Architecture

• During the prehistoric times, there were no extant architectural sites and styles. Architecture was even hardly mentioned even in the oldest Japanese texts.
• Houses had thatched roofs and dirt floors, but wooden floors were used in regions that had high temperatures and humidity.
• When communities grew, so were the residential houses especially of the local ruling family and even rice storage houses that were in Sannai-Maruyama in Aomori and the Yoshinogari in Saga.
• Tombs were constructed when a centralized administrative system was developed. The most remarkable was the Daisen-kofun which was the designated tomb of the Emperor Nintoku.
• Oldest surviving wooden buildings

  Found at Horyu temple in the Southwest of Nara during the Asuka period, constructed in the early 7th century, has 41 separate buildings
• In the 8th century, temple building was focused at Todaiji in Nara. Todaiji is said to be the most ambitious religious complex erected in the early centuries of Buddhism in Japan.
• During the Heian period, Japanese Buddhist architecture adopted the stupa in its Chinese form as a pagoda. Temples were erected in mountains.
• It was during this time that Japanese architects used indigenous elements of design: cypress-bark roofs replaced those of ceramic tiles, and wood planks were used instead of earthen floors.
• Shinden zukuri


  Palatial or aristocratic mansions which were built during the Heian period especially in the 10th century
• In the Fujiwara period, architectural sites were devoted to elegant aesthetic pursuits. An example of this is the Amida Hall and the Phoenix Hall called the Ho-o-do of the Byodoin which is the best example of Fujiwara Amida halls.
• After the Kamakura period, architectural styles were simple and sturdy; many of the samurai houses were a mixture of shinden-zukuri and turrets or trenches.
• Buke-zukuri


  House for a military family, similar to the shinden-zukuri but made simple and practical
• It was during the Kamakura period that the tea ceremony was developed and practiced. The tea house was, therefore, constructed following a rustic style cottage that emphasized natural materials such as bark-covered logs and woven straw.
• It was during the Azuchi-momoyama period that new forms of architectural styles were developed. The castle and the shoin were developed as responses to the militaristic climate of the times.
• Himeji Castle


  A defensive structure built to house a feudal lord and his soldiers specifically during the times of trouble
• Ohiroma of Nijo Castle

  A shoin, which serves as a reception hall and private study area designed to reflect the relationships of lord and vassal within a feudal society
• It was during the Edo period when architectural styles were simplified. Since the city of Edo was frequently destroyed by fire, a simplified architecture was necessary for easy reconstruction.
• It was then in the 19th century when Japan was exposed to Western culture that they were able to blend Japanese styles with European architectural styles.
• Giyofu architecture


  Also called as pseudo-Western-style architecture, resembled a western style but considered Japanese design techniques, common during the Meiji period but eventually disappeared when Western techniques became prevalent