How to draw Japanese houses step by step. Japanese house - how is it arranged inside and outside? Modern Japanese style house

Master class on drawing "Land of the Rising Sun"

Hello, dear readers – seekers of knowledge and truth!

Japan is like a completely different world for Europeans. The life and way of life of the Japanese is so unusual for us that we, of course, are interested in getting to know this country better and learning about its traditions and culture. And today we will lift the veil of secrecy and take a look into a Japanese house.

We invite you to learn about how traditional Japanese housing is arranged inside and outside, what unusual pieces of furniture and household items are called, and compare how people lived in ancient times and in modern times.

Homes in the past

Types of dwellings

Traditional Japanese houses are called minka, which means "people's housing." They were inhabited by ordinary people who did not belong to the noble strata of the population and samurai.

As a rule, the residents of these houses were engaged in crafts, fishing, agriculture, and trading. Minkas, similar to the ancient ones, are now preserved only in rural areas.

Depending on the type of occupation, varieties of mink were distinguished:

• matiya - for city dwellers;
• noka - for villagers, farmers, peasants;
• gyoka – for fishermen;
• gassho-zukuri - for mountain dwellers in distant settlements.

Machiya - home in Japan

The latter are of particular interest and historical value. This was the name of the dwellings in the mountainous areas of the island of Honshu. The owners of gassho-zukuri were engaged in sericulture, so they needed a spacious ground floor for drying products, and an attic for the production process.

Gassho-zukuriin the villageGokayama and Shirakawa are included in the UNESCO Heritage List.

Appearance

To build the mink, inexpensive materials were used that could easily be found. The frame was made of solid wood, beams, the facade was made of wood, clay, bamboo with the use of grass and straw elements.

Particular attention was paid to the roof. Since there were no chimneys, unique high roof structures with several slopes and canopies were erected, which did not allow moisture in the form of snow and rainwater to linger. The roof of the matiya was tiled, tiled, and the roof was thatched.

Even the most modest families tried to surround themselves with a picturesque garden with green vegetation, decorative elements in the form of small ponds and bridges. Often there were separate utility rooms here. The house had a veranda - engawa, as well as a main entrance - odo.

Interior decoration

Minka starts from the hallway - genkan. This is where shoes are removed before going inside.

A typical house is divided into two parts: with a floor covered with earth, and with high niches raised by 50 centimeters with supports made of takayuka wood. The Japanese spend almost all their time on the floor: resting, talking, eating, sleeping.

Mushiro and tatami made from high-quality bamboo are laid on the floor. They, despite their simplicity, are very beautiful , comfortable and practical.

Since ancient times, the Japanese measure of area was not only square meters, but also tatami, the dimensions of which were 90 by 180 centimeters.

There are no separated rooms as such, because the space does not use load-bearing walls. Their role is played by movable fusuma partitions and shoji sliding doors.

The space enclosed by such screens becomes a room - washitsu. When guests are expected, the partitions are simply removed, creating one large living room.

What strikes the eye in a Japanese home is amazing order. This is partly the merit of neat, economical Japanese women, and partly of minimalism in the internal structure. There is little furniture here, half of which, such as cabinets and storage compartments, is built-in. The Japanese decor is also quite modest and is represented by paintings, ikebana, calligraphic elements and a kamidan niche like an altar.

The main piece of furniture is the kotatsu. This is a table with a table top, around which there is a blanket or a special mattress - a futon. Looking at the kotatsu from the inside will help you see a fireplace underneath it, which helps keep you warm.

The kitchen, bathroom and toilet are separated from the common area. The bathroom in the minka was always separate. The Japanese ofuro bath is also famous, where often all family members could wash in the same water, after first rinsing in a special room.

Home now

Changes

Modern realities dictate their conditions, technology does not stand still, new materials are appearing to replace old ones, and this, of course, is reflected in architecture.

Several trends can be traced that have changed the appearance of traditional houses:

• One-story buildings are being replaced by houses with 2-3 floors.
• The size of the home is influenced by the size of the family - parents try to ensure that each child has a separate corner.
• Due to the hot and humid climate, houses are made more open and breathable.
• In some regions prone to earthquakes and tsunamis, houses are built on stilts.
• Only frame construction made of wood and reinforced concrete is allowed.
• The imagination of architects develops along with technology, so more and more futurist-style buildings with non-standard geometry and layout appear.
• Domed houses are gaining popularity - made of high-tech polystyrene foam in the shape of a hemisphere; their properties are in no way inferior to conventional buildings.
• In a modern interior, traditional tatami is beginning to coexist with classic Western sofas, sofas, and couches.

Dome houses in Japan

Modern noka

In rural areas, changes in the external and internal decoration of houses are not as obvious as in the city. Here the dwellings remain quite traditional, with thatched roofs and bamboo outer walls still present.

The average area of ​​a village house is 110-130 sq.m. There is a living room and 4-5 bedrooms here. The kitchen and dining room with a kamado fireplace for cooking are, as usual, located separately on the terrace.

