Tokugawa Yoshinobu announcing the restoration of imperial rule in the Kuroshoin of the Ninomaru Palace
The term "National Treasure" has been used in Japan to denote cultural properties since 1897.[1] The items are selected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology based on their "especially high historical or artistic value".[2][3] This list presents 14[nb 1] entries of residential structures from 15th-century feudal Muromachi period to the early modern 17th-century Edo period. The structures listed include teahouses, shoin, guest or reception halls and other rooms which are part of Japanese domestic architecture, while most of the structures are located in temples, one is a castle.[3] In 2009, the early 20th century Akasaka Palace was designated as National Treasure in the category of "modern residences" (Meiji period and later). Because it is the only National Treasure in this category, it is listed together with the 14 pre-Meiji period structures.[4]
The foundations for the design of today's traditional Japanese residential houses with tatami floors were established in the late Muromachi period and refined during the ensuing Momoyama period.[5][6]Shoin-zukuri, a new architectural style influenced by zenBuddhism, developed during that time from the shinden-zukuri of earlier Heian period palaces and the subsequent residential style favored by the warrior class during the Kamakura period.[5][7][8] The term shoin (書院), meaning study or drawing room, has been used to denote reception rooms in residences of the military elite as well as study rooms at monasteries.[5][9] A shoin has a core area surrounded by aisles, with smaller areas separated by fusuma sliding doors, or shōji partitions constructed of paper on a wooden frame or wooden equivalents, mairado (舞良戸) and sugido (杉戸).[7] A main reception room is characterized by specific features: a recessed alcove (tokonoma); staggered shelves; built-in desks; and ornate sliding doors.[5][7] Generally the reception room is covered with wall-to-wall tatami, has square beveled pillars, a coved and/or coffered ceiling, and wooden shutters protecting the area from rain (雨戸, amado).[5][7] The entrance hall (genkan) emerged as an element of residential architecture during the Momoyama period.[7] The oldest extant shoin style building is the Tōgu-dō at Ginkaku-ji from 1485. Other representative examples of early shoin style, also called shuden, include two guest halls at Mii-dera.[10] In the early Edo period, shoin-zukuri reached its peak and spread beyond the residences of the military elite.[6] The more formal shoin-style of this period is apparent in the characteristics of Ninomaru Palace at Nijō Castle as well as the shoin at Nishi Hongan-ji.[6][11]
The simpler style used in the architecture of tea houses for the tea ceremony developed in parallel with shoin-zukuri. In the 16th century Sen no Rikyū established dedicated "grass hut" (草庵, sōan) style teahouses characterized by their small size of typically two to eightmat, the use of natural materials, and rustic appearance.[12] This teahouse style, exemplified by the Jo-an and Tai-an teahouses, was influenced by Japanese farmhouse style and the shoin style[13] featuring tatami matted floors, recessed alcoves (tokonoma) and one or more ante chambers for preparations.[13]
By the beginning of the Edo period, the features of the shoin and the teahouse styles began to be blended.[14] The result was an informal version of the shoin style, called sukiya-zukuri (数寄屋造).[15][16]Sukiya-zukuri has the characteristic decorative alcove and shelf, and utilizes woods such as cedar, pine, hemlock, bamboo, and cypress, often with rough surfaces including the bark.[16] Compared to shoin style, roof eaves in the sukiya style bend downward.[15] While the shoin style was suitable for ceremonial architecture, it became too imposing for residential buildings. Consequently, the less formal sukiya style was used for the mansions of the aristocracy and samurai after the beginning of the Edo period.[16][17] Examples of sukiya style architecture are found at the Katsura Imperial Villa and the Black Study Hall of Nishi Hongan-ji.
Statistics
In total there are 15[nb 1] structures at ten compounds in five cities.[nb 2] Ten of these structures are located in Kyoto. The compound with most National Treasures of the residential building category is Nishi Hongan-ji, with three structures.[18]
Map showing the location of residential National Treasures in Japan
The table's columns (except for Remarks and Image) are sortable pressing the arrows symbols. The following gives an overview of what is included in the table and how the sorting works.
Name: name of the structure as registered in the Database of National Cultural Properties[3][nb 1]
Compound: name of the compound in which the structure is located
Remarks: architecture and general remarks including:
size measured in meters or ken (distance between pillars); "m × n" denotes the length (m) and width (n) of the structure, each measured in ken
architectural style (zukuri) and type of roofing
Date: period and year of the construction; The column entries sort by year. If only a period is known, they sort by the start year of that period.
Location: "town-name prefecture-name" and geo-coordinates of the structure; The column entries sort as "prefecture-name town-name".
Image: picture of the structure; If the image shows more than one structure, the respective structure is indicated by a blue rectangle.
