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Only in your own home can you feel relatively safe, take a break from the pressure of the outside world and be alone with your family. What is a traditional Japanese house like? In traditional Japan, the architecture and style of a house depended on the position of its owner - wealthy samurai used the best materials to build their homes and hired the most skilled carpenters to work. The house of such a samurai was usually surrounded by a wall with a gate, the size and decoration of which corresponded to the position of the owner of the house in the samurai hierarchy. The house had a rectangle at its base and was one-story (now traditional houses after all, they are already making them two-story). The entire structure was raised on stilts (60-70 cm), which protected it from dampness and mold, as well as from small earthquake shocks. The main characters in the design are support pillars, which were dug into the ground or placed on stone “pillows”. Second fiddle in the building Japanese house the roof plays a role - it is much larger than the roofs built in the West, and is designed to protect the house from the scorching rays of the sun and heavy rains or snow. Walls facing the street are fixed and motionless, while walls facing the street patio, were made sliding. External sliding walls - amado- were made from solid wooden plates and were removed for good during the warm season. There were (and still are) other partitions separating the living quarters from the veranda - shoji. Originally the veranda ( engawa) was done so that the guard (and subsequently all the residents of the house), when walking around the territory, would not disturb the peace of the house and would not damage the beauty of the garden, which is an integral part of the Japanese house. When the shoji and amado are removed or moved apart, the interior of the house forms a single whole with the surrounding nature. The frame and grille here are made of wood, and top part The outside is covered with rice paper that allows light to pass through. The division into rooms occurs using internal sliding walls - fusuma, whose upper part was covered on both sides with opaque rice paper, whose surface was often decorated with a drawing. For practical reasons, the paper is secured at the bottom of the frames with bamboo strips. 
When entering a house, they must take off their shoes, which can be left on a special stone at the entrance. It is now allowed to walk on the wooden floor of the veranda or rooms in slippers, but when entering an area lined with tatami, you must also take off your slippers. Tatami are mats made of pressed rice straw, covered with grass mats and secured at the edges with a special thick fabric(most often black). Tatami mats are always made in a rectangular shape, which makes them a convenient unit for measuring the area of a room. The size of tatami varies in different areas of Japan, in particular, in Tokyo the standard tatami is 1.76 x 0.88 m. In a traditional Japanese house, according to the wabi principle, there is very little furniture, but it is important not to confuse the ascetic bushi house itself with a truly traditional Japanese house. IN best houses the living room had a built-in writing board, shelves for displaying books, and tokonoma(niche) - the aesthetic center of the entire house, where a scroll could hang ( Gakemono) with sayings or a drawing, stand a bouquet of flowers or a valuable piece of art. Scrolls can change depending on the time of year or at the request of the owners. During holidays, appropriate attributes and decorations are placed in the tokonoma, although Lately most often a TV is placed in a niche... |
Everyday items (including bedding) are put away in built-in closets, and the Japanese sit, rest and sleep on the floor. In the Edo era, chests on wheels became especially popular, where various valuables and other property were stored. The wheels served as a guarantee for the quick evacuation of everything necessary from a burning house, which, by the way, during its destruction could not cause particularly serious damage to anyone due to its relatively low weight. The same room could be used both as a bedroom and as a study - just lay out a futon or bring in a table for writing. In addition to these tables with drawers, where you could store everything you needed, the so-called serving tables, which were varnished. Moreover, all the furniture in traditional houses was extremely light, so as not to leave marks on the soft tatami. It is worth mentioning separately the materials used for the construction and decoration of such a house: 
This is how the houses of samurai of all levels were arranged, of course, adjusted for rank and position in society - as the income and prestige of the samurai decreased, the houses became smaller, and the decoration and decor became simpler. The houses of commoners were significantly different from those of warriors: merchants and artisans had a shop in the front of the house, behind which there were living quarters for the family and workers. Most of these houses were simple and unadorned buildings, the interior furnishings of which were extremely modest. At the end of the Meiji Restoration, most families sat and slept directly on wooden floors, using sacks filled with straw for cushioning. Later, townspeople began to imitate the rich samurai and use tatami for these purposes. Also, in many cities, multi-storey buildings were prohibited, but some nevertheless managed to circumvent this ban. In particular, in Kanazawa the authorities regulated the height of the facade roof of the houses of artisans and merchants; it should not exceed one and a half floors. Indeed, for many, the roof of the facade was at this height, but then gradually rose and formed a full-fledged second floor. |
Poor artisans and day laborers for the most part lived in Nagayah(“long houses”), which were designed for several families. The front door of each compartment opened onto a narrow kitchen with a dirt floor. It housed a clay oven, a place for firewood, and wooden pegs for pots and jugs were driven into the walls. Man or whole family lived and sometimes even worked in a single room measuring three by three meters.
