Japanese Architecture

Sokoku-ji Temple

Nijo Castle.

Daigo-Ji Temple, the oldest wooden tower in Kyoto.

Hiroshima Castle

Tsurugajo Castle in Aizu-Wakamatsu

Osaka Castle

Tea Houses

Tea rooms, often found in tea gardens are much more than just rooms used for sipping tea; they are designed around the tea ceremony and hold great significance in their own right. Tea rooms usually have shingled roofs and clay walls. The architectural concept is "simplicity". Often the straw used to strengthen the walls is visible long after the tea house has been completed. The use of wood in tea houses is important, rather than the use of space and light. Many kinds of wood are used, including Japanese cedar, red pine, white cedar, chestnut, and bamboo. The wood is finished in a variety of natural dyes. Sometimes the clay walls were covered with soot to enhance the wood. Simple decorations adorn the walls. Present day tea houses are constructed in the architectural style of Sukiya, which includes adding convex, or bulging, curves to roofs (in contrast to the popular concave curves previously used). Sukiya also emphasizes simplicity in construction, in direct contrast to the highly decorative style previously popular. This philosophy, which stems from the tea ceremony itself, has created some of the most beautiful structures in Japan, encouraging a style of architecture based on natural materials and simplicity. Tea room and Sukiya architecture give expression to a gentle human individuality by using solely natural materials. This style of architecture also follows the strict ethics of the tea spirit and the tea ceremony and conceals within it a sophisticated and pure artistic form.

http://library.thinkquest.org/27458/swf/architecture/uguisu.au

The Ise Jingu consists of two shrines: the Outer Shrine (Geku), which is dedicated to Toyouke, the kami of clothing, food and housing, and the Inner Shrine (Naiku), which enshrines Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. They are Shinto's most sacred shrines. Naiku and Geku are located several kilometers apart from each other at the foot of densely wooded hills. Unlike most other Shinto shrines, the Ise Shrines are built in a purely Japanese architecture style which shows no influence from the Asian mainland. Naiku is believed to have been established in the 3rd century and Geku in the 5th century. The shrines fascinate through their extreme simplicity. There is nothing but green trees, broad gravel lanes and the wooden, barely painted shrine structures. Uji Bridge, entrance to the Inner ShrineThe Naiku and Geku are both rebuilt every 20 years according to an ancient Shinto tradition. For that matter, an empty lot is located besides every shrine building as the site for its next rebuilding. Ise Shrine's 62nd rebuilding will take place in 2013. Because the Ise Shrines are so sacred, no pictures may be taken near their main halls, a task that would be difficult anyway, as the view of the innermost buildings is partially obstructed by a set of wooden fences.