8/11/2019 jap_join

1/14

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

8/11/2019 jap_join

2/14

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

8/11/2019 jap_join

3/14

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

8/11/2019 jap_join

4/14

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