Residents of such premises suffered from stuffiness in the summer, and froze in the winter, trying to warm themselves with the warmth of the hearth on which food was cooked. Naturally, in such dwellings there was no running water and all residents had to use a common well and a latrine located in the yard.
Peasants' dwellings varied significantly in size and design, but they also had common features In particular, living areas and work areas were separated. The workrooms with dirt floors were used by the family for agricultural work and for keeping pets.
There was also a clay oven and a drain for cleaning after cooking. In the poorest houses, there were earthen floors lined with sacks of straw in the living half, which was separated from working area low partitions. Wealthy peasants built additional rooms, the floors of which were wooden, and along the walls there were fireplaces for cooking and heating the premises. winter time. One can even assume that the houses of the village elite did not differ much in decoration and number of rooms from the houses of rich merchants and samurai.
In Japan, in principle, there was no stone architecture (only the walls and plinths of buildings were erected from stone) and the palace differed from the poor man’s hut “only” in the area and number of rooms, as well as the quality and richness of the decoration. And Japanese traditional house continues to live today - in rural areas, such developments significantly predominate, but in megacities such wastefulness is unacceptable and millions of Japanese are forced to huddle in houses that occupy such an area that a Russian person would allocate only for a garage.
Minka (literally "people's house(s)") is a traditional Japanese house.
In the context of the division of Japanese society into classes, minka were the dwellings of Japanese peasants, artisans and merchants, i.e. non-samurai part of the population. But since then, the class division of society has disappeared, so the word “minka” can be used to refer to any traditional Japanese houses of the appropriate age. 
Minks have a wide range of styles and sizes, which is largely due to geographical and climatic conditions, as well as the lifestyle of the inhabitants of the house. But in principle, mink can be divided into two types: village houses(noka; nōka, 農家) and town houses (machiya; machiya, 町屋). In the case of village houses, there is also a subclass of fishermen's houses called gyoka (漁家).
In general, surviving minkas are considered historical monuments, and many are protected by local municipalities or the national government. Of particular note are the so-called "gasshō-zukuri" (合掌造り), which survive in two villages in central Japan - Shirakawa (Gifu Prefecture) and Gokayama (Toyama Prefecture).
Collectively, these buildings have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The peculiarity of these houses is their roofs, which meet at an angle of 60 degrees, like hands folded in prayer. Actually, this is reflected in their name - “gassho-zukuri” can be translated as “folded hands”.
The central point in the construction of the mink was the use of cheap and accessible building materials. The peasants could not afford to import something very expensive or use something that was difficult to find in their home village. So, almost all nokas are made exclusively from wood, bamboo, clay and various types of grass and straw.
The “skeleton” of the house, roofs, walls and supports are made of wood. During production external walls Bamboo and clay were often used, and internal walls were not built and sliding partitions or fusuma screens were used instead.
Grass and straw were also used to make roofing, mushiro mats and tatami mats. Sometimes the roof, in addition to thatch, was covered with baked clay tiles. Stone was often used to create or strengthen the foundation of a house, but stone was never used in the construction of the house itself.
As with other forms of traditional Japanese architecture, wooden supports supported the main weight of the building, so “windows” could be made in any part of the house. The supports formed the "skeleton" of the house, connecting to the cross beams in an ingenious structure without the use of nails, and the "holes" in the walls of the house were made using shoji and heavier wooden doors. 
Gassho-zukuri are perhaps the most recognizable Japanese houses, and also the tallest - due to their outstanding roofs in every sense. High roofs made it possible to do without a chimney and arrange extensive storage areas, and also, first of all, to protect the house from moisture. Thanks to the design of the roof, snow or rain immediately rolled down without stopping, making the roof practically “waterproof”, and the straw covering it almost did not rot.
There are three main roof styles, which share a number of similarities with the roofs of other styles of Japanese architecture. Most machiya have gable, gabled "kirizuma" (切妻) roofs covered with roofing shingles or tiles. In contrast, most noka were either thatched (yosemune; 寄せ棟) and had roofs sloping on four sides, or their roofs were made with multiple gables and covered with shingles and thatch (irimoya; 入母屋).
Special caps were installed at the roof ridge and at the junctions of various sections. The tiles or shingles that covered the roofs often served as the only artistic decoration of the houses, plus the roof ridges were decorated with ornaments.
