Despite my ignorance, there’s something about Japanese architecture that stops me dead in my tracks. I don’t always understand the history, engineering, theory, or artistry behind it all, but I’m always fascinated by Japanese architecture.

If you’ve read Tofugu for a while, you probably already knew that. I’ve written a lot of posts about architecture, mostly as an excuse to post pictures of these really, really cool places.

Tadao Ando’s Hundred Step Garden

Obviously, I’m not the only one who’s in love with Japanese architecture. For hundreds and hundreds of years, Japanese architects have received global recognition for their very distinctive work.

And as recently as just last month, Japan has captured the world’s attention. This year, Japanese architect Toyo Ito was awarded architecture’s greatest prize. Ito the sixth in a line of celebrated Japanese architects to win the Pritzker Prize, more than any other country except for the United States.

Toyo Ito’s Sumika Pavilion

As I heard more and more about Japanese architects and spent hours scrolling through Google image searches, I began to wonder: why are Japanese architects so revered, so distinctive?

What separates the Frank Lloyd Wrights from the Toyo Itos of the world?

The Japanese Aesthetic

The Japanese aesthetic—the qualities that Japanese culture values in art—has always sort of been a mystery for the rest of the world. Westerners usually see it as yet another aspect of the mystical Orient they don’t understand.

In reality though, the Japanese aesthetic makes a lot of sense. A lot of the Japanese aesthetic, like a lot of Japanese culture, has its roots in religion. Shinto and Buddhism are the two biggies in Japan, and once you understand that, it begins to click into place.

Shinto is a set of beliefs that puts a lot of emphasis on nature. Probably the thing that most people know about Shinto is that it believes that spirits, or kami, live in everything. That tree? He’s got a little spirit inside it. Yeah, just like those Miyazaki movies you like so much.

Ito has gotten a lot of attention in recent years in part because of his work on the Sendai Mediatheque, a library in Sendai. Located in the middle of the city that bore the brunt of the 3/11 earthquake, the Mediatheque came away from the disaster practically unscathed.

Toyo Ito’s Sendai Mediatheque

The Sendai Mediatheque is essentially a huge glass cube, which makes it look very, very fragile. If you looked at the Mediatheque and imagined one of the largest earthquakes in history hitting it, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine the building shattering into pieces.

But the Mediatheque held steady. The structure of the building allowed it to brave the storm; or as one architecture critic put it: “The Mediatheque has these tubular-like things that look like trees, or look like waving grasses in the wind . . . They allowed the building to move with the earthquake and survive.”

Like trees or grass. Ito’s often says that some of his biggest inspirations are in nature — usually air, wind, and water. He doesn’t explicitly talk about Shinto, but it’s not so far-fetched to make that connection.

A lot of other architects use nature much more explicitly in their work. Another Pritzker winner, Ryue Nishizawa, created a very unique house in Tokyo aptly named “Garden & House.”

While the elements of nature aren’t built directly into the structure of Garden & House, all of the flora lining the house make it leaps and bounds more attuned to nature than the concrete and brick buildings surrounding it.

Ryue Nishizawa’s Garden & Home

Again, it’s not that these buildings are explicitly Shinto shrines or anything, although many buildings — like the Tokyo Skytree — are blessed by Shinto clergy. But I think that this fusion of nature and architecture goes to show how deeply ingrained Shinto beliefs are into the Japanese aesthetic.

Zen and the Art of Japanese Architecture

Buddhism too has a role to play in shaping the Japanese aesthetic. A lot of Japanese Buddhist dogma, the kind of things that have made “Zen” a household word around the world, influences Japanese architecture.

Even if you’re not a Buddhist scholar, you’re still probably able to look at something and tell if it’s very “Zen.” You know the look—very spartan, simple, and even empty.

Those elements that are emphasized and valued in some forms Japanese Buddhism are written all over the Japanese aesthetic. They’re especially easy to spot in places like rock gardens and other traditional locales.

Most Japanese rock gardens are raked and arranged to look like water or waves or some sort of movement. But a lot of gardens have just a lot of blank, flat space. Even though the trees and patterns often stand out a lot more, that blankness, that stillness, is just as crucial.

