A traditional Japanese house is built by erecting wooden pillars on a flat foundation of solid earth or rock. Wooden houses must exist all over the world. But What are the characteristics of the Japanese cultural house, which has four distinct seasons, including sweltering and humid summers and freezing winters?
Traditional Japanese House - Outer and Inside Gates and Guardrails
Some of the houses are fenced with gates and fences or walls surrounding the yard's boundaries. There are various types of gates: some are made of wood and have a roof, and some are fenced with iron. Fences or walls can be made of solid hardened earth, built with bricks from Oya stone (a type of volcanic rock) or made of wooden planks. Sometimes, a hedge of trees or shrubs can be planted instead of a fence.
Floor That Prevents Damp
In order to prevent moisture from the ground from getting into the house, the floor was raised several tens of centimeters (about 18 inches) and placed over horizontal wooden floor joists. The kitchen and hallways have wooden floors, but rooms where people sit, such as the living room, are covered with mats called tatami made of woven grass. This type of room with tatami mats is called a washitsu, a Japanese-style room. Japanese people generally don't use chairs on tatami mats, so people sit directly on the tatami or on flat cushions called a zabuton. This is why people take off their shoes when entering Japanese homes.
Large Roof Support Frame
The frame of the Japanese house is made of wood, and vertical columns, horizontal beams, and diagonal supports support its weight. Diagonal braces came into use when foreign technology was brought to Japan. One of the characteristics of Japanese houses is that they have a large roof and a deep roof to protect the home from the hot summer sun, and the frame of the house supports the weight of the roof.
Non-Combustible Wall
In ancient times, the house's walls were made of woven bamboo plastered on both sides with soil. But nowadays, various materials have been developed, and plywood is often used. In the past, many houses also had walls with exposed columns, but in the Meiji period (1868–1912), houses were made by wrapping columns inside the walls to reduce the fire risk. In 1919, the 8th year of the Taisho era, a legal requirement was made that the walls of wooden buildings in urban areas be built this way.'
Rain Flows from the Roof
Many roofs in the past were covered with shingles or thatch, but today most are covered with roof tiles called kawara. The roof is the part of the house that is most affected by rain, wind, snow, sunlight and other natural conditions. While there are several differences between the roofs seen in different parts of Japan, they all have one thing in common: they are sloped, rather than flat, allowing rainwater to drain easily.
Japanese homes have evolved over the years by combining traditional shapes with modern technology to increase their fire resistance and comfort. As a result, they are no longer like the traditional houses introduced here. But recently, there has been renewed interest in using traditional methods to build eco-friendly, long-lasting homes.