jap_join
TRANSCRIPT
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l
The
Genesis
of
Japanese
Joinery
Where Wood Hal I
So JI Because Japan
as
heavIly
foresled .
t
he archllecture
she
developed COl IIIISIS sharply w
1
h that faV fed ,n many othe>areas ot the world . In
Europe and China. for example. where both stone and good ctev for b
,ckmakmg
W1: e
abundant. the mason s art developed and fl
U
riShed, But the vctceruc 50,1of
Jap
an
and other Pacific islands. wh ich ottered few materials to tempt II mason. y ielded a
seemingly end less variety of IIfNl5 and other plants sUlled 10 a di fferent type 01
co
n-
struction . Thus, IS European and i ~ masons we re
developing
techniQues for
stacking stan and bricks atop one another. n
s
calpenlers were axpeme nttng
Wllh the
pos
t ancl lll'lie- conStruction baSIC 10 wooden 81chll
ect
ule.
WhIle
th
e
most
highly
de
....
1oped
mason
s
. n
1
10
be
f
ou
nd
Europe.
Japan ue
cloublooly
en
joys
the
most edv.nced techniques 01
wood
constructIOn. The seven th
1 Id
eighth
-cen
tury structures lit the Narll temples HO
ryQ
-JI.
TOShOdal
- ,
. 1 Id
Shin
V kushi -ji. for e XlI mple. show the J apanese adaptat ion 01mlllnlllnd arch ,tectu I IOI ms
introduced into J . pan by that t 'me. Eve n In these early structur
es we
can see evidence
ol the advanced wcod -ccnstrucnon
tecbmcves
elready used by the ancien t .Jepanese.
t mllY
seem
pllrlldoxical to s tate th
at JlIp
an
s
highly
dev
el
oped
joinery t
ecrnuc
oe s
IIsulted Irom her lIbundant timber: howeve r. thllt ab
undance
encouraged an etmost
eJ(clusive ooncen trlltion
on wood cons
truct ion, In order to cont inue thllt tr
,d
ltlon once
, the
good
t imber hlld
bee
n felled. II was necessery to u
se
the Inieflor t,mber that had
been pllS
sed
oYer e llfher. he
ch
llUen
ge
present
ed
in construct,ng a plumb 1 1d true
building from
the
gnarled 1I1 1d knoned lim
ber that
rema ined ul'ldoubtedly led to the
a latIon and deve
lO9fT el l
t 01bo
th
new
te
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Al though tile abundance of tImber
lk
hnltely
co
ntnbured to the
con
centration on
~ o o
cons
nucnc
n
In
J apan. o ther factors a
ff
ected thIS chctce of malenals . One of
lllew
IS
tile shee eeseccnve lOO ce of nature as seen in the numerous typh
oo
ns and
earthquakes J apan
e>:pe< oences
. W
ood
cons fuction. becaUH Of Its smallll' mass, is
better ablll to wlthslilnd earthQuakes than is stone
00' broc
k construetlOl'\ . DUling
In
.arthq
ul
ke. lhe
IOlI'Its 0 nllCtl$SiIry
to
wood
constrUChon lunctl
on somewhlt
like
s.hock ,.bsorbers. I tfordll'lg
wooden
bu
Ild
Ings I
certl
in lmount of gIve,
which
is not
poss ible WIth flgld st
OOl
Of
brIC
k conS
trUClIon
.
Othef
f
Kl
an
favor'ng
the
cho
ICe
0'
wood 11 1 Japan
lI'Ic1ude
the
nlt
lve
t
Tlbe, 's natural res Istance to attack bv b.ac1er la.
fungI. and ,osec;tS, and the
termlte 's lack of
vlgOf
.
Although
te rrmtes havll de-
st,ayed v'ually a
ll
the older woodIIn b.,llldlngSthroughoul the SolJth PacIfic.
11 \
Jaj)al'l
they
have done
VtlfY
h
tt
le
Most natIve tlmbe' , 50ch as pIne,
ced
ar, and J apl , cYpress.