Lots of Japanese architects incorporate these elements in their own work. You’ll see spaces with large, intentionally blank areas. It might look like the architect forgot or overlooked something, but it’s usually deliberate.

I’ve noticed that Pritzker winner Tadao Ando (who I covered a bit here) is a big fan of big, blank spaces. In Ando’s work, you’ll see concrete walls stretching wide lengths and spanning great heights.

Tadao Ando’s Chichu Art Museum

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the immense amount of concrete used in works like this. I understand where those people are coming from; concrete is a boring, industrial material, and makes you think more of sidewalks than of a rock garden.

But I also understand Ando’s intent. The dull surfaces make the more interesting features stand out and shine, the monotony can actually serve as a feature, rather than a nuisance.

Rejecting the Japanese Aesthetic

Simplicity. Beauty. Naturalism. These are elements of the Japanese aesthetic that you will see define Japanese architecture.

But then there are people who throw all of those concepts out the window, the people who understand the Japanese aesthetic so well that they intentionally choose to work around the fundamental principles that other architects follow so closely.

Somebody who definitely never won the Pritzker was an architect by the name of Arakawa. He and his partner, Madeline Gins, worked as artists and architects for over forty years, creating structures and places that will never, ever be honored by traditional architecture organizations.

Reversible Destiny lofts

You might have already seen one of their projects on TofuguTV — Yoro Park, the Site of Reversible Destiny. When traditional architects create a public park, they consider things like comfort, safety, and beauty.

Yoro Park doesn’t.

Yoro Park is less of a public park and more of an excercise in creating the most outrageous, impractical space imaginable.

For Arakawa and Gins, Yoro Park was only one piece of their lifelong work. More recently, the duo condensed all of the features of Yoro Park into a single house.

Called the Bioscleave House, it cost millions to build, and is as much of a safety hazard as Yoro Park. Children are actually banned from entering the house, and adults must sign a waiver.

Everything in the Bioscleave House is mildly dangerous. The floors are bumpy and irregular, there are poles placed randomly throughout the house, and the whole house is painted in a variety of bright, disorienting colors.

Why all of the danger? A New York Times writer summarized Arakawa and Gin’s philosophy nicely:

All of it is meant to keep the occupants on guard. Comfort, the thinking goes, is a precursor to death; the house is meant to lead its users into a perpetually “tentative” relationship with their surroundings, and thereby keep them young.

Extending your lifespan using dangerous architecture doesn’t quite fit in with the Japanese aesthetic; I don’t know of any Shinto or Buddhist teachings that advocate an adversarial relationship with your surroundings.

But there’s space in Japanese architecture for both of these approaches. Unorthodox styles pushes the medium forward; the Japanese aesthetic anchors practices in tradition.

Both guarantee that Japanese architecture will remain a fascination for me for years to come.

Read More:

• 10 Principles of the Japanese Aesthetic (a list by Japanese architect Ryushi Kojima)
• Wikipedia: Japanese aesthetics

Header image by mario lopez

What is Shinto?

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The customs and values of Shinto are inseparable from those of Japanese culture. Many Japanese activities have their roots in Shinto. Elements of Shinto can be found in ikebana, traditional architecture, and even sumo wrestling. Also, a lot of Japanese pop culture, especially anime and manga, draws from Shinto for inspiration.

Shinto doesn’t really have a founder or sacred scriptures or anything like that though. Religious propaganda and preaching are not common here either. This is one of the things that sets Shinto apart from most of the popular religions today. Shinto is deeply rooted in the Japanese people and their traditions, so practices like conversion don’t exactly go along with what Shinto is.

Since Shinto is very Japanese by nature and does not try to press others to join them, the percentage of Shintos living in this world is very small, with pretty much all of them residing in Japan. I think that’s nice though. Shinto is inherently Japanese, and its just another one of those things that you can really only get the full experience and understand while in Japan.

Instead of sacred texts, Shinto bases most of its beliefs on four ancient books. These books are the Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) which is the foundation to written Shinto history, the Shoku Nihongi and its Nihon Shoki (Continuing Chronicles of Japan), the Rikkokushi (Six National Histories), and the Jinnō Shōtōki (a study of Shinto and Japanese politics and history).

