Japanese Architecture

The Beauty of Japanese Architecture in Kansai
Great Castle Precincts of Japan: The Kansai Region SUZUKI Kakichi Former Director, Nara National Cultural Treasures Research Agency

Himeji Castle:Registered as a World Heritage Site in 1993(Hyogo Pref.)

Architecture that signified Japan's generals

Mountain castles, or yamajiro, reaching higher than about 80 to 100 meters above the ground, were a basic type of castle during the country's Ancient and Medieval Periods. In 663, after the Japanese army joined with Paekche to lead a military expedition into the Korean peninsula, dealing a crushing defeat to the Tang and Silla armies, it established an array of mountain castles from northern Kyushu to the Inland Sea in preparation for an invasion of the mainland. In the medieval centuries leading to the Sengoku period, the noble families of each region built mountain castles to use as bases. Most notably, the daimyo, or lords, of the Sengoku period built palaces and mansions for their retinues on plains and mountain castles called tsumenoshiro, or war castles, on higher land behind them. In 1576, however, the form of the Japanese castle changed completely when ODA Nobunaga united Japan for the first time and established Azuchi Castle. This great warlord took up residence at castles called hirayamajiro (hill-on-the-plain castle) and hirajiro (plain castle), on small rises of land on the plain, close to sources of water. A castle town soon developed around them, populated by artisans. Whereas in the Medieval Period castle donjons were towers with at most three levels, during the Sengoku period castle towers called tenshukaku emerged, vast edifices boasting five external layers and seven internal floors. Existing nawabari (roped-off areas defining the positions of buildings), where natural stone walls had been used in part, were reinforced for protection and to provide a sense of dignity by building high stone walls using huge stones. The castle served not only as a military base but also as a core building symbolizing the modern authority of the generals. Kansai is the birthplace of the castle architecture that produced the modern style of castle, and in Kansai can be found Osaka Castle, built by TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi, Nijo Castle, where the TOKUGAWA shoguns lived in Kyoto, and Himeji Castle, whose tenshukaku and associated buildings remain splendidly preserved.


Stone Walls	Battlements Care was taken in the design of rifle battlements(run ports)directed at attacking enemies.

A view of the Nishinomatu(Western enclosure)

Deregulation Fosters Technological Development

The castle town of Azuchi Castle prospered from unfettered economic activity during a period of free markets and open guilds, and modern times emerged, thanks to new production systems that developed during this period of "deregulation." As a result of the tense situation brought about by the warring generals, a large number of artisans were mobilized, overpowering the organization of local small craftsmen's guilds by the need to erect a large number of great and versatile structures within a short period of time. To construct the castles, carpenters, stonemasons and plasterers arrived from every part of the country, lured by the wages to be earned, vying with each other to work on the projects. New and more effective building methods soon emerged from this exchange of skills and ideas. For example, the foundation stones of Maruoka Castle in Fukui, which displays strong medieval features, are set back from the foundation's stone walls where side pillars are located, creating a space around the perimeter of the castle called the Inubashiri, or "dog's run." The reason for doing this was the stone walls' uneven, vulnerable surface, on which poles could not be directly placed. To address this problem, earthworks were used to support pillars on the tops of the stones, and the pillars were standardized to contain loopholes at regular intervals. This early prefabricated construction method enabled mass production and shortened construction time. Although three stories was the practical height limit for castle construction in the Medieval Period, as seen in Kinkakuji temple, the donjons were constructed with five external levels and seven internal stories, again demonstrating the success of the systems developed at this time. Both technologically and socially, secular buildings usurped the hitherto unchallenged primacy of holy structures such as temples and shrines.


Bugukake(Rack of weapons)	Ishiuchidana/Uchimuro The Ishiuchidana steps lead to a strategic space used for observation and defense,under which is the Uchimuro,a secred hiding chamber sometimes doubling for a storage closet.

New Techniques in Function and Form in Himeji Castle

The construction of tall buildings called for new building techniques. Himeji Castle, construction of the donjon which began in 1609, represents the zenith in Medieval Period castle architecture. When the rule of the TOKUGAWA shogunate was entrenched following the Battle of Osaka in the summer of 1615, control was strengthened and the "Law of One Castle per Province" was established. Castlebuilding activity declined thereafter, and construction became mediocre along with the weakening of the techniques and skills that had fostered it. Himeji Castle's main donjon, built when construction was at its peak, consists of a ground floor surrounded on three sides by stone and six more floors built on top of the stone foundation walls for a total of seven floors. Two pillars, east and west, rise in the center of the castle from the ground floor to the floor of the sixth level (0.95m wide at the base and 25m tall). The central support consists of three through pillars, one extending from the ground floor to the second floor, the second pillar from the third to the fourth floors, and the third pillar from the fifth to the sixth floor. The through pillars are held in place by girths that support each floor. The girths and beams on top of the through pillars are inserted into median pillars to unify the three blocks. This novel technique is not used in shrines and temples.
Other pillars are placed every 2m around the tower; when the median pillars are included, pillars are spaced one meter apart for an extremely sturdy construction. In the corners, diagonal braces as thick as the pillars are inserted to provide resistance to earthquakes. Although the original donjons possessed stud wall framing finished on both sides only at the base (so that the pillar could not be seen from the front, as in storehouses), the walls were completely painted in white for both esthetic and defensive reasons. This enabled the structure to support its added weight. The latticework of the windows was also filled in after steel plates were attached. The roofs consist of undulating gables and dormer gables, changing the view at every floor. Through these ingenious devices of form and function, Himeji Castle is an enduring marvel.


Main pillars	Pillares around the tower