The interior decoration of a mink was usually divided into two sections. In the first of them, an earthen floor was left, this area was called “home” (doma, 土間), and in the second, the floor was raised 50 cm above the level of the house and covered with tatami or mushiro. The house was used for cooking and other agricultural needs. As a rule, it contained a clay kamado oven (kamado, 竈), a wooden washbasin, barrels for food and jugs for water.
Big wooden doorōdo served as the main entrance to the building. An irori (囲炉裏) fireplace was often built into the raised floor, but no chimney was built to connect the fireplace to the outside. Only sometimes a small ventilation window was made in the roof. The smoke went up, under the roof, so that the residents did not breathe it or soot, but nevertheless the smoke stained the straw, which had to be changed often.
Although there are many in various ways placement of rooms within the house, one of the most popular was the yomadori method (yomadori, 四間取り), according to which four rooms were allocated in the “white” house. They were separate from each other only in name, since residents had to pass through one room or another to get to another. Two of them were used for Everyday life family, including the room in which Irori was located. Sometimes a small oil lamp was used for lighting, but due to the cost of fuel, the hearth was most often the only way to illuminate the house at night.
During meals, the whole family gathered in a room with a fireplace, and each family member had his own place, corresponding to his social status within the family. On the side farthest from the house sat the head of the family. On the other side sat the hostess and all the women of the family, the third side was intended for male family members and guests, and the fourth was occupied by a pile of firewood.
Other rooms served as bedrooms and a guest room. In the room for receiving guests in the niche of the tokonoma, as a rule, a scroll with sayings or paintings was placed, or ikebana was placed. Such niches can still be found in modern Japanese houses, especially those that have rooms designed in the traditional Japanese style.
The toilet and bath were often built as separate structures from the rest of the house, or as part of the main structure of the house, but located under the eaves of the roof. 
Machiya were traditional town houses in Japan and typical of the historical capital of Kyoto. Machiya appeared in the Heian era and continued to develop until the Edo era and even the Meiji period.
The machiya were home to the city's merchants and craftsmen, who together formed a class called chōnin ("townspeople"). The word "matiya" can be written in two ways: 町家 or 町屋. Here, "machi" (町) means "city" and "ya" means "house" (家) or "shop" (屋). In any case, both spellings are correct.
The Matiyas were different from their rural counterparts. The main house (omoya, 母屋) was located in front of the storage areas (kura, 倉) or stood separately (zashiki, 座敷).
The house, as a rule, was elongated and ran from the front of the house to the warehouse located in the back, and had three or four rooms adjacent to it. The room closest to the street was used for business or as a store and was called mise (店). The middle room was used for entertaining guests, and in last room, which was closest to the garden in the courtyard and in which the tokonoma was located, the owners lived. Unlike nok, matiya often had a separate room where the family slept. The second floor of the house was used to store items that the family used more regularly than those stored in the back of the warehouse.
For a short exam on Japanese housework, you just need to answer simple questions correctly :)
Take the desired item and place it in the room!
In her magazine you can find a lot of interesting things about Japan, Japanese life and other travels.
Living in an old Japanese house is an unforgettable experience. Everything is according to traditions: genkan, washitsu, fusuma, shoji, tatami, zabuton, futon, oshiire. There is even a kamidana. With simenawa and side, as expected. I photographed everything, everything, and made a short video. I invite you on a tour.
Genkan - Japanese hallway. Shoes must be removed in this area. According to the rules, you should turn your shoes towards the door. You need to step on the hill barefoot.
Traditional men's footwear maybe this is an option geta
A room in a traditional Japanese style is called washitsu. The space is divided using internal sliding walls fusuma. Frames and gratings are made of wood, outer side covered with opaque rice paper. Partitions separating living quarters from the veranda are called shoji. They use rice paper that transmits light.
Kamidana is a niche for kami. A small Shinto shrine, like home altar in Russian huts. Shimenawa- literally “fencing rope”, denotes sacred space. The white zigzag stripes are called shide. Kami are Japanese deities and spirits.
There is no central heating. You can turn on the air conditioner, if there is one in the house, or the floor heater. Judging by the smell, the heater is gas catalytic, so it is better not to use it. Heating a house with air conditioning is expensive, so they solve the problem locally. Comes to understand the beauty of the Japanese bath ofuro. It’s small in area, you can’t stretch your legs, but the water doesn’t cool down for a long time, and it’s deep, with only your head outside. The owner carefully left the hot water bottles. Electric sheets are also widely used. There is also special devices - kotatsu, .
