Japanese Architecture and Pottery - Research Paper Example

 Visual Arts and Film Studies, Essay Japanese Architecture and Pottery Japan is one region that is very rich in terms of traditional culture. This can be seen in various forms around the country and also in very many countries that showcase the Japanese art and culture. The art forms include tea ceremony, flower arrangements, calligraphy, ink paintings, haiku poetry, in gardening, the sculptures and textiles among many other art forms. According to Addiss et al (2006) concerning the Japanese culture and art they said that: It has become increasingly evident that the cultural and the artistic traditions of Japan, perhaps more than any other element in that society, helped create a consciousness among Japanese of their history and identity and provided, and still provide, a context for an understanding of the aims and accomplishments of their culture. In addition, there is now a greater interest in traditional Japanese culture abroad than ever before. Art exhibition, touring theatrical groups, translations of traditional Japanese literature... This implies that the Japanese culture is one of the cultures in the world that is quite authentic. This is the main reason as to why I chose for my essay to analyze the Japanese craftsmanship. The craftsmanship itself has simplicity and pays attention to the rigorous details and furthermore the procedure and art of how the objects are made with. One of the main inspiration of the Japanese concept is from my visit to an exhibition that was held at Design Museum ”Product Fitness 80” by Muji that was held in the last spring of 2012. In this exhibition I was inspired greatly by the main purpose of the exhibition which was to bring into focus the minimum usage of materials and energy in order to make various products. One of the eye catching products that I saw in this exhibition is the pottery that was assembled using Kintsugi technique. This technique uses old objects that are recycled in order to come up with a new product. This was common in the Edo period. With this in mind my paper will be split in to different sections in order to analyze the Japanese craftsmanship in a simple manner. The first section of the paper will be looking at the history of the Japanese craftsmanship briefly thereafter I shall look at different aspects of craftsmanship through a series of case studies being analyzed. HISTORY OF THE JAPANESE ART According to Lonsdale (2008), the Japanese style has many strands that re made together in order to come with a modern style in the Japanese culture. Swann (1979) points out that the Japanese art is a subject that covers a wide array of styles and also art Medias; the art itself covers ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and also bronze. Ink painting and calligraphy on silk and also papers is also part of the Japanese art, there are also some art like ukiyo-e prints on woodblocks and in the recent art form in the Japanese culture is the manga- which is modern Japanese cartoons. Apart from these arts the Japanese art has a very long history ranging from the first habitation of humans in Japan during the 10th millennium B.C to the present generation. Japan throughout the history has experienced sudden invasions in relation to new and foreign ideas thereafter it suffers from extensive periods of very small contact with the other spheres of the world in terms of the art. With time the Japanese in general has managed to develop the capability to mimic, absorb and also incorporate the various elements from the foreign culture and then complement it with their artistic like s and preferences. One of the complex arts in Japan was produced in the early 7th and 8th Centuries and the art was in relation to the Buddhism religion. By 9th Century Japan had started creating indigenous art and therefore the secular art gained quite a lot of momentum and by the 15th Century the religious and secular arts were flourishing so much (Tsuda, 2009). From 1467 to 1477 Japan experienced turmoil in terms of the political, economical and social atmosphere and the problems were created by the Ōnin War that took place during the said period. After the war period the problems persisted for a period of nearly over a century. After that period Japan came out under the headship of Tokugawa shogunate and with this period the religion did not play a major role in the people’s way of living therefore leaving only the secular arts to survive as the religious arts were diminishing. One of the most preferred artistic expressions in Japan is painting. Painting itself is practiced by both the professional painters and amateurs too. In the past, the Japanese used to write with a brush rather than a pen and this has contributed to their familiarity with the brush techniques and methods that have in the end made them part and parcel of the values and aesthetics of the painting. The Edo period brought about a style of printing on the woodblocks called ukiyo-e that was influenced by the popular culture and also as a result it lead to ukiyo-e becoming a major art form and the techniques used had to be made perfect in order to be used to