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Instead, complex wood joints are structurally formed post and beams are held together by specialized joinery. Not only is it a functional and necessary means of building a Minka, but also acts as a sound design feature of the home. Because of this unique approach, there are several features exclusive to Japanese housing that you wouldn’t otherwise recognize in western architecture. With that said, Japanese design and architecture have become a popular trend in recent years in the western world, with more and more individuals emulating their homes after the Minka tradition. Tens of millions of people of all ages will find their houses, and housing stock in general, to be too big, too expensive and too hard to maintain.
Interior Elements of the Traditional Japanese House
It is said that Japanese houses are built to allow breezes to pass through and cool residents during the stifling heat of summer. Conversely, though, this makes winter a cold, uncomfortable time even when indoors. Filling a hot water yutanpo bottle is one way to stay warm at night, while heaters or kotatsu tables are necessary during the daytime. These thatched houses were ideally adapted to their environment and climatic conditions according to their region. Both beautiful and functional, they reflect the essence of Japanese architecture whose recognizable styles are held with pride by Japanese people. Built with local materials almost exclusively of plant origin, sometimes supplemented with clay, they were made without nails.
Traditional Japanese House Floor Plans (with Drawings)
Minka are houses lived in by ordinary people, but in architectural history or in ethnology, minka means noka or machiya that are built with traditional designs (old ones are also called kominka) in particular. In the way they were built minka reflected aspects of lifestyle, being closely linked to work (farming or commerce) and traditional events. Studying minka from the perspective of work and lifestyle, one is struck by what these reveal about the wisdom of ancient people.
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The chigaidana are a set of decorative staggered shelves placed in the recess next to the tokonoma alcove. Chigai-dana consist of two or three shelves placed adjacent to each other at different levels, partially supported by a slim post. Saobuchi are long, narrow battens that support the ceiling boards (tenjō ita). Saobuchi are usually aligned parallel to the side of the room where the tokonoma (decorative alcove) is, and are spaced at about 30 to 60 centimetre intervals. The en-bashira are the posts or pillars at the outer edge of the veranda that support the veranda eave purlin.
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Japanese paper (washi) is pasted to the lower portion of the walls to protect the guests’ kimonos from the mud plaster on the walls. The Takamatsu house was built in 1917 in the Sukiya style in Nagoya, and relocated to a scenic part of the Aichi Prefecture in the 80s to save it from destruction. In keeping with the true Sukiya aesthetics of understatement, this large house has an air of modest elegance rather than showy pride. Another common feature of traditional Japanese homes is Fusuma’s, another type of sliding wall. Instead of diffusing light, a Fusuma allows for a practical, functional, and totally customizable way to transform a space.
A Farmhouse in Japan - Minka: A Farmhouse in Japan - The New York Times
A Farmhouse in Japan - Minka: A Farmhouse in Japan.
Posted: Tue, 10 Mar 2015 07:00:00 GMT [source]
“The farmers found beauty in irregular materials, advantage in disadvantage,” said Shigeru Matsushita, museum interpreter at Nihon Minka-en, where folk houses from across Japan are preserved in an outdoor park. Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle Corp., built a Japanese-style estate in Silicon Valley, complete with a teahouse he imported from Japan. Stanley and his wife, Sayuri, have four kids under age 18 and an annual income that averages $65,000.
Japan's Traditional 'Minka' Homes Gain a New Following - The Wall Street Journal
Japan's Traditional 'Minka' Homes Gain a New Following.
Posted: Thu, 16 Feb 2017 08:00:00 GMT [source]
A Shoji is, at its most basic, a sliding wall of sorts, constructed with translucent paper instead of window glass. This not only provides homes with a customizable space but also a means of enjoying natural light without the excessive brightness one would experience through a typical glass window. By maximizing the space and constructing implements that act as dual-purpose furniture pieces, Minka’s are able to act not only as a comfortable living space but also as a functional and practical living space. One example of this would be utilizing large glass walls to allow for natural lighting instead of investing in many unnecessary light fixtures. This traditional style of Japanese housing, otherwise known as Minka, is a mastery of architecture. Blending modern trends with traditional nods to Japanese culture, the style of these Japanese houses is simply stunning.