Consists of lower, middle and upper rooms; The lower (gedan) room could be used as a Noh stage with the audience seated in the middle and upper rooms. Upper room 15 mat (alcove and shelves), 18 mat, antechamber 27 mat, entrance from all four sides, single-storied, irimoya style,[ex 1]spring pavilion (泉殿, izumidono) in kirizuma style,[ex 4]sangawarabuki[ex 6] tile roof, entrance porch on west side with a karahafu gable[ex 5] and covered with hinoki cypress bark; The veranda and detached room in the southwest show the adoption of shinden-zukuri.
3 × 2 gate with entrance through the central ken (6.27m ×2.60m (20.6ft ×8.5ft)) and karahafu gables;[ex 5] Also called Chokushimon (gate for imperial messengers), was entirely black-lacquered with four large chrysanthemum and paulownia motifs, covered with hinoki cypress bark
East and west: 8.2m (27ft), north: 7.0m (23.0ft), south: 5.9m (19ft), two-storied: first floor in shoin-zukuri style, second floor in Chinese temple style with a window with an ogee-type pointed top with a series of S-like curves on either side of the peak (katōmado) and a Chinese sliding door; Roof in hōgyō style[ex 7] with shake shingles, bronze phoenix on the roof facing east, building originally called Kannonden (観音殿)
South and north side: 25.8m (85ft), east side: 11.8m (39ft), west side: 12.5m (41ft), three-storied with shake shingles;
1st floor: shoin-zukuri, study room (招賢殿, shōkenden), room of eight scenes (八景之間, hakkei no ma), veranda and tea ceremony room (ikujaku (憶昔)); karahafu gable[ex 5] on one side and irimoya style[ex 1] roof on opposite side; 2nd floor: room of great poets (歌仙之間, kasen no ma) (with paintings of 36 great poets on the wooden doors and walls), mezzanine floor, lightly railed veranda; convex hip and gable roof with undulating bargeboards on three sides; 3rd floor: 8mat, with ogee shaped windows; hōgyō style[ex 7] roof
3m ×3.3m (9.8ft ×10.8ft), 2 matchashitsu, 1 mat anteroom (次の間, tsugi-no-ma) with an itadatami (板畳) board,[nb 6] hearth cut into the host's mat; single-storied, kirizuma style[ex 1] with shake shingles, attached pent roof over hardpacked earthen floor above the entrance; oldest extant teahouse in Japan, designed by Sen no Rikyū
6 × 4, single-storied, yosemune style;[ex 9] four rooms with ten (with attached alcove), eight, six and 4.5 tatami mats, spacious veranda, with a 4.5 + 3/4 matchashitsu called mittan-seki (密庵席); constructed by Kuroda Nagamasa
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The National Treasure structures of Nijō Castle form a continuous structure (Ninomaru Palace) and are registered as a single National Treasure under one registration number. Only in the main treasure table of this article, the single entry is split in parts for readability.
1 2 3 4 5 The Tokyo Akasaka Palace is the only structure in the category of "modern residences" (Meiji period and later). All other structures in this list are much older from the late 15th to early 17th century.
↑ If a National Treasure was constructed during more than one period, only the oldest period is counted.
1 2 One munafuda (棟札) ridge tag with information on the building's construction is attached to the nomination.
↑ An attached room and the connecting corridor between shiroshoin and kuroshoin are included in the nomination.
↑ A board placed in the part of a room that can not be covered by a standard-size tatami.
1 2 3 4 (tsumairi, 妻入): entrance in one of the gable ends with the axis of the approach parallel to the ridge of the roof
1 2 (nokikarahafu, 軒唐破風): an undulating Karahafu gable at eave ends[22]
1 2 3 4 (kirizuma-zukuri, 切妻造): a gabled roof with equal lengths from the ridge to the eaves[23]
1 2 3 4 (karahafu, 唐破風): an undulating bargeboard flowing downwards from the top center with convex curves on each side that change to concave curves which either level off or turn upward at the ends[22]
↑ (sangawarabuki, 桟瓦葺): a roof tile combining a broad concave tile with a semi-cylindrical convex tile into one tile. The tile is square undulating from concave to convex.[28]
1 2 (hōgyō-zukuri, 宝形造): a pyramid shaped roof over a square building[31]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (hongawarabuki, 本瓦葺): a tile roof composed of flat broad concave tiles and semi-cylindrical convex tiles covering the seams of the former[41]
1 2 (yosemune-zukuri, 寄棟造): a hipped roof where the front and back are trapezoidal and the sides triangular in shape; in Japan generally used for buildings of less importance[36]
↑ (ryōsage-zukuri, 両下造): a gable roof without gable pediments because other structures connect to it[37]
↑ (nure-en, 濡縁): shallow veranda outside of the sliding storm doors which is open to the elements even if the eaves have a long overhang[40]
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↑ The Agency for Cultural Affairs (2008-11-01). 国指定文化財 データベース. Database of National Cultural Properties (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2009-03-30. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
↑ 名鉄犬山ホテル 有 楽苑／如庵[Meitetsu Inuyama Hotel Urakuen/Joan] (in Japanese). Meitetsu Inuyama Hotel. Archived from the original on 2006-01-30. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
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