The Zen Aesthetics of j.a.panese Architecture

_Architecturally [the Zen-inspired Silver Pavilion's] chief interest lies in the compromise which it exhibits between religious and domestic types, and a new style of living apartments (called _shoin_) which specialists regard as the true forerunner of the j.a.panese dwelling.

_George B. Sansom_, j.a.pan: A Short Cultural History

Traditional Zen-style house

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_Traditional interior w/ Zen art alcove

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ASK ANY j.a.pANESE why the traditional j.a.panese house is bitterly cold in winter and uncomfortably hot in summer, and he will unfailingly tell you that the design is historically adapted to the climate. Inquire about his purpose in rejecting furniture, thus to kneel daylong on a straw floor mat, and he will explain that the mat is more comfortable.

Question his preference for sleeping on a wadded cotton floor pallet instead of a conventional mattress and springs, and he will reply that the floor provides surer rest. What he will not say, since he a.s.sumes a Westerner cannot comprehend it, is that through these seeming physical privations he finds shelter for the inner man.

The exquisite traditional j.a.panese house has been compared to an outsized umbrella erected over the landscape, not dominating its surroundings but providing a shaded s.p.a.ce for living amid nature. The outside resembles a tropical hut, while the inside is an interworking of Mondrian geometries. Together they represent the culmination of a long tradition of defining and handling interior s.p.a.ce, using natural materials, and integrating architecture and setting. The j.a.panese house is one of those all too rare earthly creations that transcend the merely utilitarian, that attend as closely to man's interior needs as to his physical comfort.

The cla.s.sic house evolved over two millennia through the adaptation and blending of two dissimilar architectural traditions--the tropical nature shrine, which was part of the Shinto religion of the early immigrants to j.a.pan, and the Chinese model, beginning with the palace architecture of the T'ang dynasty and culminating in the designs used in the monasteries of Chinese Ch'an Buddhism. The early immigrants, the Yayoi, today are believed to have arrived from points somewhere to the South, bringing a theology that defied the earth, the sun, and all the processes of nature. Their shrines to these G.o.ds were like conventional Oceanic huts. Thanks to a peculiar quirk of Shinto, which dictates that certain of these wood-and-thatch shrines be dismantled and built anew every two decades, it is still possible to see these lovely structures essentially as they were two millennia ago. Spartan and elegant in their simplicity, they were lyrically described by the nineteenth- century Western j.a.panophile, Lafcadio Hearn:

_The typical shrine is a windowless oblong building of un-painted timber with a very steep overhanging roof; the front is a gable end; and the upper part of the perpetually closed doors is a wooden latticework--usually a grating of bars closely set and crossing each other at right angles. In most cases the structure is raised slightly above the ground on wooden pillars; and the queer peaked facade, with its visorlike apertures and the fantastic projections of beamwork above its gable-angle, might remind the European traveler of old gothic forms of dormer There is no artificial color. The plain wood soon turns, under the action of rain and sun, to a natural gray varying according to surface exposure from a silvery tone of birch bark to a somber gray of basalt.1

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_Although the early immigrants lived first in caves and later in roofed pits dug into the earth, by the beginning of the Christian Era the aristocracy was building elevated dwellings on posts, with roofs supported not by the walls but by a central horizontal ridge pole suspended between two large columns at either end of the structure.2

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It was, in fact, identical to the Shinto shrine design described by Hearn. As a home for the Shinto G.o.ds, this tropical design may well have been adequate, since nature spirits are presumably adapted to the rigors of a j.a.panese winter, but the Yayoi must have found that it enforced an unwelcome communion with the seasons. Even so, Hearn's description could be applied almost without alteration to the external qualities of the traditional dwelling as it finally evolved. One still finds the thatch roof, the use of pillars to suspend the floor above the ground, unfinished natural wood, and the virtual absence of nails.