Futon - thick soft mattress, spread out at night for sleeping. In the morning he cleans the closet. The cabinet is called oshiire.
In the warm season, the corridor around the perimeter of the house is combined with the garden. The walls simply move, and at the same time it becomes cooler. In this case, traditional shoji replaced with modern glazing.
Doors are usually decorated with paintings. Please note that the image is shifted to the bottom because it is designed for a seated person. In a Japanese house it is generally not customary to stand upright, so he moved from place to place and sat down on his knees again. The pose is called seiza, literally “correct sitting.”
In the living room there is a European sofa and a Japanese table with low legs. A flat pillow is called zabuton. They are used for sitting on the floor or on chairs. Although Japanese chairs are actually a seat with a back.
The kitchen is located outside the house, it is more of a terrace. There is a rice cooker, a microwave, something like a grill, a stove and a refrigerator. A lot of dishes.
The washing machine is just huge
Since the main space of the house is located on a hill, you can arrange a storage room. Underground, like ours.
The window overlooks the garden
This is Voneten Guest House on the island of Izu-Oshima, located in the town of Habuminato, in general a village - https://naviaddress.com/81/700037. I booked the house on Booking. The owner is sociable and hospitable. I met him at the bus stop, took him to the supermarket, launched my drone, and shot a video as a souvenir. It was great. Port Habu is a quiet place, the best experience.
Japanese cat Anko. Well-mannered, she doesn’t go into the house. Even if the door is open, he sits outside.
At the end of the video, a tour of the house.
Japanese traditional house has unusual name. It sounds like a mink. Translated, this word means “house of people.” Today in the Land of the Rising Sun such a structure can only be found in rural areas.
Types of Japanese houses
In ancient times, the word “minka” was used to describe peasant dwellings in the Land of the Rising Sun. The same houses belonged to traders and artisans, that is, that part of the population that was not samurai. However, today there is no class division in society, and the word "minka" is applied to any traditional Japanese houses that are of appropriate age. Such dwellings, located in areas with different climatic and geographical conditions, have quite wide range sizes and styles.
But be that as it may, all minks are divided into two types. The first of them includes They are also called noka. The second type of minka is town houses (matiya). There is also a subclass of noka - a Japanese fisherman's house. What is the name of such a dwelling? These are Gyoka village houses.
Mink device
Traditional Japanese houses are very original structures. Basically they are a canopy that sits over an empty space. The roof of the mink rests on a frame made of rafters.
Japanese houses, as we understand them, have neither windows nor doors. Each room has three walls, which are light doors that can be removed from their grooves. They can always be moved or removed. These walls act as windows. The owners cover them with white, tissue-like rice paper and call them shoji.
A characteristic feature of Japanese houses is their roofs. They look like the hands of a praying person and converge at an angle of sixty degrees. The external association that mink roofs evoke is reflected in their name. It sounds like gassho-zukuri, which means folded hands.
Traditional Japanese houses that have survived to this day are historical monuments. Some of them are protected by the national government or local municipalities. Some of the buildings are included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Materials of main structures
The peasants could not afford to build expensive houses. They used the materials that were most accessible and cheap. Minka was built from bamboo and wood, clay and straw. Also used various types herbs
Wood was usually used to make the “skeleton” of the house and the roof. Bamboo and clay were used for the outer walls. The internal ones were replaced by sliding partitions or screens. Straw and grass were used to construct the roof. Sometimes on top of these natural materials they laid out tiles made from baked clay.
The stone served to strengthen or create a foundation. However, this material was not used in the construction of the house itself.
Minka is a Japanese house, the architecture of which is traditional for the Land of the Rising Sun. The supports in it form the “skeleton” of the structure and are cleverly connected to the transverse beams without the use of nails. The openings in the walls of the house are shoji, or heavy wooden doors.
Roof construction
Gassho-zukuri have the tallest and most recognizable Japanese houses. And their amazing roofs give them this feature. Their height allowed residents to do without a chimney. In addition, it involved the arrangement of extensive storage space in the attic.
The high roof of the Japanese house reliably protected the minka from precipitation. Rain and snow, without lying around, immediately rolled down. This design feature prevented moisture from entering the room and rotting the straw from which the roof was made.
Mink roofs are classified according to various types. In matiya, for example, they are usually gabled, gabled, covered with tiles or shingles. The roofs of most Nok village houses were different from them. They were usually covered with straw and sloped on four sides. On and also in those places where they joined various sections, special caps were installed.
