The Inner Harmony of the Japanese House [Paperback]

Atsushi Ueda (Author), Stephen Suloway (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 1998

With the possible exception of the woodblock print, no other aspect of Japanese culture has been so widely embraced outside Japan as the traditional Japanese home. Interior decorators, architects, and homeowners from the West have been borrowing from Japanese architecture since Frank Lloyd Wright, yet the fundamentals of the Japanese abode remain something of a mystery. What is the age-old sensibility behind it? Why do luminaries in the field hold it up as one of mankind's most successful blends of function, tradition, and nature? Atsushi Ueda ably answers these questions in Inner Harmony, which became a bestseller in his native Japan and continues to be used in high schools and colleges throughout the country. Breaking down the living space into its primary elements-shoji, partitions, pillars, garden, and so on-Ueda reveals the underlying patterns and hidden harmony that took centuries to evolve: he discusses the ways in which shoji exploit the natural light to create a subdued radiance; the way decorated sliding doors and moveable partitions define one's sense of living space; and the function of a miniature garden as viewed from inside the house as well as out. In the manner of John McPhee and Tracy Kidder, Professor Ueda unravels the concealed concepts at work in the Japanese living space, and brings compelling insights and a long-needed clarity to the subject-all in the best tradition of contemporary literary nonfiction.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Japanese --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

ATSUSHI UEDA is a practicing architect and professor at Kyoto Seika University in Kyoto, Japan, and president of an architectural design firm, also in Kyoto. After receiving a doctorate in engineering from Kyoto University in 1971, he went on to write numerous books on architecture, urban planning, and the environment. Inner Harmony won the Japan Essayists Association award for best publication in 1974. He followed this success with a number of other works in Japanese, and edited a collection of essays published in English as The Electric Geisha: Exploring Japan's Popular Culture.

GUNTER NITWHKE has degrees in architecture, urban planning, and Japanese. He taught East Asian architecture and urbanism at Princeton and MIT before moving to Tokyo in 1961. His published books include The Architecture of the Japanese Garden and From Shinto to Ando. Recently, he has been a visiting professor at UCLA and the California State Polytechnic University at Pomona. In 1998 he was awarded first prize in the International Urban Competition for his design ideas on the future of Kyoto, where he has lived since the late 1960s.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha USA (October 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770023537
• ISBN-13: 978-4770023537
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #597,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unexpected delight, November 24, 2001

By 

Cynthia "MmeCyn" (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Inner Harmony of the Japanese House (Paperback)

I am not an architect, nor am I Japanese, but I have lived in Japan and love Japanese-style rooms. I picked this book up merely because I was interested in the topic, and thought I'd get just a dry description and maybe some floor plans. Was I wrong! This book is a delight, not merely for the content-- which is a thorough introduction to the pieces of the Japanese house and the 'why' behind them-- but also for the social comment the author makes about various facets of the lives of the people who live in these houses. Ueda's opinion comes through clearly, but that's what makes this book such a good read (his solution to the unslightly-futons-on-the-balcony problem had us in stitches, and his bad attitude toward flat roofs is a riot). He starts with the base of the house (the pillars) and works all the way out to the locks on the door. He's got a nice sense of history, and you can tell he himself is very fond of the traditional house. A delightful read!

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Good, the Bad and the Very Ugly of Japanese Architecture, March 14, 2005

By 

Miguel Lescano Cornejo (Guayaquil, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Inner Harmony of the Japanese House (Paperback)

The original title in japanese was "The Japanese and the house" and that should have been the English title. Don't expect a sales-advertisement trying to sell you japanese architecture as the world's most perfect, showing you only the most perfect examples, like most books on the subject do; this book was written by a Japanese for the Japanese, so it's not trying to fool anyone. Instead, it addresses the good, the bad and the (very) ugly of Japanese architecture in the 1970s, and gives a lot of recommendations for future development. In this sense, this book feels a lot like "A Pattern Language", from Christopher Alexander.

I finished this book in a weekend. Unlike many other translated books on Japanese architecture, it is written in clear English and talks about daily life issues anyone can understand, and does it with a good (sometimes hilarious) sense of humor. It does not go high on insipid philosophical discussions, but goes deep into the roots of current day virtues and vices of Japanese architecture.

Don't expect color photographs, floor plans or sections; this books was not illustrated by the author, but by the editor. The original work is text-only. Even if it were to be stripped from the b/w photos it has, it is still a very entertaining book, that reads almost like a novel, and will make you learn a lot of things about the realities and problems of Japan while having some good laughs. It's really refreshing to find a book on architecture that talks about real life needs instead of difficult-to-understand philosophical concepts.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Inner Harmony of the Japanese House/, March 13, 2007

By 

Diana Vanvleet "Luna" (Leesburg, Fl United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Inner Harmony of the Japanese House (Paperback)

What a fascinating book. I bought it because I am interested in Japanese architecture, but found so much more. The reasons and explanations of the construction gave me a deeper understanding of the people and their customs.
I liked the book so well that I bought it for my daughter, who is also a
lover of Japan.

Diana Van Vleet