During the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. the early j.a.panese became aware of the complex Chinese culture on the Asian mainland, and by the beginning of the eighth century they had forsworn the primitive tropical architecture of Shinto and begun to surround themselves with palaces and temples modeled on the Chinese. During the Heian era, a Chinese-inspired aristocrat dwelling developed which represented a compromise between j.a.panese requirements and Chinese models. Although influenced by T'ang Chinese palaces, it was the first indigenous j.a.panese architectural style and is known as _shinden_.

The _shinden _mansion was a sprawling complex dominated by a main building facing a pond, around which were flanked ancillary structures connected to it by open galleries protected only by a roof. These open galleries, being very much the fashion, were also built around the outside of all the larger rooms and served as pa.s.sageways. There were no solid walls inside the buildings; privacy was obtained by curtains and two-part horizontal doors hinged at the top and attached to the ceiling. Adopting Chinese construction methods, j.a.panese began roofing the buildings with dark clay tiles instead of native thatch, and walls were frequently surfaced with clay rather than wood planks or woven straw. Exterior woods were painted Chinese vermilion instead of being left to age naturally.

Furnishings were meager, and rooms were not identified according to usage; the building was one large area temporarily divided according to the needs of the moment. Instead of chairs there were movable floor mats of woven straw, while around the exterior of the rooms there were heavy shutters; these could be removed in summer or replaced by light bamboo blinds, which rolled down like window shades. Lighting was not a prominent feature of _shinden _mansions, and in winter the aristocracy huddled around a smoky fire in almost total darkness, the price of seeing being to open the blinds and freeze.

The _shinden_ style suppressed for a time the indigenous affection for simplicity and unadorned natural materials revealed in the earlier, pre-Heian dwellings. However, it was never really naturalized, and it was eventually to be remembered in j.a.pan's architectural history largely as an aberrant interlude, whose major legacy was the sense of openness or fluid s.p.a.ce in the cla.s.sic Zen house.

When the _samurai _warriors of the Kamakura era (1185-- 1333) a.s.sumed power, they did not immediately disown the architectural styles of the Heian n.o.bles, but merely added (or, in some cases, removed) features in response to their martial needs and their new Zen outlook. As the country was at war, there was no logic in detached rooms and open galleries, and the _samurai _immediately tightened up the design, putting the entire house under one roof. They eliminated the pond and added a surrounding board fence for protection, even as interior curtains and hinged doors were replaced by sliding doors of paper over a wooden frame. And as rooms became more clearly identified, they were defined in terms of function. The early influence of Zen was seen most noticeably in the gradual disappearance of the ornamental aspects of _shinden _design as the _samurai _came to prize austerity and frugality.

During the Ashikaga era (1333-1573) which followed, when Zen monks a.s.sumed the role of advisers and scribes for the illiterate military rulers, a special writing desk, called a _shoin_,

appeared in the houses of the more influential _samurai_. The _shoin _was a window alcove with a raised sill, which overlooked a private garden and was used by the monks for reading and writing. Next to this was a _chigai-dana_, a wall cabinet recessed in a niche and used for storing papers and writing, utensils. (These new domestic appointments had been lifted by the Zen monks directly from the chief abbot's study in Chinese Ch'an monasteries.) The _shoin _study room immediately became a focus of fashion among the _samurai_, even those who could neither read nor write, and before long it was the finest room in a house. Guests began to be received there and another feature from Zen monasteries was added: the art-display alcove, or tokonoma. (In Chinese Ch'an monasteries the _tokonoma _was a special shrine before which monks burned incense, drank ceremonial tea, and contemplated religious artwork. That such a shrine should appear in a reception room of a social-climbing _samurai_'s house is vivid testimony to the pervasive influence of the Zen monk advisers.) The _samurai_ also added an entry vestibule called a _genkan_, still another feature drawn from Zen temples. As a result of all these additions and modifications, _shinden_ architecture was completely transformed into a functional _samurai _house whose style became known as _shoin_. Forgotten were the Chinese tile roofs and vermilion paint; thatch and unfinished woods reappeared. Paradoxically, the supplanting of _shinden _design by _shoin _was in many ways merely the ousting of a T'ang Chinese style by a Sung Chinese style. However, the T'ang architecture had been that of the Chinese court, whereas the Sung was drawn from Ch'an monasteries and coincidentally contained many of the aesthetic ideals of the earlier native j.a.panese dwellings and shrines.