Home interior decoration
Minka, as a rule, consisted of two sections. In one of them there was a This territory was called home. In the second section, the floor was raised above the level of the home by half a meter.
The first room was where food was prepared. Barrels for food, a wooden washbasin and jugs for water were placed here.
The room had a built-in fireplace with a raised floor. The smoke from the fire lit in it went under the roof and did not disturb the residents of the house at all.
What impression does a Japanese house make on European tourists? Reviews from those who first got inside the mink speak of the surprise that the complete lack of furniture caused them. Only the exposed wooden parts of the dwelling’s structure are revealed to visitors. There are support posts and rafters, planed ceiling boards and shoji latticework that softly diffuse sunlight through the completely empty floor covered with straw mats. There are no decorations on the walls either. The only exception is a niche in which there is a painting or a scroll with a poem, under which there is a vase with a bouquet of flowers.
To a European person who finds himself in a Japanese house, it seems that this is not a home, but just a backdrop for some kind of theatrical production. Here we have to forget about existing stereotypes and understand that home is not a fortress, but something that allows you to feel harmony with nature and your inner world.
Centuries-old tradition
For residents of the East, tea drinking plays an important role in social and spiritual life. In Japan, this tradition is a strictly scheduled ritual. It involves the person who brews and then pours the tea (the master), as well as guests who drink this amazing drink. This ritual originated in the Middle Ages. However, it is still part of Japanese culture today.
Tea house
The Japanese used separate structures to hold the tea ceremony. Guests of honor were received in the tea house. The main principles of this building were simplicity and naturalness. This made it possible to conduct a ceremony of drinking an aromatic drink, moving away from all earthly temptations.
Which design features have Japanese tea houses? They consist of one single room, accessible only through a low and narrow passage. To enter the house, visitors have to bow deeply. This has a certain meaning. After all, all people had to bow low before the ceremony, even those who had a high social position. In addition, the low entrance did not allow anyone to enter the tea house with weapons in former times. The samurai had to leave it in front of the door. It also forced the person to concentrate as much as possible on the ceremony.
The architecture of the tea house provided for the presence of a large number of windows (from six to eight), which had different shape and size. The high location of the openings indicated their main purpose - to let in sunlight. Guests could admire the surrounding nature only if the owners opened the frames. However, as a rule, the windows were closed during the tea drinking ritual.
Interior of a tea house
Venue for holding traditional ceremony there was nothing extra. Its walls were finished with gray clay, which, reflecting sunlight, created a feeling of being in the shade and tranquility. The floor was certainly covered with tatami. The most important part of the house was the niche (tokonoma) made in the wall. A censer with incense and flowers were placed in it. There was also a scroll with sayings that were selected by the master for each specific case. There were no other decorations in the tea house. In the very center of the room there was a bronze hearth, on which an aromatic drink was prepared.
For fans of tea ceremonies
If desired, on summer cottages Japanese houses can be built with your own hands. A gazebo made in the architectural style of the Land of the Rising Sun is also suitable for leisurely ceremonies. The main thing that must be taken into account is the impossibility of using some traditional oriental materials in our climate. This applies in particular to partitions. It will not be possible to use oiled paper for them.
It is advisable to make a Japanese-style house from wood, using natural stone, fiberglass and lattice for decoration. Bamboo blinds would be appropriate here. This material in Japanese culture symbolizes success, rapid growth, vitality and good luck.
When making a gazebo or house, you should not use a wide color scheme. The structure must be in harmony with nature and merge with it. It is advisable to plant a mountain pine tree not far from the entrance. The real decoration of the building will be the water surface, stone lantern, bamboo fence and rock garden. Without this landscape, it is difficult to imagine a Japanese-style tea ceremony. The simplicity and unpretentiousness of the environment will create true tranquility. It will allow you to forget about earthly temptations and give you the highest feeling of beauty. And this will help a person approach understanding reality from new, philosophical positions.
It should be understood that the Japanese house of today and yesterday are in many ways different things. In our world, old traditions, materials, and technologies are being replaced everywhere by new ones; the Homeland of the Samurai is no exception. Architecture keeps up with the times and changes; in megacities this is more noticeable, in rural areas it is not so obvious.
🈚In urban housing you can find much more similarities with traditional design in the internal arrangement, which cannot be said about appearance.
🈵Attention! Although Japanese style house building was formed largely under the influence of Chinese architecture, it has a number of important features - simplicity, good lighting and an asymmetrical circuit!
