Welcome to Horace Mann's Webpage on:

Traditional Japanese Architecture

 

Introduction

I. The Earliest Architecture - Jomun Era (8,000 B.C. - 300 B.C.)

The original people of Japan probably came both from the north and west (from the Korean peninsula or from the Chinese mainland during the Ice Age when Japan was not an isolated island country), as well as from the south from the islands of the Pacific by boat. The earliest people were hunters and gatherers called Jomun (8,000 B.C. - 300 B.C.).

A. At the end of the Jomun period, their homes were made with wooden frames, walls of thatch [grass or bark] or bamboo, and thatched roofs. The earliest Japanese liked to use the bark of the cypress tree or thick grasses for thatch.

 

Look at this model of a large Jomun village about 3500 B.C. to 2000 B.C.

II. Yayoi (about 300 B.C. to 300 A.D.)

The next stage of cultural development is called the Yayoi. Other people migrated from the north through Korea or China by ship. They brought with them agriculture based on rice farming.

Yayoi homes were generally made of wood planks with roofs made of thatch. The floors of some homes were dug into pits, so they had dirt floors.

Some archeologists believe that some people still migrated into Japan from the south, from Polynesia. Some of the houses of the Yayoi villages look very much like early Polynesian houses.

Bronze technology from Korea led to the production of bronze weapons, such as swords and spears, bells, and tools.

 

Notice the thatched roof and the design of the building. This is from the Yayoi period.

 
 

III. Kofun Period - Tomb Culture Period (200 A.D. - 592 A.D.)

During the next period, the Kofun Period, Japan took its first steps towards unification. The period is named for the enormous burial mounds constructed by powerful rulers as symbols of their authority. This was a time of warring clans [groups united by ancestry] which fought for power and land. [You can see more of the burial mounds near the city of Nara.]

Kofun burial mound (Japan of Today JIN)

Houses were still pretty simple. They had thatched roofs and log pole beams [to hold up the roof].

Many more examples of early housing are found in the outstanding National Museum of History in Tokyo, Japan. Click on the small pictures to see an enlargement.

 
 

IV. Shinto - Temples and Shrines

Shinto ("the way of the gods") is Japan's earliest religion - the religion of the hunters and gatherers and rice farmers who first came to Japan.

According to Shinto belief, nature is filled with spirits or "kami" which influence the lives of humans, and therefore sacrifices and respect are given to them. The Japanese once believed that they were descended from the gods and the emperor was a direct descendant of the Sun Goddess.

The Japanese people worshipped the kami (spirits) of natural forces. They believed that the kami lived in lakes, rivers, trees, mountains, and even in rocks, wind, and fire. They also worshipped their ancestors' spirits who were still on this earth.

The early Japanese built temples and shrines [small places of worship] to the nature spirits. The torii gate is another example of Shinto architecture.

 

 

 

 

You are here at Page One: Early Japanese Architecture

Go to Page Two: Chinese Influence - Buddhist Temples and Medieval Castles

Go to Page Three: Homes in the Cities, Farmhouses, and Furnishings

Go to Page Four: Furniture and Building Techniques

Return to the Medieval Japan Home Page