By the waning years of the Ashikaga era, the _shoin _design had influenced virtually every aspect of j.a.panese architecture, bringing into being almost all the qualities of what is now thought of as the traditional j.a.panese house. The movable floor mats were replaced by wall-to-wall _tatami_, woven straw mats bound with a dark fabric band at either end and standardized to a size of approximately three by six feet. Soon rooms were being defined in terms of the number of _tatami _required for the floor--and modular architecture had been invented.

Sliding, but removable paper part.i.tions called _fusuma_ became the standard room dividers, and the _tokonoma_ became less a religious shrine than a secular display case where vertical monochrome scrolls and flower arrangements were put on view. Oddly enough, one of the few Chinese innovations the j.a.panese persistently chose to ignore was the chair. As a result, a j.a.panese residence has always maintained an entry vestibule where footwear is removed, something unnecessary for the Chinese, who had no reason to consider the floor a couch and could keep their shoes on. One important side effect of this choice is that eye level in the j.a.panese room--that is, the level from which the room, its art, and its appointments are viewed--has remained significantly lower than in houses with furniture, a characteristic that influences the placement of art as well as the layout of the accompanying garden.

The culminating style of j.a.panese architecture was the sukiya house, essentially a free-hand rendering of the formal _samurai shoin_. The _sukiya_ style reflected a number of aesthetic and architectural ideas embodied in the Zen-inspired j.a.panese teahouse, and it allowed for considerable experimentation with materials and design. Less powerful and more delicate than the _shoin_, it was in many ways the ultimate extension of Zen austerity, even to the point where walls were often left unplastered. The _shoin_ had been the house of warriors; the _sukiya _was a style for the common man and as such has contributed significantly to the overall tradition of j.a.panese architecture.

_Shoin_ and _sukiya _houses, heirs to the legacy of Zen monks and later Zen aesthetes, are the reference point for what is now understood to be the traditional j.a.panese dwelling.

The deceptively fragile appearance of the house makes it appear at first an impractical invention for a land faced with recurrent earthquakes. Yet its lightness and flexibility, like those of a judo expert, actually contribute to its safety. Part of the reason is its foundation, which "floats" with the earth rather than being anch.o.r.ed rigidly. The traditional house is not held up by walls but by stout columns, almost a half-foot in diameter, embedded at their base in niches sunk into large, individually placed stones which are only partially buried. These columns reach through the house to the ceiling, whose weight secures them in their precarious foundation. In ordinary houses, the roof is a steeply sloping, four-sided pyramid whose light underframe is covered with multiple layers of shingles made from the tough bark of the _hinoki_ tree.

A second set of shorter posts, similarly supported bv partially buried stones, holds up the platform that is the floor, a wooden deck of closely fitted planks set about two feet above the earth. The outer perimeter of the flooring becomes a veranda or walkway, called the _engawa_, and the inner s.p.a.ce is part.i.tioned into rooms by light walls of paper, plaster, and wooden grillwork. The outer walls of the house, which serve no structural purpose, are sliding latticework panels called _shoji_, which are covered with translucent white rice paper, bathing the exterior rooms in a soft daytime light. The _shoji_, ordinarily installed in pairs approximately six feet high and three feet wide, unite rather than divide the interior and exterior; during the summer they slide open to provide fresh air and direct communication with the outdoors. If greater insulation or safety is required, a second set of sliding panels, or _amado_, similar in appearance to Western doors, may be installed outside the _shoji_.

Between columns too narrow to accommodate a pair of _shoji_ there may be a solid wall consisting of a two-inch-thick layer of clay pressed into a bamboo and rice-straw framework and finished inside and out with a thin veneer of smooth white plaster. Similar walls may be built inside the house where appropriate, and they and the columns are the house's only solid surfaces. The dull white color and silken texture of the plaster walls contrast pleasantly with the exposed natural grain of the supporting columns.