🈯Minimalism is the main component of Japanese life and interior.
How a traditional house works in Japan
The classic housing of Japanese commoners is called Minka. In such buildings lived artisans, fishermen, merchants, in other words, all those segments of the population that did not belong to the samurai and nobility.
Minka can be divided into several types:
- matiya: where the townspeople lived;
- noka: lived by peasants;
- gyoka: fishermen's buildings;
- gassho-zukuri: mink in remote mountainous areas with steep and massive thatched roofs, silkworm hut.
🈚Matiya roofing - tiles or tiles. The roof of Nok is straw or shingles.
🈯Although Minka, in the classical sense of the word, implies medieval buildings, these days this term is applied to any residential building Land of the Rising Sun.
Key Features
Element Minka | Material | Peculiarities |
| Basic materials | wood, bamboo, clay, grass, straw | Easily accessible and inexpensive materials. |
| Roof | straw, tiles | Based on wooden beams, can be straight, pointed at the corners or raised. |
| Walls | clay, wood | Internal walls Usually omitted, Fusuma or Shoji (movable screens) are used instead - Washi paper is attached to a wooden frame. For this reason, Minka can safely be called open-plan housing. |
| Foundation | stone | This is the only purpose. |
| Floor | earthen or wooden, raised on stilts (50-70 cm) | Covered with tatami or musiro mats. Tatami is a more durable and beautiful option, made from special igusa bamboo and rice straw. |
| Furniture | tree | There is little furniture. Built-in wardrobes. You can highlight Kotatsu. This is a kind of small Japanese table. Consists of three elements: a support, a tabletop and a spacer between them in the form of a heavy blanket or futon mattress. Often under this table in the floor there was a heat source in the form of a fireplace. The most important things are stored in special Japanese chests on Tansu wheels; in case of fire, they can be easily saved by rolling them outside. |
| Windows and doors | wood and washi paper | All windows and doors, with the exception of the main entrance, are not stationary; their role is played by Fusuma or Shoji. |
| Decor | calligraphy, paintings, ikebana | Everything is very meager compared to European houses. Basically, one decorative element stands out small niche(tokonama). |
🈯There are practically no chimneys. This is explained by the floor raised by stilts and the high roof.
Increasingly, traditional Japanese houses are built from several floors, although previously only one level was used.
In general, the history of architecture developed according to the characteristics of climate, relief and other features. Eg, heat and humidity influenced the fact that the Japanese home was made as open, ventilated and bright as possible.
And the danger of earthquakes and tsunamis prompted the use of piles in design. They softened the shocks. They also tried to lighten the roof as much as possible so that if the house was destroyed, it could not cause critical physical damage to the owners.
Japanese style presupposes a reverent attitude towards purity and harmony. After all, the room was originally a project for a person living on the floor. And for such a philosophy, the absence of dirt and chaos is extremely important. It is not for nothing that such things as special slippers in front of the restroom and bathroom or exclusively white socks have become customary.
🈚To be fair, we note that maintaining cleanliness in Japanese square meters is easier than in our apartments. This is due to the minimal presence of furniture - the main place where dust accumulates.
The Japanese garden deserves special mention
Picture: Garden
Harmony with the surrounding world and nature is deeply rooted in the philosophy of this eastern people. And this could not but affect their daily life, including the design of their hearth and home.
The Japanese surrounded their houses with wonderful and characteristic gardens. Travelers were amazed by the beautiful and harmonious combination natural components and man-made products: bridges, ponds, lanterns wrapped in transparent paper, figurines and much more.
But, perhaps, Sakura is the most common element in a Japanese garden. This is not just a plant, it is a real symbol of all eras, dynasties and empires.
🈚By removing everything Fusuma or Shoji, the Japanese turns the house into a kind of “gazebo” in his own garden, thereby satisfying the innate need to think about the meaning of life. This partly explains the absence of windows and doors that are classical in our understanding.
🈯By the way, many European and American landscape specialists garden design They take the Japanese design style as the basis for their projects. local area
Device diagram
So, to summarize, the layout of a traditional Japanese home will consist of the following places:
- external fence;
- kindergarten;
- tea house (usually among the nobility);
- outbuildings (barn or storage place for tools and tools);
- veranda (engawa);
- main entrance (odo);
- hallway Genkan;
- kitchen;
- toilet;
- bathroom or Japanese bath ofuro;
- rooms (washitsu).
🈯The central part of the house may consist of several washitsu. If a large gathering of guests is planned, then all partitions are removed, resulting in one Big hall!