City houses

Today, in cities, brick, iron, concrete, and bitumen materials are most often used for buildings. Within the city or in its immediate vicinity there is not as much free land as in the villages, so the courtyards are narrow and elongated.

Such tightness in space also affects the size of buildings - they rarely exceed 80 sq.m. There are bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and even a retail space or workshop if the owners need them. An attic is built under the roof to provide storage space.

Apartments

The Japanese, in pursuit of a good life, a prestigious profession, and consistently high earnings, are flocking to large cities, in particular Tokyo. The high population density and relatively small area make it necessary to build high-rise residential buildings with small apartments.

The average area of ​​such an apartment is 10 sq.m., which in itself forces you to show ingenuity and miracles of logistics.

One room accommodates:

• hallway;
• fenced combined bathroom;
• bedroom;
• kitchen area;
• built-in storage solutions;
• balcony for drying clothes.

Richer people can afford an apartment of 70 sq.m., which is spacious by Japanese standards. or a house in the private sector within the city.

Some interesting facts

• In Japan there is no such thing as central heating. To combat the cold, electric blankets, heaters, baths, and kotatsu are used.
• The Japanese do not sleep on beds, but on kotatsu mattresses, which are so compact that they can easily fit in a closet.
• The Japanese kitchen has a lot of different utensils and appliances - from dishwashers and bread makers to rice cookers and electric grills.
• Before entering the toilet, you must wear shoes designed specifically for this room.
• The best description of Japanese style in interior design is minimalism, harmony, cleanliness and asymmetry.

Conclusion

We learned that the traditional Japanese homes are called minka. Ordinary people used to live here, and in some areas similar houses still exist.

Family members spend most of their time on the floor, so the main task is to create a comfortable space filled with warmth and harmony with a minimum of furniture and decor. Over several centuries, the living conditions and everyday habits of people in the Land of the Rising Sun have not changed much, which makes their houses unique in their kind.

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There is, however, exactly one thing that definitely did not come to Japan from anywhere, and which, apparently, will not go anywhere. This tradition stands and holds the Japanese as roots. Real estate. , an amazing building in which everything is completely different from anywhere else.

There is such a place - Open Museum of Japanese Houses in Kawasaki. The inscriptions alone are worth it. They'll figure it out. You can't draw. Except for pencil and charcoal, for some reason. AND traditional japanese toilet costs.

And you can't use it either. They say it's an exhibition piece. And I wanted it that way. It's a shame.

In general, no other people except the Japanese have come up with the idea of ​​sleeping, eating, sitting and living at home right on the floor, without furniture. Even the most modern fashionable and expensive Tokyo skyscrapers Only from the outside do they look like Western buildings. Inside each apartment there is always at least one bedroom room, where rice mats are laid on top of concrete, and people sleep there directly on the floor, as before, because it is convenient for the Japanese. I'm already comfortable too. Well, these beds. You can fall off them in your sleep!

In addition to the floor, you also need a roof. Amazing fluffy Japanese roofs are also made of straw. They have a lot of layers so that they leak less. Once all the thatch has been installed, a special roof barber crawls across the roof with scissors and gives the house a fashionable haircut. Each region of Japan had its own traditions regarding the fashion for home hairstyles. In the most fashionable houses, the gardener planted flowers directly on the roof. The straw quickly rots from the rains, compost is formed, grass and flowers grow well. Just sometimes you have to remember to climb onto the roof and pull out the weeds from it. That is, weeds are, of course, a concern in the summer. Clearing the roof of snow is a concern in winter, otherwise the roof risks falling through. In the snowy regions of Japan, they also made a window on the roof - it worked as a winter exit, when the rest of the house was already covered with snow.

When the roof breaks or rots, it’s all lost. An acquaintance recently rented a new apartment somewhere in Chiba, on the first floor. Because the second floor of the house is already so leaky that it’s scary to go there, let alone move. So the second floor is empty. And there, among the puddles, a family of tanuki (raccoon dogs) settled. A friend called 911, but the rescuers were afraid to go to the second floor. They said that they would then call the Ministry of Emergency Situations to clean out the tanuki. But the owner of the house forgave the rent for May, since such a stupid matter.

The best part of the house is the bathhouse. The Japanese loved to wash. Japanese bathroom- a large basin with water, and under it firewood. In the bathhouse you had to cook yourself by adding firewood. Washing in such a traditional bath is a dangerous task. A small wooden stool was placed at the bottom of the basin to sit on. After all, if your leg or butt jumps off the stool, they will touch the bottom of the basin, which is hot over an open fire: sometimes you’ll wash yourself, sometimes you’ll get burned. But even such a bath used to be an expensive pleasure. Usually there was a bath in only one house per village, and the owner allowed all the residents to wash after his family in turn. In the same water. And now in traditional “menshuku” hotels, where there is already running water and even sometimes hot water, the owner fills the bathtub with hot water once a day and covers it with a wooden lid so that the water cools more slowly, then all the guests climb into this bathtub to wash in turn. The main thing is not to be the last.

