Sukiya-zukuri

Sukiya - style (Japanese数寄屋造り, sukiya zukuri ) is an architectural style in historical Japan. In addition to the Shinden and Shoin - style, he is one of the three major styles for residential building in the pre-industrial era (before 1868).

Suki (数 寄) means refined, well-built or an elegant line to follow (in a sense ). It refers primarily to the implementation of a traditional tea ceremony. Ya (屋) means building or roof. The word sukiya therefore describes a building which was originally a tea ceremony was held ( chashitsu ) and with the floral art ( ikebana ) and other Japanese art styles is associated. In conjunction with the addition zukuri (造り) the word describes a design style for public and private buildings, which follows the aesthetics of a teahouse.

Classification

Today, this style is often seen as the epitome of traditional Japanese architecture and considered highly developed, the Japanese culture, nature and style best conveys. There are two main reasons:

First: After the import of Chinese architecture to Japan in the sixth century and the independent development, which initially produced the Shinden and Shoin style, is the Sukiya style of the last style that was incurred prior to the opening of the country in 1868. Previously, in the Edo period, the government has the country for more than 200 years foreclosed consistently to the influence from the outside. This period of isolation, also called Sakoku, was a time of hard governance, however, the show also brought peace and prosperity. In this social context, architecture and art in Japan have developed magnificently. After the end of the Edo period in 1868 the country was heading for a rapid industrialization and imitation of Western culture, which had an abrupt demolition of traditional architecture and cultural development result.

Second, architects of the 20th and 21st centuries within and outside of Japan, always in the inspirations Sukiya style have brought. They made numerous connections to their respective architecture. Notable aspects are creating a regular grid structure, the expressive use of materials, the informal aesthetics ( especially compared to the Shoin style) as well as the strong relationship between interior and exterior space. However, the Sukiya style is not to be understood as the sole author of these principles in this case, because it - has been similar parallel developments - at least outside of Japan. Nevertheless, it provides a variety of inspirations. In its original pure form, the style is still used for the planning of traditional tea houses, in a modified form for contemporary living forms or guest houses.

Formation

In 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi introduced ( 1536-1598 ) the tea master Sen no Rikyū as his advisor for a creative questions. In the environment of Hideyoshi jurakudai Castle in Kyoto this planned a building of the size of 18 tatami mats. This object is now regarded as the first of the Sukiya architecture.

During the Azuchi - Momoyama period (1573-1603), the style was further developed. The main focus was now on small buildings with a size of 4.5 tatami mats that were designed exclusively for tea ceremonies. These buildings were usually up directly onto the garden, by means of a curved path, which prevented the direct view of the tea house and should make the garden an experience.

During the Edo period, this style has been applied to all building types: private houses, villas, restaurants, guest houses and so on. The Sukiya style was especially popular among city people. The majority of buildings of this period was built in this style.

Design principles

The Sukiya style are on the symmetry and formality of previous architectures. For this, he builds both the already started in the Shoin - style zigzag principle and that started in the Shinden style strong relationship between interior and exterior space further. During the Shoin style continued to be used for official buildings, the new Sukiya style especially for the houses of the nobles by his less formal design characteristics has become popular. The residential areas were usually large complexes with extensive gardens, similar to Buddhist temples at this time. While this temple, however, most were in gardens, which were surrounded by a wall, the gardens of the Sukiya buildings were far ausschweifendend. In both cases, however, the relationship between the living area and garden was immense: either opened the rooms to the garden or there was a framed view out into the open.

As with previous styles were wooden structures used, which, however, were much lighter and the natural characteristics better brought to expression. In the roofing timber boards or shingles, as well as thick layers of cedar bark were used, which had a very soft design result. Solid walls were plastered with either plain white lime plaster or textured loam. The remaining walls were made of sliding panels that were either translucent ( shoji ) or opaque ( fusuma ). The floors were usually covered with tatami mats, or consisted only of wood planks and were separated by a shoji of the so-called Engawa, a kind of porch under the roof overhang, which forms a zone between inside and outside.

Inside the building, highlighting the naturalness of the materials used is now playing a major role. The Sukiya Shoin room, a sort of reception room for guests, has retained all the essential design features of the Shoin style, such as exhibition space ( tokonoma ), desk ( tsukeshoin ) and staggered shelves ( chigaidana ). All the elements were, however, arranged in a lesser formality, but greater creativity.

Compared to the Shoin style

In the Azuchi - Momoyama (1573-1603) and Edo period (1603-1868) is not only the Sukiya style has developed, but also in some cases significantly different Shoin style, which was used for residential buildings of the warrior class.

While a Sukiya building was relatively small and easy always, these buildings are always far licentious, with huge lobbies that celebrate the pompous of the feudal lords. A good example is the production of flowers jewelry is Tokonoma: In buildings of the Shoin - style guest usually sits with his back to this gem, so that the landlord can consider this. In Sukiya style, this was always the other way around, and the guest could look at all the beauty of the objects.

In addition, the Shoin style has a much greater rigor in terms of design and arrangement of individual elements. So Tokonoma, shelves and the installation desk ( shoin ) are always arranged according to a fixed rule, which was not the case in Sukiya building. Other design features, such as the square column cross -section, carved door thresholds, elaborately painted wall surfaces or ceiling decorations with fine hexagonal wood have the stringent formalism in the Shoin - style back additionally.

In comparison, one finds in the Sukiya style irregular column cross -sections, often just a simple tree trunk or branch that has only been planed and polished a bit. The natural properties of the materials were always in the foreground. The walls were only provided with easy cleaning, door thresholds kept very simple, ceilings also.

The beauty of the Sukiya style came not by elaborate ornaments and strict formalism but by highlighting the natural beauty of the materials used.

Teahouse

The most prominent representative of the Sukyia style are the Japanese tea houses: small rooms, always surrounded by a garden and designed for play the ideals of style. Most of the tea houses are owned building in the garden, which are only intended to hold a tea ceremony. In some cases, these were also rooms in the main building, but in each case had its own entrance from the outside.

Examples

• Katsura Rikyu (桂 离宫), Kyoto, mid 17th century
• Manjuin Koshoin (曼 珠 院 小 书院), Kyoto, mid 17th century
• Nishihonganji Kuroshoin (西 本 愿 寺 黒 书院), Kyoto, late 16th century

Gallery

Interiors in Sukiya style

Jo -an tea house in Inuyama, Aichi