Shinto Beliefs

Shinto is all about the kami. Kami (sacred spirits) are the “gods” in Shinto. They take the form of many things such as animals, plants, lakes, and rivers. As such, Shinto is a form of animism. Humans become kami after they die and are honored as ancestral kami with some families actually having little shrines in their homes. The Goddess Amaterasu is widely considered to be Shinto’s most famous kami and she was even the star of her very own video game, Ōkami (see above).

There are no real absolutes in Shinto – everything is kind of grey. They don’t believe in absolute right or wrong and they acknowledge that nobody is perfect. They view humans as fundamentally good, with the evils in the world being caused by troublesome and devilish kami. As such, the purpose of most Shinto rituals is to keep away evil spirits. This is achieved by purification, prayers, and offerings. It sounds like a pretty laid back religion to me. I like that.

Shinto teaches that people should want their sins cleansed for one’s own peace, not because sinning is inherently wrong. It’s natural. Shinto does have some freaky beliefs too though. Those who die holding a grudge strong enough to keep them attached to the physical world will become evil, revenge seeking kami, as seen in The Grudge and many other Japanese horror movies. So, Shinto has its easygoing ups as well as its terrifying downs.

Shinto Rituals

Purification rituals are an essential part of Shinto. New buildings constructed in Japan are frequently blessed by a Shinto priest during the groundbreaking ceremony, and many Japanese cars are blessed at some point in their assembly. I wonder if they get a little sticker or certificate saying they were blessed. Hmm… Anyway, many Japanese businesses built outside Japan often get Shinto rites performed on them as well.

Both men and women can become Shinto priests, and they’re even allowed to marry and have children. Some even live on site with the shrine they’re in charge of. Priests are aided by young women known as miko during Shinto rituals and performances. Miko wear white kimono, must be unmarried, and are often daughters of the Shinto priests.

Followers of Shinto can seek support from kami in many different ways. They can pray at the shrines in their homes or visit a local public shrine. There are also millions upon millions of little charms and talismans available to give people good health, good grades, good business, and more.

A large number of Japanese wedding ceremonies today Shinto ceremonies. I think Christian weddings are up there too though. Death on the other hand is considered a source of impurity, so Japan lets the Buddhists deal with all that. If you want to learn more about it, you can check out my post on What Happens After You Die in Japan. Because of this there really aren’t any Shinto cemeteries, just shrines.

While I don’t really ascribe to the beliefs of Shinto myself, I still think it’s pretty cool and a unique aspect of Japanese culture. While we were over there, we got to see a lot of Shinto shrines and they were really cool. They felt very calm and usually had a lot of nature going on around them. Shinto’s okay in my book.

So what are your thoughts on the Shinto religion and their practices? How do their religious views compare to your own? Share your thoughts and ideas down in the comments!

Sites Referenced:
Wikipedia

Well, not for all of us, but for those of us at a particular age, 2013′s going to be a really awful year. The best you can really do is just hunker down and hope that it all goes by quickly.

It’s not because of the fiscal cliff or the release of the next Michael Bay movie; it’s because for some of us, it will be a yakudoshi (厄年), a bad luck year.

What is Yakudoshi?

A lot of Japanese superstitions come from numbers. Virtually every number has an alternate reading, which means that their different readings can give them brand-new meanings. That’s why so many Japanese people are scared of the number four.

That’s also the reason yakudoshi exist. A yakudoshi is when you turn a specific age and are supposed to have nothing but bad luck for that entire year. Those specific ages are partially based on the same kind of numerology that drives other Japanese superstitions.

The Bad Luck Years

Men and women each have three ages that are supposed to be just completely disasterous. They are:

Women

• 19 years old
• 33 years old
• 37 years old

Men

• 25 years old
• 42 years old
• 61 years old

The ages may vary depending on your region and how you like to count age. In different parts of Asia, age is sometimes counted differently than how we normally think in the US — instead of the day of your birth being day zero, some people in East Asia would say that you’re one year old on the day that you’re born.