reproduce beautiful prints from nearly everything including schoolbooks to even the news. This resulted to the sculpture as an art form being found as less sympathetic as a way of artistic expression. The sculptures in the Japanese society is connected to the Buddhism and due to the declining relevance of the traditional Buddhism it led to the waning of the sculpture as an art; Muraoka et al. (1973). Japanese ceramics are some of the worlds finest and also the ceramics comprise of some of the earliest relics of the Japanese culture. In the architectural spheres the Japanese form their types of architectures indicate their preferences for natural materials and also the relation between the interior space and the exterior space are clearly demarcated and articulated. As a result Japan can be clearly seen as a competitor and rival to many other nations in terms of its contribution to the modern art, fashion and even architecture with most of the Japanese creations being very modern, up-to-date, worldwide and also very multi-cultural sided. CASE STUDIES Japanese Ceramics (pottery) Wilson (1999) is of the opinion that the Japanese ceramics tradition cannot be compared with any other as it is technical and the style is also diverse especially with the way the ceramics are expressive in terms of content and the massive levels of appreciation the ceramics receive both in Japan and also around the world. When it comes to Japanese ceramics, the components involved will mostly be the tools for making the ceramics, the materials to be used and also the procedures in making the ceramics. All these components play a major part in influencing how the traditional Japanese Ceramic will end up looking or feel. Some of the well known wares that are synonymous with the Japanese ceramics include: Bizen, Mino, Karatsu, Hagi and Kyoto. By referring to Japanese ceramics, one thing that is mentioned in the same breath is the Kintsugi. Meyer, 2011 defines Kintsugi as a word referring to the golden joinery in Japanese. It basically means that it is a Japanese art of fixing and repairing broken pottery with mostly a resin specifically lacquer that is sprinkled with powdered gold. The word itself is assumed to have originated sometimes back in the late 15th Century when the then shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl back to China in order for it to undergo repairs. Thereafter when the tea bowl returned it was repaired albeit with metal staples that made it look ugly. This might have prompted the Japanese craftsmen to delve into a more aesthetic mode of repairing ceramics. The collectors became so captivated by the new art that many were accused of deliberately shattering the valuable ceramics in order to be repaired with the gold seams of Kintsugi. Kintsugi therefore ended being very much linked with the pottery and ceramic utensils that are mostly used during the Japanese tea ceremony. With Kintsugi there was a lot of re-use, repairing and recycling of old ceramics in order to come up with a new product. This old technique was very common in the Edo period where it was mainly used to repair pottery instead of the current use in terms of the aesthetic beauty more than the repairing function of Kintsugi. Another concept very much related to the Kintsugi method of ceramics is the Wabi Sabi. “The concept of Wabi-Sabi stands for a collective Japanese world view or aesthetic perspective on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic perspective is sometimes described as one of beauty that is imperfect, impermanent and incomplete.” (Koren, 2008).The concept itself is originally derived from the Buddhist teachings on the three marks of existence that includes impermanence and also suffering and emptiness or sometimes referred to as absence of self-nature. Crowley et al. (2001, pp1.) summed up the Wabi-Sabi concept by saying: “Many today are drawn to eastern philosophies in their search for inner peace. Similarly, many are drawn to Eastern design because of the sense of harmony and balance that it can impart. Wabi-Sabi is neither just an excuse for another in the long list of trendy design books based on ‘Asiatica’ nor another variation of Zen-inspired minimalist modernism. It is a system of aesthetic judgment rooted in nature’s simple system of order that has long stood the test of time. It embodies concepts that are as fresh today as they were a thousand years ago. Technologies may change, but both nature and basic human needs remain constant. The objective of Wabi-Sabi inspired design is to achieve the same sense of ordered placement and balance within interior space that is found within nature.” The concept can sometimes be used as a reference for Japanese rustic design but this will imply that the design has crudeness and lacks sophistication in it therefore the Wabi-Sabi concept is not limited to crudeness alone instead it covers earthiness and with that comes the ultimate sophistication. A good example that showcases this embodiment is mostly cited in particular styles of the Japanese pottery. Japanese tea ceremony which is very dear to the Japanese culture often, the pottery ceramics used are mostly simple looking and