Japan Style: Architecture+Interiors+Design

By Kimie Tada, Noboru Murata, Geeta K. Mehta

Book Overview

Japanese homes speak to the soul and provide a contemplative environment from which to experience the world.

Japan Style offers rare glimpses into twenty exquisite traditional homes in Japan. The lavish photographs in this volume demonstrate how Japanese design achieves a timeless tranquility using a few very simple, natural elements.

Wood is the preferred building material since it is considered a "living" material; the country's Shinto and Zen Buddhist roots have inculcated a deep respect for nature. The houses in this book are a wonderful reminder that there are alternatives to "big is beautiful"--and that neither timelessness nor modernity has to be about using cold steel, glass and concrete.

The wabi-sabi ideal, translated loosely by Frank Lloyd Wright as a "rusticity and simplicity that borders on loneliness," is considered the epitome of sophistication in Japanese interior design. The houses in this book invite us to rethink the wisdom of our hurried modern lifestyle and return to a simpler, slower life.

The quintessential Japanese aesthetic can be seen in a 100-year-old minka farmhouse, an old merchant's machiya townhouse in Kyoto, a sprawling country Samurai villa, and in a modern seaside cottage. This book offers insights for architects and homeowners alike by providing inspiring and surprising alternatives, relevant to the design of homes anywhere in the world today.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 4805315237
• ISBN13: 9784805315231
• Release Date: September 2019
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.7" x 10.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent!

This book is full of great color photos taken in and around 20 spectacular homes in Japan. The emphasis is on the traditional timberframe style, but many of the homes are designed for modern living. The book briefly explains the Japanese design theory, and uses the magnificent Zan Yu So villa as an example, complete with a good floorplan. There is a brief description preceding each home, but the book is more visual than wordy. I also recommend Lenny Brackett's "Building the Japanese House Today", which is my personal favorite.

Indeed an outstanding book

Like one of the other reviewers, I own quite a few books on Japanese houses and architecture. This is an outstanding example, with very beautiful high quality photography and printing, as well as a great selection of houses I have not seen before. Most are traditional, but a few are modern. I am glad I bought this book.

Excellent Book worth every cent

Beautifully illustrated with tons of large pictures of houses and gardens on every page with notes on each one. Very tastefully put together. Great style which epicts beautiful Japanese living in a more contemporary way. An excellent book for anyone wanting ideas on how to decorate their home or garden in the typical Japanese or Asian style. Also makes a wonderful coffee table book. Very pleased that I bought this.

Inspiration for western architects and craftsmen

Among our collection of a dozen or more illustrated books about Japanese architecture and design, this is by far the best. The exquisite photographs are accompanied by a thorough yet interesting explanation of the various traditional styles found in Japanese architecture. Although the emphasis is upon traditional homes, the volume also includes examples of the adaptation of these styles to elegant homes in Japan today. Be forewarned, however, many of the homes illustrated, both very old and modern, are far more spacious than middle-class Japanese are able to enjoy, even those living in rural Japan. When our present home, blending Japanese and Craftsman influences, is finished, we will give this book to our architects and contractor as tokens of our appreciation. (By the way, this reviewer lived in Japan for ten years.)

Great Book on Real Japanese Interiors

Beautiful photos of great interiors. Mostly traditional Japanese homes as they are currently lived in. Features homes with collections of traditional Japanese crafts. Also, some modern homes designed with Japanese aesthetic. I would also recommend the book "Japanese Style".