🈵Important! The Japanese often measure rooms not by square meters, but by the number of tatami mats. A standard mat is 90 cm wide and twice as long.
In general, tatami is important element Japanese culture. Their number and arrangement can determine the character of the washitsu. For example, this could be a bedroom. In this case, a Japanese Futon mattress is placed on the mats and the result is a standard sleeping area resident of the area where Sumo wrestling originated.
Tea house or Chashitsu
Important and wealthy families had a tea house on their property. The first such structures appeared in the 15th century AD. From the name it follows that these places were intended for the tea ceremony and, in general, had the main properties and signs of culture - minimalism, asceticism, space and illumination.
🈯A pond or lake around is a classic of the genre!
At the same time, a number of features are observed:
- A low entrance requiring the person to kneel. The main message of this idea is that, regardless of status, everyone must bend down to enter this “temple of tea drinking and spiritual pleasure.” The second point is that people with weapons were not allowed here; such a door prevented a samurai from entering Tyashitsa with weapons.
- Opposite the entrance there was a place where certain attributes were concentrated. These were either traditional calligraphic designs and texts, which were the subject of discussion, or relaxing objects such as ikebanas or lavish incense sticks and incense burners.
🈚Japanese tea houses promote meditation and tranquility, or vice versa – they encourage philosophical conversations.
Picture: Tea house in Japan
Ryokan Hotels
These hotels can also be classified as traditional Japanese houses. For tourists and travelers, this is a kind of temple of traditional Japanese culture. Everything in the rooms is furnished in a manner consistent with the Mink hut.
Here you can plunge headlong into Japanese identity. Sleep on mattresses laid on tatami. Spend time in o-furo. See the traditional kimono attire that the staff wears. Taste using Japanese hashi chopsticks national cuisine, rich in seafood and vegetables.
Modern Japanese style house
As mentioned at the beginning, modern Japanese housing has changed greatly, especially on the outside, but the interior design of almost any person from the Land of the Rising Sun contains a touch of national traditions.
In the current realities, when the cost per square meter and interior elements is rising, the Japanese style with its minimalist approach to arrangement is becoming the most practical. And the free layout of their home provides people with the opportunity to realize their design fantasies and ideas.
Buildings in the city and rural areas should be considered separately.
City. The appearance of ancient and modern Japanese cities has changed dramatically. The wooden Matiyas were replaced by buildings erected using materials such as brick, concrete, iron, and bitumen.
IN central parts business skyscrapers rise in the city, where the foundation of a strong and stable economy is being forged. World famous corporations are located here.
The majority of citizens live in apartments located in multi-storey buildings. As a rule, these are five to seven storey buildings. Prevail one-room apartments. The area of the rooms does not exceed 10 square meters.
The layout of such housing is simply surprising with its rationalism when using such a limited area. Upon entering you will see this view:
- Small narrow corridor.
- On one side of the corridor there is a combined bathroom.
- On the other side there is a built-in wardrobe and a kitchen.
- Next is a small room.
- Miniature balcony with drying stick.
Space saving is evident in everything. This includes a kitchen built into a closet, placing plants on the walls, and a miniature bathroom. Well, the tradition of sitting on the floor, and, consequently, the lack of chairs and armchairs.
Entrance to the apartment
Kitchen in the closet
But some Western influence can also be identified, for example, the presence of a European bed or console under the TV.
More affluent people buy so-called family apartments (60-90 m2) or private houses on the outskirts.
🈵It is practically not practiced in Japanese houses central heating, instead, gas, electric, infrared and even kerosene heaters are used.
Countryside . Houses outside the city are less susceptible modern trends. Although many of them today are built on the model of Western society using know-how materials, it is still possible to draw an analogy with the traditional Minko.
Everyone decides for themselves to what extent their housing should correspond to classical Japanese culture and style.
Let us highlight several of the most common common features that are inherent in houses in the outback today:
- Minimum amount of furniture. Ignoring chairs and armchairs.
- Elevation of the floor half a meter above the ground.
- Free layout provided by movable screens (Fusuma or Shoji).
- High roof.
🈯The more prosperous the peasant, the more he enjoys the achievements modern science. Poor people in the village still make a roof out of thatch, sleep on a futon, and warm themselves at a kotatsu.
Frame buildings
Whatever global trends in architecture occur, the Japanese build only frame houses. This technology is simply necessary for them to survive in an earthquake zone.
Frame house incredibly resistant to tremors, it seems to absorb and dampen them. Known frame buildings, which have survived a large number of earthquakes over a thousand years and were practically undamaged.