rustic too for example the Hagi ware; the pottery normally does not have shapes that are symmetrical and the colors and textures used on the pottery do appear to emphasize an unrefined or simple style. The example is the picture below which is a Hagi ware that is used in the Japanese tea ceremony that takes into consideration the Wabi-Sabi concept. In most cases these said items are quite expensive and thus it is for the knowledge and the ability to observe of the participant that will help him or her to notice and discern the veiled signs of a truly above excellent design or glaze. In most cases this is interpreted as Wabi-Sabi kind of aesthetic. This can be further proved with the way the color of the glazed item changes over time as hot water is repeatedly poured into the ceramics (sabi) and the detail that the tea bowls used in the Japanese ceremony are mostly deliberately whittled and chipped and nicked at the bottom of the ceramic (wabi). All this serve as the signature identity of the Hagi-Yaki style in Japanese pottery. Mobile Reference, 2007 asserts that; “Hagi Yaki style of pottery in Japanese is mostly identifiable for the humble forms and use of the translucent white glaze the finished pottery has. The origin of the style is said to have started in the 17th Century when the Japanese had been invading Korea. The potters are credited with introducing the concept after being brought back from Korea. The daimyo in the localities during the time were so much interested in the tea ceremony that they funded the production of these wares.” In a typical production, the potters mix different types of the local clay. The result will be of standard variation which is the pink –orange color which is referred to as Korean clay. The pottery wares are thereafter formed on the potters’ wheel and decoration especially with translucent glaze of feldspar and ash are added. There is a signature chip that is usually located on the bottom of every pottery. This is from a local tradition that was emulated from the Edo period whereby the potters would think of deliberately disfigure their pottery in order to sell them to the merchants around rather than presenting them as gifts to the Mōri clan. Japanese Architecture: Nakagin Capsule Tower The Japanese architecture is one that incorporates different aspects from time immemorial and the modern architecture might appear different whereas they are similar to the traditional one. From the traditional architecture the main purpose that the architecture will be looking at will include the size and functionality of the architecture itself and this has made the Japanese come up with different ideas to solve when it comes to housing situation in Japan. Metabolism Around the late 1950’s a small group made up of young Japanese architects and also designers combined forces under the title “Metabolism”. The groups vision for the most of the Japanese cities of the future was that they will be inhabited by a great number of society characterized by the large scale, very flexible and expandable architectural structures that will evoke the main process of organic growth. From their own point of view the fixed forms and functions that are based on traditional laws were becoming obsolete. “The Metabolism was created post World War II Japan and one of the major works that the movement was concerned about was the housing issues. Under the guidance of Kenzo Tange, the architects Takashi Asadi, Kisho Kurokawa, Kiyonori Kikutake, and writer Noboru Kawazoe met often and discussed the direction of Japanese architecture and urbanism.” (Cooper, 2009) Kenzo Tange (Born September1913-March 22nd 2005) Japanese architect and winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture. He was one of the most important architects in the 20th Century; he combined modernizing together with the Japanese traditional styles and furthermore designed major buildings around the world according to White & Tange (1990). Tange was also the very influential patron of Metabolist movement. He was of the opinion that , “It was , I believe, around 1959 or at the beginning of the sixties that I began to think about what I was later to call structuralism,” (Plan 2, 1982, Amsterdam: Rooijendijk, 2005).This was in reference to an architectural association and group then, known as Dutch Structuralism (Colquhuon, 2002, pp 223). Tange was also influenced from an early age by Le Corbusier who was a Swiss modernist then. Tange gained quite an international recognition especially in 1949 where he won the competition for the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park design. In 1950s, he was also a member of the Congres Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM). CIAM also had a group of younger architects of which they were known as Team X and Tange did not join the group although his 1960 Tokyo Bay plan was very influential for the Team X in the 1960s same as the group that came to be known as Metabolism( Mumford, 2000, Brott, 2011, pp 75) Another very influential architect during this period was Kisho Kurokawa. In 1960, Kisho together with other architectural colleagues cofounded the Metabolist Movement. The members came to be known as Metabolists. The Metabolist Movement was the avant-garde in Japan at that time forging and combining and also recycling the architectural styles in the Asian context. The concept of eco- driven and a sustainable architecture was mainly emphasized by Kisho although later on he became inflexible on environmental protection.