The interior of a typical minka was generally composed of a large room (dôma) where crafts, farm work and food preparation occurred. It also had a raised living area with tatami, and for the most sophisticated, modular rooms where family activities took place. A minimalist residence in Beverly Hills has just hit the market and for a cool $12.9 million, it could very well be your new Zen-like sanctuary.
Tokobashira are ornamental posts at either side of the tokonoma alcove. Tokobashira are generally square, but visual interest can be added through the use of round posts, semi-squared posts with bark left on the corners, and posts with chamfered edges. The kokabe is a narrow horizontal section of wall that extends partway down from the ceiling and stops at about head-height. The section of partial wall that divides the tokonoma alcove from the rest of the room is a kokabe. The timber crosspiece at the base of the kokabe in front of the tokonoma is called an otoshigake. The short sections of wall between the lintels and the ceiling are also called kokabe.
A common characteristic of traditional Japanese houses, the engawa provides indoor-outdoor access to many of the rooms. Engawa without rain shutters or exterior panels to keep the rain out are called nure-en. One of them is shoji, which is a traditional sliding door with wooden frames and translucent papers that allows natural light into the room without blinding the occupants. Shoji also maximizes the function of space, because sliding doors don’t take up as much space as hinged doors.
Small changes in floor-level are common in traditional Japanese houses, and kamachi is the term for the timber boards used as facings to cover the ends of the floor structure timbers where these levels change. In a Japanese genkan (entrance hall), the piece of timber that covers the step up into the house is called the agari-kamachi (see ⑧ in the irori illustration below). Traditional Japanese architecture has evolved greatly since the earliest known remains of a settlement dating back to Japan’s Neolithic period, as seen in the Sannai-Maruyama site. The sukiya-zukuri and shoin-zukuri Japanese architectural styles show the unique heritage, customs, and way of life of the Japanese. Some very old minka had wooden columns roughly whittled with chona (a hooked wooden tool with a metal blade used to shape wood), and were not finished with a plane.
Children that grow up in these homes find these tucked-away spaces a delight for playing hide and seek. You may find a small, low table in the middle of the room where people tuck their legs under and enjoy a meal together. In these modern times, this feature is a rarity as western-style furniture replaces tradition with cushioned comfort. The tataki and the agarikamachi are technically the two entrances in a Japanese home. In olden times, the tataki floor consisted of pounded earth, but nowadays, it consists of smooth concrete. There are tiny homes that would be a claustrophobic’s nightmare and mansions that require an army of housekeepers for upkeep.
One of the many standout features here is the planted atrium outfitted with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, which you can enter via the library. Elsewhere on the main floor, the minka has six en suite bedrooms—all with access to the outdoors. In the primary bedroom, one is greeted by gilded, gold-foiled wallpaper, along with built-in bench seating.
Shōji are translucent sliding panels that cover door and window openings, offering privacy while allowing the light to pass through. They consist of a wooden lattice framework covered on one side with stretched shōji paper. Sliding panels with glass on the exterior and shōji panels that can be slid up from the bottom are called yukimi-shōji (snow-viewing shōji). The kamoi are the lintels above openings for sliding fusuma or shōji door panels. In sections of wall without any door openings, decorative horizontal timbers called tsuke-kamoi are added to continue the line of the kamoi beams right around the room. A ranma is a decorative open panel in an interior upper wall between the kamoi lintel and the ceiling, that allows light and ventilation.
In the times of traditional Japanese houses, there was no air conditioning or heaters, summers were hot and humid while the winter months were cold and dry. During the summertime, houses were susceptible to the build-up of toxic mold so raised floors and open spaces ensured proper ventilation. The walls of traditional houses were rather thin to withstand frequent earthquakes so it would get very cold in the winter, resulting in the need for 囲炉裏 Irori “Hearth”, 火鉢 Hibachi “Fire bowl”, and 炬燵 Kotatsu.
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