Japanese architecture
(500–1700)An architecture based exclusively on timber construction, strongly influenced by Chinese design. Simple pavilion structures consist of a wooden framework of uprights and tie beams supported by a wooden platform. Nonbearing walls are constructed of plaster and wood, and sliding partitions of light translucent screens divide interior spaces, with doors and windows of lightweight material. Tiled hipped roofs project wide overhangs with upturned eaves as the result of elaborate bracket systems. Stone is used only for bases, platforms, and fortification walls. Great emphasis is placed on the integration of buildings with their surroundings, with open verandas providing the transition. There is a strictly modular approach to the layout, based on the tatami mat, which governs the entire design of the house. Carpenters became skilled in designing individual types of wooden joints.
Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture Copyright © 2012, 2002, 1998 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Japanese architecture
Architecture of timber construction exclusively, from the 5th cent. A.D. under the strong influence of China. Simple pavilion-like structures consist of a wooden framework of uprights and tie beams supported by a platform, with nonbearing plaster or wood panel walls, sliding partitions, and doors and windows of lightweight material–often paper. The tiled, hipped roofs are widely projecting and upward-turning, on elaborate bracket systems. Stone is used only for pillar bases, platforms, and fortification walls. Great emphasis is put on the integration of buildings with their surroundings, with verandas providing the transition. Proportions of floor dimensions, height, and length of walls follow fixed standards. Modern Japanese architecture, though under strong Western influence, has developed a reinforced concrete style of its own, steeped in its tradition of timber construction.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.