Zashiki : the Essence of the Japanese Dwelling?
Résumé
Lately, contemporary architecture, especially housing, has been globalized. Japanese dwelling is no exception. Nevertheless, a lot of modern and contemporary Japanese houses contain a “Japanese room”, called “washitsu”, in opposition to “Western room” called “yōshitsu”. The washitsu often presents the characteristic of a simplified form of a reception room for guests of the shoin-zukuri style, which is called zashiki. This room was originally ornamented with a tokonoma, chigaidana, tsukeshoin, and chōdai gamae, a set of decorative items called zashiki kazari, which was developed during Middle Ages. From early modern period, all warriors’ houses, regardless of status, contained a more or less refined zashiki reception room. The shoin-zukuri style quickly influenced the Edo period Japanese dwelling of all classes, and zashiki were built in urban machiya or in rural nōka. The room became the “beautiful room” of the house and the common feature of all classes of society. Through the modern and contemporary era, along with the influence of the Western way of life, the Japanese house changed, the use of tatami gradually disappeared and more and more Western style reception rooms were built. Nowadays, in spite of drastic changes in Japanese dwelling, zashiki rooms are still built and are called washitsu. Thus, we could say that the “Japanese room” embodies the Japanese culture. In this paper, we would like to understand why and how the architecture of the warriors has influenced so deeply the Japanese dwelling, and how the zashiki features became the core of Japanese domestic architecture.