Interior rooms are separated by part.i.tions consisting of light wooden frames covered in heavy opaque paper, often decorated with un.o.btrusive designs. These paper walls, called _fusuma_, are suspended from tracks attached to overhead crossbeams. They slide to form instant doorways, or when removed entirely, convert two smaller rooms into one large apartment. _Fusuma_ provide little privacy between rooms except a visual screen, and it is rumored that this undesired communication increasingly inhibits lovemaking by modern parents.

The overhead crossbeams, installed between the columns at a height of slightly over six feet, are similar to the columns in diameter and appearance. The ceiling of the rooms is roughly two feet above the crossbeams, or _kamoi_, with the intervening s.p.a.ce usually filled either by a vertical open wooden latticework, the _ramma_, or a plaster-and-board combination, the _nageshi_. On exterior walls of the _ramma_ is ordinarily a solid extension of the _shoji_ which inhibits air flow from the outside. The _kamoi_, _nageshi_, and _ramma _have a structural as well as aesthetic obligation; they are the only solid lateral supports between the upright columns. The ceiling itself is a light wood latticework over which has been laid a platform of thin boards still in their natural state, as is all the woodwork.

Visitors enter through the _genkan _portico, where street shoes are replaced by soft-soled slippers, to prevent scratches on the exposed wooden veranda and hallways. At the entrance to a _tatami_-carpeted room, the slippers too are relinquished, and host and guests are both in stocking feet, a state that encourages familiarity. The reception room is empty as a cell, and as it basks in the diffuse light of the _shoji_, it seems suspended in time--heedless of the season. The only furniture may be a small central table around which guests and host seat themselves on square cushions. Or perhaps there are lamps with rice-paper shades, one or two knee-high chests of drawers, and if the weather requires it, one or more charcoal braziers, either a small moveable hibachi for hand warming or a larger heater sunk into a center recess in the flooring, often beneath the table, or both. The purpose of these is apparently more symbolic than functional, for they do little to influence the temperature in the paper-walled rooms.

Arrangements for summer cooling are equally metaphysical; the _shoji _are simply thrown open in hopes of snaring wayward breezes, whose meager cooling is enhanced psychologically by the tinkle of wind bells hung in the verandas.

The aesthetic focus of the room is the _tokonoma_, or picture recess, set into one of the plaster walls, with a raised dais for its floor and an artificial, lowered ceiling. The _tokonoma _has a small _shoji_- covered window at one side which illuminates a hanging scroll, and there is usually an incense burner (in recognition of its original monastic function) or a simple flower arrangement on its floor.

Adjacent to the _tokonoma_ is the _chigai-dana_, a shelved storage area hidden by sliding panels, which may be used to store _kimonos_ or bedding rather than the writing implements of Zen monks as in the past.

The _tokonoma _and _chigai-dana _are separated by a thin dividing wall whose outer edge is fronted by a single polished post, the _toko- bashira_, a natural tree trunk stripped of its bark to reveal its gnarled surface texture. The _toko-bashira _has the quality of polished driftwood, intended to bring a touch of raw nature to the otherwise austere and monastic ambience of the room.

As the guest kneels on the cushions and sips green tea, the host may slide aside a rear _shoji _to reveal the roofless garden of the inner courtyard, his private abstraction of the natural landscape. Flowers are purposely absent, but in their place may be tiny shaped pines, a pond, and receding, rocky pathways. The mossy stones glisten with dew (or with water from a recent dousing by the host in preparation for his guests), and the air is fresh with the scent of greenery. Only upon careful inspection does the deception evaporate and the garden reveal itself to be a tiny plot surrounded by a bamboo and plaster fence; the natural world has been extracted and encapsulated into a single view, at once as authentic as the forest and as artfully detailed as a Flemish miniature. This view--a heritage of Zen _shoin _design--is vital to the aesthetic magic of the house, for it brings the works of man and nature together in a way that blurs their distinction. Exterior s.p.a.ce is united with interior s.p.a.ce just as Zen philosophy identifies the external world as an extension of man's inner life.

