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Light and Space

Light and space abound in this restored farmhouse. The high beams are tied with straw rope.

A Japanese room is a composition of line and texture and the play of light therein. Its beauty derives from the effect of its shadows, which suggest light, and its walls, which both delineate and allude to space beyond with windows and other vistas. The silent, the unseen, the unexpressed speaks just as tellingly as the spoken, the visible, the obvious.

The Japanese aesthetic is played in a minor key. The subtle is preferred to the obvious. Light implies the presence of shadows, and it is the shadows that are loved. Unlike Westerners, who worship the sun, the Japanese have moon-viewing parties; they use parasols for protection from the sun.

Traditionally it has been felt that things of beauty are enhanced by shadow and reflection. In In Praise of Shadows, Junichiro Tanizaki observed that even for household implements Japanese prefer "colors compounded of darkness," whereas in the West the preference is for the "colors of sunlight." The colors of darkness appeal because of the underlying beauty to be discovered within. How much more beautiful the gold leaf of screens and scrolls, the lustrous depth of lacquer, the handloomed weave of a silk obi (kimono sash) when seen by flickering candlelight or the gentle light of an andon (paper-covered lamp).

The Japanese approach to light can be seen in the Akari light. Inspired by traditional lanterns covered with washi, lsamu Noguchi, himself the product of an East-West marriage, created his first Akari lights in the 1950s. These were simple washi-and-bamboo lamps designed to capture and diffuse light softly, gently. Well aware of the warmth and beauty of the chochin (traditional wood-and-paper lantern), Noguchi warned against using bright bulbs within.

Some things are better left suggested, undefined, unclear. The Akari light was designed to provide warmth, shadow, and atmosphere, rather than fluorescent clarity. That these beautiful, handmade lights have remained popular for over thirty years, and are found in even the most modern interiors (pp. 14, 15, 23, and 41), attests to the wisdom of the traditional approach to lighting, as well as to Noguchi's sensitive fusion of traditional and modern ideas.

Shōji and sudare (reed or bamboo blinds) create a sensuous, textural atmosphere in a roorn. The harsh light of day is refined and diffused. The world outside takes on a surreal quality when filtered through bamboo or paper (pp. 32, 34, and 35). Inside, an ordinary room can be transformed into a magical place by shoji and sudare, which give play to light and shadow.

Shōji help define space too. Closed, they create a wall, a barrier, even a room. Opened, the wall or room disappears. Different types of screens can also be used, from the simple tsuitate (free-standing screen) covered with a Clifton Karhu woodblock print in John McGee's formal entrance (p. 39), to the elegant Kana school screen in the Mitsui house (p. 40). Fusuma (sliding doors) also create space, bringing tremendous flexibility to the Japanese interior. Four small rooms circumscribed by fusuma can suddenly become one large room. The marvelous flexibility of space created by shoji and fusuma brings exciting possibilities to modern living, where space is limited. In our own modern apartment, sets of shoji on two walls close to create an instant dining room when we entertain guests.

The concept that space is containable even by paper walls is striking to Westerners, who know walls only as solid barriers. Walls, even paper walls, can be effective in maintaining privacy, creating a mood or an instant room. The magic of shoji! The power of paper walls!

GENKAN: THE FACE OF A HOME

The genkan is the index of the lifestyle inside the home. More than just a beautiful entrance, it is a space for a psychological transition from the public outer world to the private inner world. Visitors are welcomed by a perfect objet d'art, an arrangement of fresh flowers, or a jaunty collection of objects that defines the taste, interests, and style of those who live within.

Beckoning cats, threatening demons, and menacing masks surprise visitors coming to the apartment of woodblock artist Yasuhiko Kida.

In the entrance of the Knode home, a collection of hats rests atop a large mizuya (kitchen chest).

Awaiting Kida-san's departure are beautiful handmade geta (wooden clogs) in an antique Spanish cupboard.

IDEAS FOR ENTRANCEWAYS

The entrance sets the mood for the entire house. An unusual painting, a soft light, or fresh flowers can make a statement that is strong or subtle. Doorways can be accented with noren (doorway curtains), usually hung at shop entrances.

An eight-panel, linen noren with a rabbit design welcomes guests and family to the living room of a restored farmhouse.