(Kisho, 1977) “The architecture especially the metabolism driven kind of architecture, tradition may not be very visible but behind the surface, the work is basically Japanese.” (Kisho, 1992). Nonetheless, it is quite difficult to assume that the modern technology and also the materials that Kisho called on; that was inherited from the traditional Japanese design and furthermore the traditional forms of the Japanese architecture can be recognized in his contemporary concrete or steel towers. Thus far, Kisho’s architecture has ‘metamorphed’ from the traditional Japanese style in addition to the aesthetic perspective of his work. His architecture focused in keeping traditional Japanese concepts of being invisible in relation to materiality, impermanence, receptivity and also in details. This was borrowed from the Wabi-Sabi concept in the Japanese pottery. Kisho’s idea was that buildings should be as natural as possible as this will enable them be in harmony with the rest of the nature as the structures are temporarily there and this has enabled the tradition of the buildings and cities having “temporary’ structures. Also the idea of impermanence can be reflected on his structures too during the Metabolism Movement. Buildings are removable and interchangeable and very much adaptable. A perfect design that follows this concept is the Nakagin Capsule Tower: Kurokawa was the brains behind the innovative creation of the Nakagin Capsule Tower in the 1972. This was the first capsule architecture design. 2003, How it works explains that: ”The main purpose of the capsules was to accommodate the travelling businessmen that worked during the week in central Tokyo. It is a prototype for the architecture that focuses on sustainability and recyclability. The design is such that each module can be plugged in to the central core and also replaced whenever necessary.” The capsule was built in the Ginza area of Tokyo with a total of 140 capsules stacked 14 stories high that were rotated in various angles around the central core. Kurokawa’s technology allowed each unit that was installed to the concrete core to be fastened with only 4 high- tension bolts that keeps the units replaceable. In each unit it measures 4 by 2.5 meters giving enough room for one person to live comfortably. The interior can also be manipulated in each capsule by connecting it to other capsules. The pieces and pods were made in a factory in Shiga Prefecture and then they were transported to the site by a truck. The pre- assembled interior included the circular window, in-built bed and bathroom and the whole unit is furnished with a TV, radio and an alarm clock. The capsules were hoisted by a crane and then inserted in the shipping containers with a crane before being fastened to the concrete core shaft. Built in the Ginza area of Tokyo, a total of 140 capsules are stacked and rotated at varying angles around a central core, standing 14-stories high. The technology developed by Kurokawa allowed each unit to be installed to the concrete core with only 4 high-tension bolts, which keeps the units replaceable. Burkhart and Arieff (2002 pp34) describes the architecture in the sense that, ” Each capsule measures 4 x 2.5 meters, permitting enough room for one person to live comfortably. The interior space of each module can be manipulated by connecting the capsule to other capsules.” All pieces of the pods were manufactured in a factory in Shiga Prefecture then transported to the site by truck. The pre-assembled interior features a circular window, built-in bed and bathroom, and is furnished with a TV, radio and alarm clock. Hoisted by a crane, the capsules were inserted in the shipping containers by use of a crane, and then fastened to the concrete core shaft. Most apartments and high-rise buildings in Tokyo are examples of the Metabolism architecture movement that Kisho focused on. The theme of temporality in the Nakagin Capsule Tower is meant to highlight what Kurokawa observed in the Japanese history that the cities are built from natural materials with a very unpredictable and temporary lifespan. The tower design period was four months short than the usual designs and furthermore the capsules are derelicts of their former self currently as designers, engineers and architects are trying to come up with options of preserving the capsules. In conclusion the traditional Japanese architecture and pottery design keeps evolving and at the same time they are in tandem with the modern technology which is embraced and hence the legacy left by the old designs and concepts are relevant even in the present day. 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Monticello, Ill., USA, Vance Bibliographies. WILSON, R. L. (1999). Inside Japanese ceramics: a primer of materials, techniques, and traditions. New York [u.a.], Weatherhill. Read More