But why are these particular ages bad luck? Some of them have alternate, bad luck meanings. 42 can be read as “death,” and 33 can be read as “terrible.”

Think that’s bad enough? It only gets worse. Certain years are thought to be extra bad luck (大厄), and some people suspect that the years before (前厄) and after (後厄) yakudoshi are also bad luck, which basically means that you have three straight years of bad luck.

Where does it all end?!

How to Deal with Bad Luck

Let’s say that you just had your birthday and 2013 is looking like a bad year for you. What can you do to avoid certain disaster?

Some people in Japan turn to religious and spiritual rituals from Buddhism and Shinto to avoid the bad luck. They:

• Pray at shrines to appeal to a higher power.
• Donate to temples for some good karma.
• Undergo purification rituals to get rid of the bad luck.
• Carry a shrine at a festival.

Other people are less otherworldly about their precautions. It’s not unheard of to avoid taking out loans to avoid bad luck during your yakudoshi.

Ultimately though, probably the most dangerous thing about yakudoshi is thinking about yakudoshi. Just thinking about all of the bad luck and superstition associated with yakudoshi is likely much worse than any bad luck that you’ll actually have during that year.

But if you make an extra trip to a shrine, I wouldn’t blame you.

Read more: Yakudoshi: The year of calamity

So What’s Up With The Log Riding?

Are those… legs sticking out?? D:

I first heard about this festival in high school (that’s a long time ago), and couldn’t believe my ears. “This sounds radical,” I probably said (we probably said “radical” a lot back then, I’m guessing). The more I read about it the more I wanted to go. I hope you get the same feeling when I tell you about Onbashira as well. This really is the greatest festival in Japan, I think.

There are actually two parts to this festival, and each part takes quite a bit of time (meaning you can party-hardy for a while if you get out here). Luckily for you and your primal side, both parts are pretty dangerous, I’d say. Let’s find out what they are.

Yamadashi

The yamadashi is the first part. This means “exiting the mountains” or “coming out the of the mountains.” This is where you cut down 16 previously chosen trees by hand using tools from the iron age, then drag them out of the mountains for ten kilometers until you get to the Suwa Grand Shrine. This involves a lot of people, ropes, dragging, and, of course, riding. When a slope gets steep enough (and muddy/slippery enough), a few lucky team members get chosen to sit on top of the log to have the ride of their lives. You know that ride at Disneyland with the log that goes down the waterfall? This is like that, but deadly.

That’s pretty insane, let’s watch another one. Skip to about 8:00 for this one, unless you like a lot of foreplay with your Onbashira.

I don’t think my mother would let me do this…

Each team spends approximately three days moving their 20,000 pound logs down the mountain. The goal is the Suwa Grand Shrine, where they will take these logs and replace the pillars at the four corners of the four main buildings. That brings us to the next part of the festival:

Satobiki

The satobiki is when they parade the logs through the village and to the Suwa Grand Shrine. There’s people on horses, people riding the logs, and people people people. Wow, there are a lot of people. That’s one of the main things this festival is known for, actually.

The idea is that by putting up new pillars every six years, the area around the shrine gets renewed spiritually (renewing and rebuilding things are both very Shinto).

Even the parading and erecting of pillars can be dangerous, too. Last time (2010), a rope snapped killing one person and injuring several others. Just when you think the terrifying part is done, too…

When all is said and done, though, you have yourself 16 new pillars and a bunch of happy people. This festival brings a ton of people to the Nagano area, which is awesome for people who enjoy traveling and cities that enjoy being traveled to. In fact, it’s one of the most famous festivals in Japan. No wonder half a million people made their way here in 2010.

The next onbashira festival won’t be until 2016 though, but I’m hoping to pop in for a look-see. Unfortunately, as someone who isn’t a Japanese citizen, I’m not allowed to participate in any log riding (booo). But, joining the festivities and checking out the finished product is something I can do, so maybe I’ll see you there.

Speaking of finished products…

Not all that amazing for all the fanfare, danger, and so on… but, I guess it’s the journey, not the destination, am I right?

[Header Image Source]