A still life of brown-lacquer boxes and orange gourds on a marble table creates a thoughtful mood.

A smart silk shade on a bamboo lamp casts a warm glow over a hat and partially illuminates a bouquet of poppies on the right and a scroll behind.

Guarding the entrance of this restored Karuizawa farmhouse is a bold brush-stroke daruma (representation of the Indian priest Bodhidharma, invoked for his ability to fulfill wishes). The handmade washi paper on which it is painted blocks drafts in the old wooden house. A colorful turtle-and-crane tsutsugaki (free-hand, paste-resist technique of dyeing cloth) quilt cover hangs from the beams over a basket of wildflowers. The flowers are flanked by two small, stone wild boars, symbols of courage and strength. Objects with good-luck motifs are favorite choices for entrances to homes.

AIR AND SPACE

The interplay of paper and light can create different moods, dynamic or restful. Combinations of light, space, and art create different effects.

There is a feeling of airiness in this living room, where paper blinds made of joined squares of crumpled washi diffuse light without restricting the space.

A modern genkan serves as a minigallery for the huge, explosive calligraphy Kumo, by Junko Suzuki. Skylights and clean white walls add a contemporary feeling of airiness and space. A tsutsugaki quilt cover with a crane motif and a lacquered toy horse from an Aizu Wakamatsu samurai house surround a backpack basket bursting with flowers arranged by Harumi Nibe.

ANTIQUE TRIO

The use of antiques creates an atmosphere of calm and good taste.

A handsome nineteenth-century kyokuroku (priest's chair), a scroll with tasseled weights, and a polychrome lmari platter set the mood at the entrance to the Knode house.

Announcing the arrival of autumn, an arresting flower arrangement in the genkan brings nature inside the house. The charming asymmetry of a Bizen pot from the Momoyama period completes the tableau.

High-tech magic. Hidden behind the warm, wooden craftsmanship of classical Japan is the high-tech craftsmanship of today. Utterly opposing media show the same high level of workmanship and an ingenious use of materials.

GRACEFUL LIVING

The built-in daybed is wrapped in windows. While reading a book or taking a nap you can enjoy the beautiful continuity of the trees outside and the art inside, the carved ranma (wooden transom) above and the painted fusuma to one side.

Unfinished beams bound with rough rice straw hold the house together, while making a beautiful composition.

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE

Overleaf: The graceful harmony of beauty inside and outside creates an ambience of peace and visual richness. The magnificent daimyo hibachi (brazier made for a feudal lord) by the window is framed by two shokudai (candle-stands), creating a spot for conversing and enjoying the Knode garden through the elegant filter of tasseled bamboo sudare.

BAMBOOZLED

One never tires of looking at bamboo, its many forms, its many uses.

Bamboo is silhouetted on the shOji behind a Bunraku (Japanese puppetry) lectern.

A yukitsuri (skirt of straw rope and bamboo) protects trees from snow and wind.

A bamboo ladle rests on a stone basin.

Money is said to multiply when washed in the waters of the Zeni Arai Benten shrine in Kamakura.

An old man of the Meiji era straightens bamboo joints by moistening them, then holding them over fire.

A bamboo grove at dusk is an unforgettable memory.

WINDOWS AND LIGHT

In Patricia Salmon's elegant city flat, windows give onto the greenery of a temple next door, providing a natural spotlight for the dramatic sculpture by Masayuki Nagare and light for peaceful reading. Converted bronze shokudai from the Meiji era make stately lamps. A footed, lacquer tray holds magazines.

The shape and placement of a window can determine the character of a room. This area was a dark space until the window was added, creating an interplay of light and shadow. Clean white walls and tatami floors contrast with the earthy textures of the beams and reeds on the ceiling.

WINDOW ART

The magic of shoji transforms the bamboo grove outside into alternating patterns of light and dark, nature and geometry.

Kyoto carpenters used masterful techniques to design this bell-shaped, lacquered window. Adjacent is the family altar, originally built in Kyoto and moved to Tokyo some thirty years ago by the Mitsui family.

The historic Sengakuji temple is the famous site of the mass suicide of forty-seven ronin (masterless samurai) in 1703. The marvelous architectural concept of shakkei (use of nearby scenery as a background) blends the temple and its flowering cherry tree with the state-of-the-art architecture of Edward Suzuki. Ascending the stairs of the house of Hilary and Carlo Colombo, one realizes the house was planned around this moment, when inside and outside combine in the meeting of the temple's cherry blossoms and the arrangement of blue and white lmari ware on a tansu (wooden chest).

