Books on Japanese Houses
Comments: 5
Perhaps the definitive book on traditional Japanese residential housing is Heinrich Engel’s The Japanese House: A Tradition for Contemporary Architecture published by Tuttle in 1964. It’s a beautiful book, amazingly comprehensive and well-researched. The illustrations alone are worth the price. Sadly it appears to be out of print, although Amazon has a page of links to available second-hand copies (don’t be put off by the price: it’s worth twice what anyone’s asking for it).
Another book, which I don’t have, seems quite good also: The Inner Harmony of the Japanese House by Atsushi Ueda. From the introduction by Gunter Nitschke:
Now entering the fray is the Japanese author and scholar of traditional Japanese urban architecture, Atsushi Ueda. With a sense of humor as well as a sense of the pragmatic necessities of everyday life, Ueda dismantles the last remnants of the mystique of the Japanese house. For Ueda, it has often sacrificed human comfort, structural development and spatial variety to a doubtful restrictive canon of aesthetics. The Japanese dwelling in Ueda’s opinion is not an object of aesthetic or structural admiration, nor is it an expression of the mindscape of its designers. Although he grew up in the homes he criticizes, he displays no prejudice in favor of or against the traditional or the modern house. He exhibits no nostalgia for the past.
“The contemporary Japanese house, caught between tradition and modernism,” he writes, “is nervously confessing its own insecurity.” He acknowledges that the traditional house is full of cracks and is badly lit. Moreover, it never developed a livable and fully usable second floor throughout its entire history. On the other hand, he points out that it is unique in its various inventions, especially those involving the veranda and the eaves. The tatami flooring presents an extraordinary sensitivity to him. And he cannot help but to notice the beautifully shaped roofscapes unfolding in a certain splendor.
J. Noel Chiappa has put together a good bibliography of Japanese architecture.
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Posted to Books • 2002.09.04 (Wed) • 15:08
Comments
Posted by Eric 2002.09.04, 22:26
Thank you for all the wonderful writing about Japanese architecture. I love all sorts of architecture, and the japanese styles that were prevalent many years ago are beautiful.
More photos, please!!
Posted by jh 2002.09.05, 21:03
You’re more than welcome for the photos and I’ll be posting more next week of various places in the neighbourhood (and beyond, perhaps).
Posted by urrge 2003.04.28, 07:49
I learned so much about japanese houses my brain was filled with so much needed information. Thanks!
crap
Posted by alan 2006.12.31, 06:54
been looking for a copy of this book ‘the Japanese House’ by Engel for many years, your link took me to it in about 3 seconds, the last copy i saw, about 20 years ago, 2nd print, i think, had a foreword by Walter Gropius, the original price on the inside cover was �90, difinitive? yes, i think so. cant thank you enough.
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