GAHTC Grant Project

East Asian Architecture from A Global

Perspective: Cultural Transactions and the
Development of Traditions

Lecture 1
Context and Civilization

Prof. Shuishan Yu, Northeastern University, Boston, USA

Prof. Hyungmin Pai, University of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea
Prof. Sean McPherson, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, USA
 Geography: Centrality and Diversity

The Chinese Continent and East Asia

Natural Boundaries and Elements:
Tibetan Plateau; Gobi Desert; Huang He, Yangtze, Xi Jiang Rivers;
The Korean Peninsula; The Japanese Islands
• China as Idea:
• Large continent; Long history; Many different cultures and relations
Ma Yuan (1160–1225),
The Yellow River Breaches its Course
Song Dynasty
Chongqing
along the Yangtze River, 2012
Contemporary Seoul with the Han River and the outer mountains
Mythological Sites

Baekdu Mountain along the Yalu

River as the mythological
birthplace of the Korean Race

Hokusai (1760–1849), Great Wave off

Kanagawa from the 36 Views of Mt
Fuji.
Language, Writing, and the Arts

Classical Chinese Writing System

 Fan Kuan. Travelers Amid Ma Yuan. Landscape in Rain.
Mountains and Streams. Southern Song Dynasty (early Shen Zhou. Landscape in the
Style of Ni Zan. Ming Dynasty
Northern Song Dynasty (990- 13th c.). Hanging scroll. Ink on
(1484 CE). Hanging scroll. Ink
1030 CE). Hanging scroll. Ink silk. H: 43 in.
on silk. H: 81 in. on paper. H: 54 in.
Liang Kai. Hui-Neng, the Sixth Chan Patriach,
Chopping Bamboo at the Moment of
Enlightenment. Southern Song Dynasty (ca.
1246). Hanging scroll. Ink on paper. H: 29 ¼
in.
 Ryōnen Gensō (1646-1711). Calligraphy Poems Composed upon Burning Her Face.
Hanging Scroll, ink on paper. 34.9 x 49.8 cm. Private Collection.

Chinese quatrain (kanshi 漢

詩 “ Han poetry”) and
31-syllable Japanese
waka poem.

In this living world Formerly to amuse myself at court I

The body I give up and burn would burn orchid incense;
Would be wretched Now to enter the Zen life I burn my
If I thought of myself as own face.
Anything but firewood The four seasons pass by naturally
like this,
But I don’t know who this is amidst
the change.
Invention of hangeul, 14
 Japanese writing system: Chinese characters (kanji), imported to Japan with coming of
Buddhism from Paekche Kingdom in 6th century, and Japanese hiragana syllabary developed in
the Heian period (794-1185).

Detail of text from Heike Nōkyō (the Lotus Calligraphy in Japanese syllabary (hiragana),
Sutra Scrolls of the Taira Clan). Ink and colors from Tale of Genji Handscroll (Genji mono-
on paper, with gold-foil (kirigane) decoration. gatari emaki), 1st half of the 12th century, ink
and
Power of the Word
 Religions and Beliefs

Spread of Buddhism
Ruins of Bagan, Myanmar

Horyuji, Japan
• Formation of Confucianism and
Daoism as systematic thoughts
and religions
 Daoism

• Sage Mother of the West

• King Father of the East
• Mt. Kunlun
• Three Immortal Islands in East Sea
• Confucianism as
ethical, philosophical,
and political system
(cf. religious system)
Continuation of Confucian rites:
 Shintō ( 神道 The Way of the Gods)
Indigenous Japanese spiritual practices and beliefs, from before and after the introduction of
Buddhism to Japan. Animistic beliefs centered upon diverse conception of deities (kami).

Iwakura site demarcated by shimenawa (rice straw rope) adorned with Nachi waterfall
shide (twisted hemp paper streamers). Mie prefecture, Japan.
Ondol and Maru of Korean House
Traditional ondol flooring
(above) and illustration of
modern ondol
Installation (below)
Tatami

Interior of Dōjinsai (tearoom) of Tōgudō,

Jishōji (Ginkakuji), Kyoto, Japan. 1486.
Western Post-renaissance Perspectival and Mathematical Space vs.
East Asian Combinatorial and Experiential Space

Bookshelve, ca. 1800, Joseon Period

Pietro Perugino

Zhang Zeduan (early 12th century), Qingming Festival along the

River
 • Joshua Reynolds, Self-
Portrait, 1748.

