Manasara Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Manasara-Shilpashastra; III. Manasara on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Manasara: Translation; V. Architecture of Manasara: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c41.s24: Japan
Mānasāra Series (I. A Dictionary of Hindu Architecture; II. Indian Architecture according to Mānasāra-Śilpaśāstra; III. Mānasāra on Architecture and Sculpture: Sanskrit Text; IV. Architecture of Mānasāra: Translation; V. Architecture of Mānasāra: Illustrations; VI. Hindu Architecture in India and Abroad; VII. An Encyclopaedia of Hindu Architecture) v6.c41.s24
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Japan
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Although the accession of the first Mikado is dated 660 B.C., ‘it was not till the second half of the sixth century A.D. that Japan reached the first step of civilization, along with the introduction of Buddhism, from Korea, in A.D. 552.’ The revelations of Buddhism ‘stirred the Japanese people to a loftier conception than those which the older Shinto religion had inspired,’ and ‘its earliest architectural structures date from the commencement of the seventh century.’¹
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¹ Fergusson, *History of Indian and Eastern Architecture*, Vol. II, p. 487.
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Thus ‘the architecture of Japan owes its origin to Chinese sources, the earliest examples remaining being those which were built by carpenters sent over from Korea. The Japanese temples, whether Buddhist or Shinto, are all of the Chinese Ting type. In Japan, as in China, the later developments have as a rule resulted only in further enrichments, the elaborate carving in the Japanese Buddhist temples being carried to excess. In the Shinto temple, on the other hand, the greatest simplicity prevails, more importance being attached to the quality of the wood employed, and to its structural execution, than to any display of diagram work or carving. The pagoda in Japan still retains the ancient design and timber construction of the earliest example remaining, at Hariuji, which was built by Korean carpenters in A.D. 607, and may be looked upon as the original type of, at all events, the Korean pagoda.’² This pagoda and temple, near Nara in Japan, are square on plan and built in timber. But the earliest remains of the pagoda in China are almost universally octagonal on plan, and were built in stone or brick. This difference is accounted for by the fact that all the early architecture of China was annihilated, and that the Japanese examples, ‘in their design and execution, present a completeness of style which must have taken several centuries to develop’ through Korea. But the Chinese style of the Hariuji examples are not doubted by experts. There is, in fact, ‘one example with square plan at Korea, but this, following the Chinese examples, was built in brick.’ In the first century of the Christian era, however, the wooden construction developed in Korea owing to the presence of great forests therein, the perfected type of which is seen in the pagoda at Hariuji.’³
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² *Ibid.*, Vol. II, pp. 486–487.
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³ Plate LXII, Fergusson, *ibid.*, p. 496.
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In Japan, also, no distinction was made ‘between the temples and mortuary chapels, and the mausoleum of Ieyasu, at Nikku, built on rising ground, has the triple enclosure with three entrance gateways, and besides the main temple or mortuary chapel, has all the independent accessories, such as the torii, pagoda, sacred stable, store-houses, library, drum-tower, belfry, priest’s residence, etc., which form the complement of an important Buddhist temple, and in addition a winding pathway up numerous flights of steps leading to the upper mortuary chapel and monumental tomb.’¹
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¹ Fergusson, *History of Indian and Eastern Architecture*, Vol. II, p. 497.
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Thus the Buddhist monuments of India supplied the inspiration, but in Japan, as in China, although the composition was of the Indian type, the style was entirely different. So far as the civil architecture is concerned, the Japanese palaces were originally simple and unostentatious buildings. Since the sixteenth century, when the country came under military domination, palaces have been built within fortified enclosures surrounded by moats. ‘The walls, 20 to 25 feet high, are built with a concave batter, the masonry of the quoins dipping down in order apparently to run less risk of being overthrown by earthquakes (as, in the event of an upheaval, the stones would fall back by their own weight into their original position).’² Like temples, palaces are all of one storey only. The floor is raised from 4 to 8 feet above the ground. In their design they belong to the Ting type of China, with Irimoya gables like those in the temples. ‘In plan they consist of a number of blocks put in communication, one with the other, by covered corridors, not arranged symmetrically like those in the Forbidden City of Pekin, but disposed so as to overlook gardens and small lakes. The principal difference externally, when compared with the temples, lies in the less height and much flatter pitch given to the roof, so much so that they are not concave in section, the roofs having generally one uniform slope. Although externally the blocks have the appearance of constituting a single hall, they are usually subdivided by sliding screens into several rooms. Thus the residential block of the Imperial Palace at Kioto, measuring about 100 feet by 60 feet, is divided by partitions into fourteen rooms, the centre one of which, lighted only through the outer rooms, constituted the Mikado’s sleeping apartment. The three rooms on one
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² *Ibid.*, p. 499, *see* Plate LXV (Castle of Yedo, Tokio).
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A JAPANESE PAGODA
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side of this block form a suite in which the floors are raised slightly one above the other, the further and highest room furnished with a raised dâis indicating the position of the imperial throne. Access to all the rooms in a subdivided block is obtained by the external verandah which constitutes the principal feature in all Japanese houses.' The palaces of the *shoguns*, or military regents, 'follow much on the same lines as those of the Mikado. The fortified enclosures round them are, however, increased in number, those of the castle at Kunamoto, now destroyed, which was built by Kato Kyomasa towards the end of the sixteenth century, resembling somewhat the castles of the middle ages with two or three outer courts and a keep within the inner enclosure.'¹
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¹ Fergusson, *History of Indian and Eastern Architecture*, II, pp. 499-501.
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The simplest architectural expression of the Japanese palaces is non-existent in the ordinary dwelling-house. The entrance door is the only feature which distinguishes one house from another, otherwise the street in the great cities presents a dull appearance with monotonous houses. The houses have rarely an upper storey and 'the design consists of a square or rectangular block covered with a tiled roof, the interior being subdivided into rooms by sliding screens about 6 feet high. In the better houses there may sometimes be internal courts with buildings on all sides or all round.' This is a plan commonly followed in India, and has been in vogue since the very early period and minutely elaborated in the *Mānasāra* and other *Śilpa-śāstras*.
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'The chief feature of the Japanese house is the verandah, which faces the gardens and serves as a passage to all the rooms. The floor of the house is raised about 10 inches above the ground, there being no basement of any kind, and the importance of the room depends on the number of mats which cover the floor. Those mats measure 6 feet by 3 feet each. In a middle-class dwelling the chief reception room may have fifteen or sixteen mats, the smaller rooms four to eight or ten, by pushing aside the screens the whole house can be thrown into one room, and, as a rule, the side facing the south is thrown open during the day to ventilate the house. The decoration of the interior is confined to the upper part of the walls above the screens.'²
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² *Ibid.*, II, p. 501.