A large exhibition tracing the lineage of Japanese architecture from pit-houses through building projects currently in progress is now showing at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi, Tokyo.
"Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of Its Transformation" will run through Sept. 17. Japanese contemporary architecture enjoys global acclaim, illustrated by the fact that seven of this nation's architects have won the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, the second-largest number after U.S. winners.
The exhibition's title reflects the pride and confidence of its supervisory staff -- including Terunobu Fujimori, an architectural historian and architect himself -- that architecture is one of the representative genres of Japanese culture. It focuses on a genealogy of Japanese architecture beginning with the distant Jomon period (ca 10,000 B.C.-ca 300 B.C.).
More than 400 items are on display, including models of 100 projects, photos, images and architectural materials.
There are nine sections, among them "Linked Spaces," "Living with Nature" and "Roofs of Tranquility." Each presents a mixture of architectural works from different periods.
"Possibilities of Wood" features historical wooden structures such as the Phoenix Hall of Byodoin temple and the five-story pagoda at Nikko Toshogu shrine. Side by side with these exhibits are contemporary architect Arata Isozaki's "City in the Air: Shibuya Project," which was inspired by the Great South Gate of Todaiji temple, and the Tokyo Skytree.
These displays explain that today's Japanese architecture has inherited traditional techniques of combining lumber and the earthquake-resistance awareness seen in the five-story pagoda.
"Japan in Architecture" also gives visitors an opportunity to experience the size and spatial qualities of real structures, including the Taian tea house, a national treasure believed to have been designed by the great tea master Sen no Rikyu (1522-91). A real-size replica of the tearoom is installed at the exhibition venue; visitors can crawl into it through a small, low entrance called nijiri-guchi.
An installation by the designers' group Saito Seiichi + Rhizomatiks Architecture uses visual and lighting technology to project life-size images of Japanese architecture from the past, such as a public phone booth, a tea house, the Dojunkai Apartments and the Nakagin Capsule Tower.
Many architectural exhibitions held at art museums have focused on modern or contemporary buildings. When their theme is Japanese architecture or architects, emphasis is often placed on their connection with the modernist architecture that emerged in early 20th-century Europe, rather than how they were influenced by the traditional architecture of Japan.
In contrast, this exhibition does not focus much on overseas influences such as European modernism, the arrival of Buddhism and Japan's opening to the world at the end of the Edo period.
Instead it brings various aspects of traditional Japanese architecture that are usually exhibited at folk museums into an art museum. By doing so, it aims to examine from an artistic perspective the legacy and evolution of Japanese architecture, which has continued uninterrupted since ancient times.
This is a unique, meaningful event to understand the history of Japanese architecture from various different viewpoints.
"Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of Its Transformation" will run until Sept. 17 at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi, Tokyo. The museum is open daily during the exhibition period.
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