This technology has some advantages! They are relatively easy to restore when destroyed. These structures are lightweight, and if they collapse, they are unlikely to cause severe fatal damage.
There are three types of frame houses:
- Wooden. These are traditional Japanese Minka, tea houses, temples;
- Reinforced concrete. Modern skyscrapers.
- Unusual futuristic buildings. Frame technology allows you to build fancy structures of unusual shapes and their combinations.
Unusual frame structure
Dome houses are the most modern Japanese technologies in the field of architecture and construction
They have unusual design in the shape of a hemisphere. It looks like alien earth settlements of the future.
The most unique thing is the material. Essentially, it's a home made of reinforced polystyrene foam! It endows these buildings with properties that are useful and necessary for the Japanese climate, such as strength and high thermal insulation. You can also avoid spending on the frame and foundation, which significantly reduces its cost.
In Europe, they are actively beginning to introduce this technology in the production of seasonal suburban housing.
At the end of the video on the topic:
Modern Japan is no longer the same as it was a century ago. The rapid development of industry significantly changed the entire way of life and way of life of Japanese society. Here is the minka already - traditional japanese house, has become a thing of the past, remaining only in the form of museums.
Japanese traditional village dwelling
Traditional in Japan minka- This home of peasants and artisans. That is, this is the home of the not very rich part of Japanese society. And when there is no money, then what to build your home from? It is clear that from scrap materials that could be obtained nearby.
The climate of Japan, located on the islands, is quite mild. The influence of the monsoons makes it warm and humid. The only exception is the island of Hokkaido, the northernmost of the four largest islands of the Japanese archipelago. Snow falls on it in winter and sometimes remains for quite a long time.
In central and southern Japan, temperatures even in winter rarely fall below zero. And even if snow falls, it melts immediately. In summer, the temperature reaches 28 - 30 degrees Celsius. Combined with high humidity it can get quite stuffy.
And another significant factor influenced the housing of the Japanese. The Japanese islands are located in a very active tectonic zone. The oceanic plate is creeping under the continental plate just in the area of the Japanese archipelago. Therefore, earthquakes and destruction are frequent here.
It was under such conditions that the mink appeared. He met all the listed requirements of the main resident of Japan - the peasant and artisan. It's not very cold in winter - you don't need much heating. It's stuffy in summer - you need to ventilate often.
The materials needed for construction are minimal and not very expensive, of local origin. If destroyed by an earthquake, the house can be easily rebuilt. In the end, the mink's house appeared. Like, it corresponded to the conditions of the surrounding nature.
How a Japanese home works - minka
The main material and frame of the house is made of wood. Japan is a mountainous country and the mountain slopes are often covered with forests. In fact, mountains occupy most of Japan's territory. People only had the coast and river valleys for housing.
The walls of Minka houses are essentially a light frame. Between vertically installed tree trunks or bars, the space is filled very conditionally. Blind walls occupy only a small surface area. They are often filled with woven branches, reeds, bamboo, grass and coated with clay.
Most of the walls are open space, which can be covered with sliding or removable panels. It turns out that in the summer the Japanese live in open nature. At the same time, we, residents of more severe climatic zones, it seems very strange to live with practically no walls.
The floor in the main part of the house was raised above the ground by about half a meter. This is necessary in order to ventilate it, saving it from rotting. Since the house is being built without a foundation, it can be flooded by melt or rainwater if it is too close to the ground.
Inside, the main part of a Japanese house is not divided into rooms at all. This is one large room. Which, however, can be divided into different zones by the same movable partitions or screens. There is almost no furniture in a Japanese house. Please tell me where to put it? To Wall? But there are no walls as such.
To dine, they sat in front of small tables directly on the floor, on which futons had previously been laid. A futon is a mattress. They slept on them at night. And for the day they moved behind the screens. Movable partitions and screens were covered with rice paper or silk.
But food was prepared in a separate part of the house. There was no floor here. Or rather, it was earthen or clay. A clay oven was built on it. They cooked food on it.
There might not have been any windows in the house at all. And the light penetrated through translucent screens or partitions. Or simply through the open part of the wall, if it was summer.
The roof was covered with grass, straw or reeds. And in order for water to drain from it faster and not lead to rotting, it was made very steep. The tilt angle reached 60 degrees.
Minka house and its significance in Japan
Living in a traditional Japanese minka house is a unique philosophy of unity with nature. In fact, the people who lived in such a dwelling lived in nature, only slightly fenced off from it.
