Japanese
Architecture
Unusual Mechanisms |
 |
 |
 |
Echoes
The Secret of the Dragon and the Mysterious
Urns |
The painted dragon on the ceiling "roars."
|
Sokoku-ji temple |
On the ceilings of such halls as Shokokuji Temple, Tenryuji Temple and Myoshinji
Temple in Kyoto are drawings of dragons. In Shokokuji Temple, when you clap your
hands, a long reverberating echo, traditionally called the "roaring dragon", is
heard. This sound is in fact caused by the ceiling. A sound produced between two
parallel planes, the floor and the ceiling, repeatedly bounces between them, causing
acoustic reflections and subtle overlapping of echoes. The result is unique sound
waves, the roar of the dragon.
The Painted Dragon on the ceiling
at the Sokoku-ji temple |
The phenomenon is more likely to happen when one side of the plane is slightly
cambered, as seen in the ceiling of the hall of Shokokuji Temple, where the panels
on the right and left of the ceiling, have a camber of about 10 cm. The dragons
on the ceiling have known the secret of the sound for a long time. |
The Noh drama theater echoes.
|
The Noh Dramatheater |
Another sound-related topic. Noh is a traditional Japanese performing art. Did
you know that something is placed underneath the stage of many Noh theaters for
acoustic effect? The "something" is earthenware urns, like those used in the past
in old-style kitchens. This acoustic device is said to date back to when Noh theaters
were built outdoors. When sounds from the stage reach the urns buried underneath,
urns with frequencies corresponding to the frequencies of the incoming sounds
vibrate and reemit the sounds. There are no rules about how big the urns should
be or how many should be used. Urns are also sometimes hung from ropes underneath
the floors at theaters. The one common factor in both is that the urns are always
placed concentrically around the center of the stage with their openings facing
the center. This arrangement is meant to maximize sound reflection.
|
|
|
| Sound
waves strike the urn and are reflected back. |
One
example of how urns are placed under the floor.
Reference:TOKURA Tsuyoshi,Aboutthe acoustic effect of Noh theaters
|
|
Another Mystery: Nightingale Flooring
|
|
At some temples,
when you walk on the floor you hear the floor sing with your every step. This
type of floor is called a nightingale floor, and the singing sound is produced
as the clamps used to fix the floorboards rub against holes in the floor boards
as a person walks above. The beautiful sound was associated with the singing of
a nightingale, hence the name. This phenomenon has been found to be naturally
caused by the warping of the floorboards from long years of wind and rain or by
the expanding of the holes due to the heavy load of people walking above. (In
Kyoto,these floors can be seen in such places as Chioin Temple, Nijo Castle and
Tojiin Temple.)
Sound of Nightingale Flooring (10 min.)
|
|
|
|
|
