Traditional Japanese architecture uses post-and-lintel structures – vertical posts, connected by horizontal beams. Rafters are traditionally the only structural member used in Japanese timber framing that are neither horizontal nor vertical. The rest of the structure is non-load-bearing.[1] [2]
While fixed walls are used, a variety of movable partitions are also used to fill the spaces between the pillars. They may be free-standing, hung from lintels,[3] or, especially in later buildings, sliding panels which can readily be removed from their grooves.[4] Their type, number, and position are adjusted according to the weather without and the activities within. They are used to modify the view, light, temperature, humidity, and ventilation,[5] and to divide the interior space.[6]
The timbers are called,[2] the space between them is called ; thus, the items filling the are termed equipment.[5]
| width=20% | Type | Photo | Description | Construction | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (and, fancy cloth-framed) | Stems are woven into a sheet, sometimes edged with cloth for durability | Phragmites reed, cat-tail stalks, pampas grass, or fine bamboo, held together by a few rows of thread woven around the stems; may be used as a blind, or mounted on a wooden frame to make .[7] [8] | Used throughout recorded history, still in use. | ||
| A walk-through curtain | Cloth with vertical slits, cord (shown), or cords strung with beads of bamboo or other materials. | Have been associated with urban shop entrances since the late Kamakura period (early 1300s).[9] Still in common use in the 21st century, especially at shop entrances and kitchen doors | |||
| Lintel-mounted curtain, with ties | Made of narrow-loom cloth . Similar to a, which however is free-standing. Coloured streamers are called, and are ties for tying it up.[10] | Archaic | |||
| Tab-top flat-panel curtains | Made from narrow-loom cloth . May be illustrated or plain, often with strips in contrasting colours (note that in the image, only the interior ones are illustrated). | Used in Heian period. Still used on special occasions, such as the red-and-white used at festivals. | |||
| Similar to, but used as a defensive perimeter around a military encampment | Tab-topped curtain hung on lines, often between posts in a field. | Sengoku and Edo periods. Obsolete. | |||
| , including | Heavy wood-lattice shutters | Usually horizontally split and hinged, but were occasionally vertically split and hinged.[11] When open, the upper half is held horizontal by hooks, and the lower half is either folded flat against the underside of the upper half and held by hooks, or removed and carried away. | Part of Shinden style. Obsolescent with advent of sliding doors, ~Kamakura period. |
| width=20% | Type | Photo | Description | Construction | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A free-standing single-panel partition.[12] | Wood, or wood frame covered with cloth or paper, often painted. Feet may be integral, or a separate stand into which a -like panel can be slotted. Shown is a panel, 6 tall; most are shorter seated-height panels.[13] | Dates from the 600s or earlier. One of the oldest types of screen. Still in use. | |||
| A free-standing folding screen. | Paper on frame. In Japan, these are rarely left plain; they are usually painted. | ||||
| T-shaped stand with curtain, with ties | Made from parallel lengths of narrow-loom cloth . | Used in Heian Japan;[14] all but obsolete by the Edo Period[15] | |||
| Boxlike baldachin | Box of curtains hung from corner poles, free-standing | Thought to date from 400s. Used throughout the Heian period (794–1185) and, by the high aristocracy, into the Kamakura period (1185–1333). Towards the end of the Heian period it shifted location, and finally became synonymous with an enclosed sleeping room. Characteristic of Shinden style residences.[16] Archaic, except in ceremonial Imperial use. | |||
| Garment rack. | A rack or clothesstand, used to store, air and display garments. Often similar to an uncovered in structure.[17] |
| width=20% | Type | Photo | Description | Construction | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opaque lightweight panels, latterly sliding.[18] | Wooden frame covered in opaque paper or cloth, modernly also vinyl. May be painted or printed. | Originated in 600s; made sliding in late Heian period (1100s). In common use in the 21st century. | |||
| Translucent panels, usually sliding. | Wooden frame covered in translucent washi paper or cloth, modernly also plastics and nonwoven fabrics. | Similar to | |||
| (See Sukiya style and articles for details.) | Storm shutters used to close the building at night. | Unperforated wooden or metallic panels, usually sliding. Run in a groove outside the pillars, and usually outside the engawa (porch). Stacked in a to-bukuro when not in use. | 1600s-present | ||
| See shoji article for limited details. | Glass panels | Mullioned or single-pane. Often found as sliding doors in two grooves outside the engawa (porch), but inside the ama-do. Also used in interiors. | 1800s-~1960 plate glass, ~1960-present with float glass | ||
| Plank-and-batten wooden doors | Battens (mairako) may be set crosswise to planks, may cover joins, or may act as a frame into which the planks are set, appearing on both sides.[19] [20] | Popular 1100s-1600s | |||
| , including | Solid wooden sliding doors | made of, and flat. Much heavier than frame doors such as . | |||
| (see Shōji#Frame) | Barred or latticed openwork panels | May be fixed, sliding, or hinged. Modernly, may be backed with glass. The rails are often grouped in clusters; this clustering is called fukiyose (吹寄).[21] A wide variety of traditional patterns exist. |
| width=20% | Type | Photo | Description | Construction | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lath-and-plaster (see also bamboo-mud wall) | Plaster applied over a lattice of wood or bamboo in a half-timbered wall. | Usually multi-layer. Plastered walls were frequently papered to protect clothes. Also used in fireproof kuro. Both mud plaster (often with straw)[22] and lime plaster with fibers and funori glue (shikkui, often used as a topcoat and on floors).[23] The structural timbers of the wall are usually left exposed, but may be covered (oo-kabe),[24] [25] or deeply covered to provide fire protection, as in kura storehouses.[26] | Antiquity to the 20th century; rare in 21st, stucco aside. | ||
| (wicker) | Multistrand wicker twill | Often used as a decorative covering in the 21st century | |||
| Thatch walls | Vertical thatching | Insulates; historically common in colder areas. | Used on historic properties | ||
| Board-and-batten wall | Vertical boards, the seams covered with thinner laths called battens.[27] | ||||
| Battened clapboard wall[28] | Clapboarding with notched vertical battens over the boards. | ||||
| Bark-and-batten wall (Japanese term?) | Bark-and-batten wall | Vertical sheets of bark, held down with horizontal battens; used as a stand-alone wall or as a decorative facing. | Used on poorer houses in the south of Japan in the 1880s. |