Indeed, all the subjective aspects of the j.a.panese house are Zen- inspired. The most apparent design feature is the clean lines that mark the boundaries of s.p.a.ce, from the geometrical delineation of floor areas, brought out by the dark bindings of the tatami, to the exposed skeletal framework of columns and horizontal beams. By deliberately excluding curved lines (whose implied sensuality would be at odds with Zen ideals of austerity) in the part.i.tioning of s.p.a.ce, the house achieves a geometrical formality both elegant and pure. This sense of free s.p.a.ce is further realized by the rigorous exclusion of extraneous ornamentation (again a Zen aesthetic precept) and by placing all essential furnishings in the center of the room rather than around the sides, as in the West. Design aesthetics are also served by the emphasis on the natural texture of materials and the contrast realized when different materials (such as clay walls and exposed wood) are placed side by side. Finally, the indirect lighting provided by the _shoji _gives daytime rooms a subjective sense of perpetual afternoon, mellowing the visual properties of the materials, softening harsh colors to pastels, and enhancing the overall feeling of naturalness in the exposed woods.

The removable part.i.tions, both internal and external, create a sense of interdependent yet fluid s.p.a.ce so startling to Westerners that it is often the first thing they notice in a j.a.panese house. The concept is, of course, derived from a basic philosophical presumption inherent in all Zen art, from ink paintings to ceramics, that freedom is most keenly perceived when it is exercised within a rigorous framework of constraints and discipline. More important, and more difficult to define, is the Zen concept of _shibui_, the studied restraint that might be described as knowing when to stop. _Shibui_, perhaps more than any other aesthetic principle, typifies the influence of Zen on j.a.panese ideals. It means many things, including the absence of all that is not essential; a sense of disciplined strength deliberately held in check to make what is done seem effortless; the absence of the ornate and the explicit in favor of the sober and the suggestive; and the elegance that can be realized when the purest of natural materials are integrated in a formal, balanced orchestration.3

In addition to the aesthetic aspects, there is also a quality of psychological suggestion stemming from Zen in the j.a.panese house. Zen monks early realized that the cell-like austerity of a room could be used to manipulate the consciousness of those caught in its precincts.

The impact of this was well described by the early-twentieth-century traveler Ralph Adams Cram:

_There is something about the great s.p.a.cious apartments, airy and full of mellow light, that is curiously satisfying, and one feels the absence of furniture only with a sense of relief. Free from the rivalry of crowded furnishings, men and women take on a quite singular quality of dignity and importance.4

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'The "singular quality of dignity and importance" is one of the most fundamental discoveries of Zen interior designers. In the absence of decorative distractions, one must concentrate on his own mind and on the minds of others present. Host and guest find their focus on one another has been deliberately enhanced, breaking down the barriers of separateness and individual ident.i.ty. Each word, each gesture is rendered richer, more significant. Heinrich Engel, who understood the source of the mysterious effects which Ralph Adams Cram could only describe in bewilderment, has explained this phenomenon:

_[The individual interior room] provides an environment that requires man's presence and partic.i.p.ation to fill the void. Room in the Western residence is human without man's presence, for man's memory lingers in the multiple devices of decoration, furniture, and utility. Room in the j.a.panese residence becomes human only through man's presence. Without him, there is no human trace. Thus, the empty room provides the very s.p.a.ce where man's spirit can move freely and where his thoughts can reach the very limits of their potential.5

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Stated differently, the j.a.panese room forces introspection on those who enter it alone--a function completely in keeping with the interests of Zen. Souls who have felt the weight of too much liberty (and undeserved decorator's license) will find here a solemn retreat and a heightened sense of internal awareness. Here as never before one's mind is one's own, undistracted by the prosaic implements of living with which Westerners ordinarily engulf themselves. One should be warned, however, that this liberation of the consciousness is powerful stuff. The j.a.panese Zen room is a concentration cell which, although it can unite the minds of those who share it, can often tell those who enter it alone more than they want to know about their own interior lives.