WIn Japan, structural engineers designing structures exceeding a certain floor area or number of storeys must submit drawings and calculations to the authorities, demonstrating that the building is safe "Structural Calculation Forgery Problem" refers to a series of incidents, set off by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's November 17, 2005, announcement that structural engineer Hidetsugu Aneha of Aneha Architectural Design Office in Chiba Prefecture had falsified earthquake design calculations. A number of Japanese construction and real estate companies have had to declare bankruptcy due to their involvement in the affair, including Kimura Construction and Huser. Note that Aneha is frequently referred to as an architect, as Japan has a unique licensing system where structural engineers designing buildings are registered as first-class architects.
WAzekura-zukuri (校倉造) or azekura is a Japanese architectural style of simple wooden construction, used for storehouses (kura), granaries, and other utilitarian structures. This style probably dates to the early centuries of the Common Era, such as during the Yayoi or Kofun periods. It is characterized by joined-log structures of triangular cross-section, and commonly built of cypress timbers.
WChikaraishi (also hakari-ishi or bijuru are heavy rocks used at least since the 8th century CE in Japan to develop or demonstrate physical strength. Commonly found within Shinto shrines, they were used for competition, divination, physical fitness and entertainment; some famous examples have also become tourist attractions, and many have been recognised as Important Cultural Assets by the Japanese Government.
WDaibutsuyō is a Japanese religious architectural style which emerged in the late 12th or early 13th century. Together with Wayō and Zenshūyō, it is one of the three most significant styles developed by Japanese Buddhism on the basis of Chinese models.
WFukiishi were a means of covering burial chambers and burial mounds during the kofun period of Japan. Stones collected from riverbeds were affixed to the slopes of raised kofun and other burial chambers. They are considered to have descended from forms used in Yayoi-period tumuli. They are common in the early and mid-Kofun periods, but most late Kofun-period tumuli do not have them.
WGiboshi (擬宝珠) is a type of ornamental finial used on Japanese railings. Giboshi bridge ornaments resemble an onion; the ends are bulbous and typically come to a point. It is believed that the shape of Giboshi was from Hoju which is used to decorate roofs. They are often found on bridges in Japanese gardens, temples and shinto shrines.
WJapanese Buddhist architecture is the architecture of Buddhist temples in Japan, consisting of locally developed variants of architectural styles born in China. After Buddhism arrived from the continent via Three Kingdoms of Korea in the 6th century, an effort was initially made to reproduce original buildings as faithfully as possible, but gradually local versions of continental styles were developed both to meet Japanese tastes and to solve problems posed by local weather, which is more rainy and humid than in China. The first Buddhist sects were Nara's six Nanto Rokushū , followed during the Heian period by Kyoto's Shingon and Tendai. Later, during the Kamakura period, in Kamakura were born the Jōdo and the native Japanese sect Nichiren-shū. At roughly the same time Zen Buddhism arrived from China, strongly influencing all other sects in many ways, including architecture. The social composition of Buddhism's followers also changed radically with time. In the beginning it was the elite's religion, but slowly it spread from the noble to warriors, merchants and finally to the population at large. On the technical side, new woodworking tools like the framed pit saw and the plane allowed new architectonic solutions.
WNagaya is a type of rowhouse, which was typical for Edo period in Japan.
WThe Ōbaku school of Zen arrived in Japan in the middle of the seventeenth century, several centuries after the other Zen schools, and as a consequence its temples typically have a different architecture, based on Chinese Ming and Qing architectures.
WA pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, and were often located in or near viharas. The pagoda traces its origins to the stupa of ancient India.
WSetchūyō is an architectural style born in Japan during the Muromachi period from the fusion of elements from three different antecedent styles: wayō, daibutsuyō, and zenshūyō. It is exemplified by the main hall at Kakurin-ji. The combination of wayō and daibutsuyō in particular became so frequent that sometimes it is classed separately by scholars under the name Shin-wayō .
WA tahōtō is a form of Japanese pagoda found primarily at Esoteric Shingon and Tendai school Buddhist temples. It is unique among pagodas because it has an even number of stories (two). Its name alludes to Tahō Nyorai, who appears seated in a many-jewelled pagoda in the eleventh chapter of the Lotus Sutra. With square lower and cylindrical upper parts, a mokoshi 'skirt roof', a pyramidal roof, and a finial, the tahōtō or the larger daitō was one of the seven halls of a Shingon temple. After the Heian period, the construction of pagodas in general declined, and new tahōtō became rare. Six examples, of which that at Ishiyama-dera (1194) is the earliest, have been designated National Treasures. There are no examples in China, whether architectural or pictoral, of anything that resembles the tahōtō, although there is a Song dynasty textual reference to a 'tahōtō with an encircling chamber'.
WTokyō is a system of supporting blocks and brackets supporting the eaves of a Japanese building, usually part of a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine. The use of tokyō is made necessary by the extent to which the eaves protrude, a functionally essential element of Japanese Buddhist architecture. The system has however always had also an important decorative function. The system is a more refined form of the Chinese Dougong that has evolved since its arrival into several original forms.
WWayō is a style developed in art and architecture in Japan during the Heian period, mainly by the esoteric sects Tendai and Shingon. Together with Zenshūyō and Daibutsuyō, it is one of the three most significant styles developed by Japanese Buddhism on the basis of Chinese models.
WZenshūyō is a Japanese Buddhist architectural style derived from Chinese Song Dynasty architecture. Named after the Zen sect of Buddhism which brought it to Japan, it emerged in the late 12th or early 13th century. Together with Wayō and Daibutsuyō, it is one of the three most significant styles developed by Japanese Buddhism on the basis of Chinese models. Until World War II, this style was called karayō but, like the Daibutsuyō style, it was re-christened by Ōta Hirotarō, a 20th-century scholar. Its most typical features are a more or less linear layout of the garan, paneled doors hanging from hinges, intercolumnar tokyō, cusped windows, tail rafters, ornaments called kibana, and decorative pent roofs.