• Kim Whanki, Painting

“Untitled” in New York,
1972 (photograph by Kim
Hyangan).
Western notion of human body as mechanical mass vs.
East Asian notion of human body as network
Poetry, Writing, Painting
& Music
Materials and Technology

• First Purlin

棟 Ceremony of Putting Up Dong

The Origin of Building Structure (Japanese Traditional Carpenter’s Drawing)

 Proportional system of
design (kiwari) in East
Asian, wood temple
architecture.

Bracket complexes ( 斗拱 Chinese dougong, Japanese tokyō)

“block and arm”) under assembly in the workshop.
Splice joint.

Splice joint at top of column

 Diagram showing connection of main
bearing block (masu) and top of column.
Typical beam-column connections.
Assembly of columns, base ties, waist ties, head ties.

Typical connections
between “waist tie”
and columns, base
tie and column, col-
umn and stone base.

Column bases.
Assembly of lateral through braces.

Assembly of bracket complexes, block-

bearing struts.
 Joinery

Corner bracket complex

Connection of side and center columns to

bracket complexes, beams.
Construction of lateral roof beams.
Roof construction, showing addition of hip rafters.
Timber-frame construction: Use of post-and-beam construction to carry all structural loads, with
intercolumnar walls as “curtain walls” with little structural support function.

Exterior view of cord, wood, and bamboo latticework for lath-and-plaster infill walls.
 Tools of the carpenter (daiku): Saw (nokogiri), plane (kanna), chisel (nomi)

19th century Hokusai print showing cooper at work.

Katana blade. Yosōzaemon no Jō Sukesada (fl. 16th c.); steel, blade length 64.3 cm (25.25 in.), Muromachi, 1534.

Early Modern Military Technology and the Revolution in Carpentry Tools

Advances in steel forging techniques for cutting edge of swords (katana) lead to
advances in effectiveness of chisels, planes and other cutting tools for carpentry.

Sword Mounting. Wood, rayskin, silver, iron, gilt metal; length 103.8 (40.9
in.), Kamakura, 13th century.
Ise Shrine (Ise Jingū), Mie Prefecture, Shintō shrine to Sun Goddess Amaterasu, mythical
progenitor of Japanese imperial family.

Plan of the Inner Shrine (Naiku) of Ise Honden (main hall) of Inner Shrine (Naiku) of Ise
Shrine, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Shrine. Cypress wood, bronze metalwork, cypress
bark shingles. Original ca. 2nd c. CE, rebuilt every
20 years (1973 rebuilding shown).
Torii gate at bridge over Isuzu river. Naiku of Ise
Shrine, Mie Prefecture.
Shinto shrine visitors performing ritual ablutions before approaching shrine.
Riverside site for ritual ablutions at Ise Naiku
Stairs to inner precint of Ise Naiku.
Shikinen sengū ( 式年遷宮 ), ritual reconstruction of buildings of naiku every twenty years.

Inner precincts of Ise Naiku, showing 1953 (above) and Inner precincts of Ise Naiku, plan
1973 (below) rebuildings. view showing east and (unbuilt)
west building sites.
View of inner precinct of Ise Naiku from northeast.
Honden (main hall) of Inner Shrine (Naiku) of Ise Shrine. Cypress wood, bronze metalwork, cy-
press bark shingles. Original ca. 2nd c. CE, rebuilt every 20 years (1973 rebuilding shown).

Shinmei style (shinmei-zukuri, 神明造 ) reserved for honden of Ise Jingū.

Also used since 1893 for honden of Atsuta Jingū, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
Bronze mirror with
design of four
buildings, from
Takarazuka tomb,
Nara prefecture.
Early Kofun period,
ca. 300-450 CE.
Bronze, diameter 9
in.
Yayoi-period raised storehouse Wood post-and-beam construction,
thatched roof.
Honden of Ise Naiku, view of veranda and enclosure around central “heart pillar.”
 Buddhist and Shintō Architecture

Kondō (Golden Hall), Hōryūji, Ikaruga,

Japan. Late 7th – early 8th century CE.

Ornamental metalwork, north-south orientation of naiku compound, and other features of Ise
Shrine suggest influence from Korean and Chinese Buddhist architecture.
Honden of Ise Naiku, exterior views.