MODERN ARCHITECTURE IN JAPAN

In the fourteenth century, the Buddhist monk and essayist Yoshida Kenkô wrote this on the subject of domestic architecture in his classic Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness): “A house should be built with the summer in mind. In winter it is possible to live anywhere, but a badly made house is unbearable when it gets hot.”*

Traditional Japanese domestic architecture is, in fact, summer-oriented architecture. The post-and-lintel construction keeps fixed walls to a minimum. Instead, the boundaries between interior and exterior, as well as between various compartments of interior space, are largely defined by movable fusuma (sliding doors), shôji (sliding papered lattice doors), and amado (sliding storm doors), which can be not only opened but completely removed to let in plenty of fresh air as needed. Thus, the traditional Japanese house is very open to the outside, a characteristic that makes it well adapted to the long summers of hot and humid weather that prevail through much of the country.

Obviously, though, the traditional style of Japanese domestic architecture would not work equally well in every part of the world. In fact, one need only go as far as Hokkaidô, Japan’s northernmost island, to find a region where the statement “In winter it is possible to live anywhere” does not apply. In Hokkaidô the first priority is to guard against the cold of winter. In other words, every architectural tradition is intimately tied to the land and climate of the area in which it developed.

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There is no question that outstanding architecture should be considered part of the world’s precious cultural heritage. The difficulty lies in deciding what qualifies as outstanding. Architecture must simultaneously meet a variety of conditions, some of which are in mutual conflict. Not even the most visually imposing and splendid edifice can be called an outstanding example of architecture if it is structurally weak or extremely awkward to use.

The Roman architectural theorist Vitruvius (fl. first century bc) proposed the following three criteria for good architecture: firmitas, or structural strength; utilitas, or functionality; and venustas, or beauty. But what one needs to bear in mind is that to one degree or another, judgments concerning each of these criteria depend on the historical, climatic, and geographical conditions of the locale in which a building was constructed. Yoshida Kenkô’s admonition to build a house “with the summer in mind” relates to the functional side of architecture, and as we have already seen, the functionality of this kind of construction is directly related to Japan’s particular climatic conditions. Structural strength and beauty are relative matters as well. In a land of typhoons and earthquakes, a structure must be built to withstand these natural disasters. And standards of beauty are bound up in the cultural traditions and aesthetic sensibilities that vary from one people to another. When comparing the quality of various architectural works, then, it is clearly necessary to take into account the regional conditions underlying each.

This being the case, one can easily imagine the problems that faced the Japanese team charged with selecting 20 examples of modern architecture in Japan for docomomo International, a group that is coordinating the “Documentation and Conservation of (buildings, sites, and neighborhoods of) the Modern Movement” worldwide. As described in Suzuki Hiroyuki’s article below, the project calls for each participating country to submit a list of 20 domestic architectural monuments of the modern movement, which will then be compiled into a list of the world’s outstanding modern structures. The problem is that the project is proceeding on the tacit assumption that, minor local variations not withstanding, all modern architecture shares the same fundamental characteristics.

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Granted, there is a certain amount of truth to this assumption. Modern architecture is a product of modern technology, and modern technology has a strong element of universality, having spread around the world from its birthplace in the West. Once you have the technology to completely isolate a building’s interior from the outside and provide that interior with appropriate lighting and climate control, the same kind of structure can create a comfortable living environment anywhere in the world, regardless of climate. Indeed, for a period of time after World War II, this new universality manifested itself in the so-called International Style of modern architecture, so named because it appeared in essentially the same form all over the world. And it goes without saying that Japan participated enthusiastically in this process of modernization.

However, whereas modernization for the West represented the latest evolutionary phase of its own civilization, for Japan, as for other non-Western countries, modernization signified westernization. At the same time, one distinguishing characteristic of Japan’s modern era is the periodic resurgence of traditional elements and values. While this phenomenon is apt to be interpreted as half-baked modernism by Westerners, it should be seen instead as modernism taken in a new direction. To take just one example, the open quality of Japanese domestic architecture—not only a practical response to the hot and humid summers but also a manifestation of the close relationship with nature traditionally valued by the Japanese people—is receiving renewed attention in our age of environmental awareness.

The structures chosen for Japan’s docomomo list represent, in Suzuki’s words, “a deliberate mixture of Western and Japanese aesthetic standards.” Examples of the latter include the Chôchikukyo, a modern rendition of the traditional sukiya architectural style, and the home of architect Tsuchiura Kameki, who devoted himself to wood-frame architecture even while embracing the modern influences of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Bauhaus. This selection offers us the opportunity not only to rethink Japan’s modernization but also to view the Western-born modern movement in a broader cultural perspective. (TAKASHINA Shûji, Director General, National Museum of Western Art)

*Donald Keene, trans., Essays in Idleness (New York: Columbia University Press, 1967), p. 50.

© 2000 Japan Echo Inc.