
•commodity.

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JAPANESE BUDDHIST
TEMPLE
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISITICS
-There are 70,000 Buddhist
• Architectural character largely derived from china. temples in Japan.
• Carvings and decorations on timber construction. -Shrines are usually
• Dominant roof form associated with Shintoism.
• Exquisite curvatures supported upon a simple or compound brackets. -A temple generally
• Upper part of the roof is terminated by a gable placed vertically above the contains an image of
end walls (Irimoya gables). Buddha and has a place
• Japanese Columns followed the Chinese forms. where Buddhists
• Light is introduced principally through doorways . practice devotional activities.
• Windows openings are filled with timber trellis provided with wooden shutters -The architecture of
externally and paper usually rice paper-in light sashes. Buddhist temples is
• Exterior walling is extremely thin. influenced by the
• Columns receive the main load from the roof and wall panels are entirely architecture of Korea and
non- structural. China, the two countries
that introduced Buddhism
to Japan.

https://youtu.be/O-u4T13guko

Types of Buddhist Temples and Buildings in Japan

There are three main types of Buddhist Temples:

 1) Japanese style (wayo),

 2) Great Buddha style (daibutsuyo), and

 3) Chinese style (karayo). These in turn vary according to the Buddhist school
and the historical period in which they built.

 The main hall (kondo or hondo) is usually found at the center of the temple
grounds. Inside are images of the Buddha, other Buddhist images, an altar or
altars with various objects and space for monks and worshipers. The main hall is
sometimes connected to a lecture hall.

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Asuka Period

“ASUKA P ERI OD”

• t he t e rm was f i rst use d t o d e sc r i b e a
pe r i o d in the h i sto r y of Japa n ese f ine - ar t s
and a r c h i t ec t u r e

• was i n f l u e n c ed b y t he i n t ro d u c t i on o f
Bu d d hi sm f rom Chi n a v i a K or e an P e n i n su l a

The Main Worship Hall

- Inside are images of the

Buddha, other Buddhist

images, an altar or altars
with various objects and
space for monks and
worshipers.
-usually found at the
center of the temple
grounds Main Worship Hall(Kondo)

Asuka Period

Five Story Pagoda

Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Sky

The Five Story Pagoda

Asuka Period
https://youtu.be/uG37gQSvrf4

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Shinto Shrines

-places of worship and the

dwellings of the kami, the
Shinto "gods“

Main Features:
• Komainu

• Torii

• Chozuya

• Main sanctuary

Shinto Shrine

Asuka Period

• “In the Nara period (710–794), a capital city called Heijokyo was laid out in Nara in a
manner similar to the Chinese capital, whereby streets were arranged in a checkerboard
pattern.
• Many temples and palace buildings of this period were built in the Tang style of China. In
the Heian period (794–1185), Chinese elements were fully assimilated and a truly
national style developed.
• The homes of the nobility in Kyoto, were built in the shinden-zukuri style, in which the
main buildings and sleeping quarters stood in the center and were connected to other
surrounding apartments by corridors.
• Many castles were built in the sixteenth century, when feudal lords dominated Japanese
society.

shinden-zukuri
- the style was characterised by
symmetrical buildings placed as arms
that defined an inner garden

The Phoenix Hall

Heian Period

Shinden-Zukuri

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Kamakura Period Azuchi-Momoyama Period

• The Japan e se P o l i t i c a l po we r was ru n b y

In response to a mi l i t ari s t i c t i me, t he c ast l e , a defensive
S amurai . s t ru ct ure , was b ui l t to ke e p out i n t ru d e rs or a t t a c ke rs .

• Ho u se s we re j u s t pl a i n , symme t r i c a l , an d c o
n t a i n e d t re n c he s

Sanju-Sangen-Do

- contains 1,000 life- size

Defense features:
statues of the Thousand
Armed Kannon •elaborate mazes of halls,
corridors and tunnels

•Defensive walls with triangular

and circular holes for firing arrows
-Hall with thirty three spaces
and guns, for pouring boiling oil
between columns
and rocks

Kamakura Period

Tea House Himeji Castle

•For tea cermonies • the best of Japan's

castles
• Must have an
• one of the few with
atmosphere of calm some its original
and meditation interior and exterior
intact.
•Theonly adornment
was a hanging scroll • was built by Ikeda
with calligraphy or a Terumasa.
flower arrangement • It has managed to avoid
Tea House being destroyed
by a fire or natural
disaster and was Himeji Castle aka White Heron Castle
never attacked.
Kamakura Period Azuchi-Momoyama Period
https://youtu.be/fYbLyOrl8gs

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It has been divided into two symmetrical towns (wards) “Sakyo” and “Ukyo” by centered main
road “Suzaku Boulevard”. Heian-Kyo covered an area of 4.5km from east to west and 5.2km
from South to North.

Japan’s ancient capitals were planned and built based on the framework of a grid pattern The size of a square block unit called “Cho” was about 120m on each side.
known as the Jō-Bō System borrowed from China.
The Henushi which was standard measure of housing land for a family was defined
Fujiwara-kyo (694-710), Nara (710-784), and Nagaoka-kyo (784-794) were built in this way.
by dividing “Cho” into 8 by length and 4 by width to 32 small blocks.
Heian-kyo (Kyoto) was also carefully planned and built on a grid pattern system.
Each “Cho” was surrounded by mud walls, wooden walls or fences.
The city planning system was not only pertinent to the physical layout but also to land
Jo-Bo was also surrounded by reinforced earthen wall and Bo-mon gate of Sakyo
management. Based on grid pattern city planning, land parcels were easily and clearly
and Ukyo area and it facing Suzaku Boulevard was guarded by soldiers.
specified numerically on documents.

People in ancient Japan had the

systematic idea of specifying land parcels
using numbers in multiple scales without
maps.
Although the land partitioning and
specification system described above in
the Heian Period is no longer in use,
people have designated locations within
Kyoto by combinations of north-south
streets and east-west streets crossing at
right angles until today.

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Shoinzukuri style was combined with features characteristic of sukiya, the

teahouse in which the tea ceremony is performed, to create the sukiya-zukuri style
of domestic architecture.

Characterized by a delicate sensibility, slender wooden elements, and

unornamented simplicity, this style’s finest extant example is the Katsura
Detached Palace (Kyoto), which is famous for its harmonious blending of buildings
with the landscape garden.

https://youtu.be/_E3HdMramfE

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Features of Traditional
Japanese Home

• has tatami mat floors

• sliding shoji doors

• coffered ceiling
• lath-and-plaster walls
• tokonoma (display
alcoves)
• Genkan(entrance)

https://youtu.be/O8mAzCmQrA0