THE ART OF WINDOWS

The concept of oku (distance) is central to Japanese architecture. It serves to lead the eye from the surface to beyond and within. This creates a feeling of space and dimension in a seemingly natural way, though it is, of course, entirely contrived.

The ultimate art is nature, here filtered through reed sudare with classic hooks and tassels.

Light creates a perfect space. Details like a copper basin, masterly woodwork, and light represent the thoughtful taste for beauty even in utilitarian places.

Scores of torii (Shinto-shrine archways) dramatically compel the eye and spirit to travel through them to the deities of Zeni Arai Benten, the famed money-washing shrine in Kamakura.

The interior serves as a frame for the beauty of nature outside.

The carpenter shapes nature. He plans and designs shōji that highlight nature's beauty with dramatic, one-of-a-kind frames.

Carpenter and gardener join to enhance nature by showing it through a window. By having the outdoors as one of its integral parts, the house itself becomes more beautiful.

Soft light filtered through modern washi blinds by Hiroshi Morishima gives a shimmering loveliness to the living room of Stephen and Elizabeth Stonefield. The large ceramic rabbit on the coffee table started life as a nineteenth-century incense burner, used to repel insects when kimono were aired.

LIGHT AND SHADOW

In praise of shadows. Soft, diffused light creates shadows, warm and mysterious.

A lamp on a table with bowed legs lights up the European-style living room. Behind are a classic Japanese wing and garden.

A standing Akari light casts a soft glow on a tansu and fish sculpture.

An oversized fan made of was hi and bamboo welcomes visitors with its atmospheric light.

Used only three or four times in its entire three-hundred-year history, this entrance to a traditional Japanese house was built to welcome an exalted teacher or lord. The series of glowing lights leads the eye to an inner room graced by a tsuitate mounted with a Clifton Karhu woodblock print.

Andon are ingenious wood-and-paper creations originally designed for candlelight. Construction of the portable lamps varied, depending on how the candle or oil plate was fixed. Repapering the lanterns with oldwashi or woodblock prints produces interesting effects.

In the artful corner of kitchen central, an old porcelain sake keg sheds light on note pads used for planning the day's activities. Okame-san (round-faced, smiling woman, the ideal of feminine good nature) gives her silent blessing.

At the entrance of A.B. Clarke's house, an unusually shaped kabekake an don (bamboo and washi walllamp) sends a mellow glow over a basket of flowers and a cho dansu (shopkeeper's chest for accounting), a mark of status during the Edo period.

A wide-brimmed shade over a converted blue and white vase provides light and atmosphere at the same time.

In this aristocratic entrance, the diffused light picks up subtle gold highlights in the elegant screen within and invites you to venture inside.

An early Showa-era ceiling light casts a glow over a "demon queller" scroll and other paintings, making the staircase a fascinating place to linger.

A reading andon sheds a soft light on its surroundings.

Far from wasting space, stairs can celebrate space, as shown here in the Hoksbergen house. Baskets on stair rungs are both handy and attractive. Baskets on the landing add interest too. The large one boasts a huge collection of corks from wine bottles. The simple washi lantern gently illuminates the soft blues, whites, and pinks of the tsutsugaki quilt cover, which bears the auspicious motifs of crane and turtle, bamboo, pine, and plum.

MARRIAGE OF LIGHT AND SPACE

The gentle glow of an andon sends light in different directions, illuminating a nineteenth-century naga dansu (long, top-opening chest), a frolicking rabbit tsutsugaki quilt cover, and massive beams overhead. Willow branches studded with pink and white rice balls are decorations for the new year.

A multifaceted, nineteenth-century andon stands over a carved wooden cat.

Suspended on an old piece of bamboo, a stencil-dyed, indigo yogi (padded sleeping kimono) hangs ready for use during cold Karuizawa winters.

An auspicious Mt. Fuji-shaped candelabrum, probably from a shrine, sits on a disguised heater. Beside it is a hexagonal andon with an arm to raise or lower the candles for lighting. At night, the flickering candles transform the room.