IS
conlfllfOUS and
grows _
II
in temperalll J apan. From
lI
arl
lll
St llrnlS. however. Impc)f\ed timber. vari
ously ca
ll
ed
kV l
(1llllrally, pr
ec
,ous foreign wood )
00
Oh mbo
lru
(on
ce
me/lnloll
pr
IlC
IOUS unusual foreIgn wood) . w as mostly 0' tile br
oad
leaved vaflety,
su
ch
lIS
teak, red sandalwood. ebony. IndIan
If
onwood. and lauan. In the
PaCI
fIC,
conIferous
lImber was peculiar to J apan, where the abundant rainfa
ll
and very warm gr
ow
Ing
sea
son c
ont
nbuted to ,apid summer growth and suong, beaut
If
u
lly
g
rill
rl
lld t lmbe/.
The J apanese cl,mate
was
as admlfably suit
ed
to the
co
nlfllrs as those tall. strong.
easIly
WQ
'ked str
aIght
-gr
Imed
trH S _ re 10 J apanese er
ct
uecture .
Numerous
Ja
panese leaders of the past have promot
ed
and
SUP
POftlld re
OO
estatlon
pro
jec;ts
.
The
level of the lf act
iVIty Ind
the ..
success IS
dernonst
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have a specia l obligat ion not only to their
own
ch,ldren. carpenters. and ecologists.
but to future generat,ons outside their archipelago.
In contrast with lfIorganlc bUlldlflg materials and more recently developed high
molecular build ing matelials, t imber rec cnes an almost animistic fa
ith
of the pe
op
le
who work it. 1 suspect that even noncarpenters cannot escape the inclination to
ascribe diVinity to the mystery of nature that creates beaut ifu
lly
grained wood , In
Japan. various myths and legends immortalizing the divine nature 01particular t rees
survi ve even today in stories recorded and handed down to us in l iterature and in
pic ture serene.
It IS
not because my understandlflg of theology is want ing that I can
no
t
help bellevlfIg in the dwine nature of a tree w hen I see that through some mysteriou s
inspira tion it has been enhanced and transformed into artistic exptession.
Wh
en I look
at a beautrtul examp le of wood construction, I cann
ot
he
lp
th inking that the beauty
of the archi tecture derives no t only from Its de
Si
gn and cons
tructio
n techniques but
also nom the very soul of the wood it self. At the same time, nee wooden structures
see
m to speak w ith the hearts of the master carpenters w ho cons
tr
ucted them
with
obvious respect for the soul of the
l l
t imber.
Wooden Structu.as It ISoften pcrnted out that wooden bUlldlflgs are h igh ly vulner
able to rrre.Certainly thisistrue in large. congested cities: but in the days
wh
en J apans
citieswere no t socrowded that houses had to be bUi lt
lit
erally eaves-to -eaves,wooden
structures were rarely destroyed by f ire, In J apan today. a great many old wooden
bUildings survive In ou
t-o
f -tbe-wav places that were not plagued w ith the fire s that
commonly a
tt
ended ciVil strife, Actua lly. the major
ity
of f ire damage suffered
in
Japan
in the past resulted Irom the batt le tact ic of deliberately f iring buildings; and
it
was not
unt il qui te recently, With the advent of arsonists and the Increase of f irescaused by gas
and kerosene stoves and heaters. that
oui woo
den structvres began succumbing to
fire in greater numbers.
But a comparison 01 latahty statistics
IS
much more reveallflg: the number of deaths
recorded lor f ires IfI buildlflgs constructed 01such noncombustible materia ls as con
crele
la
r exceeds the number recorded lor l ires in wooden buildings. Equa
lly
in teresti ng
is the fact that wooden buildings olten survi ve a fi re largely intact. For example, the
oldest wooden structure in the
wo
rld,the Golden Hall . buil t in 679 at the temp le OryQ
ji, near Nara. suffered a f ire in 1949. Of the priceless murals
on
ItS walls, many were
destroved and
ot
hers ware bad
ly
damaged. but almost all its struc tural members
survived undamaged. Today. after surprisingly small-scale repairs, this encrent wooden
building is still in use and still open to the public.
In J apan, coun tless people have w itnessed l iras in or
di
nary
wooden dwel
lings and
noticed that the commonly used 10 em. square posts (roug
hly
4 x 4 ) and
30
Col.
squale beams (about 12 x 12 ) generally emain If\ ctace. even il badly charred.
Wood does not begin to burn unt il it reaches a temperature of about 300 C (67 6-F ;
but e.ece wood is s
uc
h a poor
conduc
tor 01heat. even w hen the surface temperature
leaches 3
00
C the heart of a substant ial building member is
lit
t le affected and w ill
continue to support the load it w as intended to support . Hence. we can say that in 8
f ile. w ood construction is actually sa fer than steel
lI
ame construction, since steel is a
very good conductor of heat, bend ing
li
ke so
ft
taffy at 800 C (1472 F) and
warp
ing
bad
ly
at lower temperatures. Steel stairways are teeerocus dU l ing a fife , since at rel-
WOODEN STRUCTUR S , 13
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al lvely low tempef3lures
lhey
qu ickly
become
1
00
ho t 10 step on a nd at hIgher
'amperatures they
warp
, 10srng lhe rr shape e nt rre ly at ve lV high temperatures .
Alt
hough st
eel frame conS tlUC tlon
appea
rs safer I I hrst because It is Itse lf non
flammable . d ...,ng a nre it is ac
tua
lly less trustworthy than
wood
frlme constructiOn.
For eample,
becau
se s teel IS a n efflC
n
t heat conduclor. very hot sleel Sll
nl
cannot
e
as
Ily be cool
ed
e
noug
h WIth wate r 10 be u
sa
ble ,
1'1
a fIre ; yet because woo II an
ineff
llC ....
1heal cond
uctor
,
wooden
S
lllrs
can so eU1
1y be c:ooIed
lhat l
hey
ca n
be used
....-n
w llh Ill
lTIe$
lickrnO I t l
hem
. S iur
dywooden
Stalf'
t
fl lrly
SOI
fe m
the early
t
of a Ie, s l
nee
the heal1 of
the
t l
rT'\b&r
Sis unaffected I nd ,tIS necessary to cool only l
he
burning
surface
, wtllch
don ot reil
ln heat as
we
ll
as
S1eel does
.
Hence. ..... should
not C8\1aherly d Ismiss
wood CQn$t
ructlon because lhe basic material is flammable ,
Because
wood
IS such a
POOl
conductor 01 he
ll.
II generi lly ma intaifll a
even
temperlt ure relatIve to the
season
a nd IS warm to lhe touch
~
,n mIdwi
nte
r. In
IV
humid
coun
trIes like J apan.
st
one bUlldrngs WIll sweal gre
ltl
y
on
I mug \lV day; atld
marble
faced building s sweal so
much
Iha t th. . ,
become
very cncom
tc
nebtem moder
ate
we
lthe
r and a lmost u
nbe
lrab
le In humId weather ; but
woo
co
ostr
uctmn
ra
le
ly
swealS, smce u c an
absorb the
normal levels 01surr
ound
rng humidIty. T
hIS
alo ne would
persuade me that wood co
nstruc
tion is mos t sui table in I humid count/y like J l pan.
even if I d id
01take tradit Io na l Japanese
aes
thetics in tO considerltion . ThIS is
1'10
110
say Ih
lt
Ihe a
nces
tor s of the presenl day J apa
nese
eSChewed or had no skill al stone
construcuon :
on
lhe contlary. at archaeological I lles d
l t
lng f om about 3000 B.C. 10
lhe Shan lh cenlury A.O. ..... l Ind an abu
ndance
01 st
one
CO
nstructIon. Inlerspersed
w llh PII
dwe
llings a nd slone
buI
1
mou
nds. to remlfld us lhal
wooden
archItecture IS ,
in J
lpan
. I re
lI
vely rece
nl
In
nov
. toon. B
ut we must
k
HO
in m
lf'ld
lhat once In
11M
II
qUICkly
became
the pr Imary arch llectur
ll
med Ium.
K
i ConstfUoCtion PJoport
ionl
It IS
genera
lly held thaI the beauty
not
ontv 01
. .
ch,lectufe but of a
l
lhlngs, both
man
made afld na tUl al.
derrws hom
lhepropcll
t
ions
. In lfCh 'teCl\Jre lhe
Inc..,,
1Greek in particular,
e menled
w ith proportions.
~
t u establishing t he Dor IC, Io n
IC
, afld Cor,nthian orders. based on hrghly de
veloped
ideal
standa
rds 01proportI
on
. In J apa n. t
oo
. people expenmented Wllh archi.
t
ec
tur , l propoe
ns and developed I kifld 01 order. an Id
ea
l slIndard 01 proportIon,
Th is ord
er
is
know
n as
k
t r l
d ividing
wood
bul
mean ing
de
termin
ed co
n
str\lCt lon pr
ocoeuo
ns. K,
w8
n e ven
tu
aUy gave r
iS{
to a I
QI'
mall
zed
ws tem 01preSCT Ibe