Not only the bath, but also the kitchen, and the stove - completely different thinking in everything. Even the rice storage room is an amazing structure built on 8-meter stilts with slippery steel ends. According to the idea, the mouse should slip on them and fall from a height. What samurai cunning!

This is the house that Tanaka-san built,
And this is rice hidden for the winter,
Hanging in the storeroom on high stilts,

And this is a fluffy gray mouse,
Which climbs on piles where there is rice,
Which hangs high in the closet,
In the house that Tanaka-san built.
And this is a slippery and sharp flooring,
Which the owner nailed onto piles,
From which the gray mouse falls,
Who climbed into the pantry where there was rice,
In the house that Tanaka-san built.

Japanese painting is one of the oldest movements in art. Painting in Japan appeared in the most ancient period of the country's history. On pottery and other household items you can find the simplest images of geometric shapes and various patterns. However, with the advent of Chinese culture in the country, the works of Japanese artists increasingly began to contain elements of painting from the country of Confucius.

One of the most impressive and colorful areas of Japanese painting is landscape. Japanese artists did not attach much importance to the realism of the composition. The main thing for them was the transfer of impressions from what they contemplated the greatness of nature.

How to draw a picture in Japanese style?

The Japanese landscape can be depicted with ordinary watercolors. To paint, you need to use more water, and to draw individual details, add more paint.

In order to get started, you will need cardboard or watercolor paper, a pencil, an eraser, pastel crayons and, of course, watercolors.

• Start with a pencil sketch. For this draw the outlines future painting on a sheet using a simple pencil. Make sure that the lines are very soft and barely noticeable. You need to press the pencil very lightly. After all, according to Japanese tradition, the design should be very light and almost weightless. Under no circumstances draw in details with a pencil - this is the job of a thin brush.
• Draw distant mountains, pagodas, ponds in the background, and build several traditional Japanese bridges.
• When outlining the silhouettes of people, do not forget to take into account the features of their clothing and posture.
• It has already become common for paintings in the Japanese spirit to have the main symbol of this country on them. - cherry blossoms. You, too, can depict this amazingly beautiful cherry tree with petals flying in the wind in your work.

• After drawing a pencil sketch start coloring paintings. remember, that colors should be weightless, airy. To do this, you need to choose the right ratio of water and paint. It is necessary to take into account the ability of cardboard to absorb water, and watercolors to cause drips.
• To color the background (such as the sky and water), use thick brushes. Start this process with the large details at the top of the painting and work your way down until you have painted all the water, greenery and sky details in the painting. Then leave the drawing until completely dry.

• Now You can move on to the details. Take a thin brush and start drawing the crowns and trunks of trees, roofs of houses, snowy mountain peaks. Don't try to draw every detail, right down to the leaves and petals. Your task is to set the direction of the buds and branches with a few brush strokes. To obtain the required shades, mix watercolors on a palette. You should avoid too obvious, bright shades.
• Place in one of the corners of the picture Japanese characters. On the Internet you can find many Japanese poems (Haiku) that suit you and your mood. These symbols are not as easy to draw as they seem at first glance, so it is better to practice drawing them. To give the letters a slight patina of age and some dustiness, use black paint mixed with blue or brown.

• Using pastel crayons, create shadows. They should be located on mountain slopes and water surfaces. The main thing is not to overdo it. There shouldn't be too many of them.

Japanese style simple painting

If you don’t have a lot of time, and you don’t have any desire to paint extensive landscapes, but would like to decorate the interior with a Japanese “trick,” then you can use the following technique. Paint a tree branch with thick black paint. Then pour some soft pink paint into a disposable plate. Dip the bottom of a plastic bottle into paint and make prints on paper. Wait for the drawing to dry. This way you will get a wonderful sakura branch without any effort on your own.

Today, Japanese themes in the interior are very relevant. These include paintings, wall decor, and

It should be understood that the Japanese house of today and yesterday are in many ways different things. In our world, old traditions, materials, and technologies are being replaced everywhere by new ones; the Homeland of the Samurai is no exception. Architecture keeps up with the times and changes; in megacities this is more noticeable, in rural areas it is not so obvious.

🈚In urban housing you can find much more similarities with traditional design in the internal arrangement, which cannot be said about the appearance.

🈵Attention! Despite the fact that the Japanese style of house building was formed largely under the influence of Chinese architecture, it has a number of important features - simplicity, good lighting and an asymmetrical layout!

🈯Minimalism is the main component of Japanese life and interior.

How a traditional house works in Japan

The classic housing of Japanese commoners is called Minka. In such buildings lived artisans, fishermen, merchants, in other words, all those segments of the population that did not belong to the samurai and nobility.

Minka can be divided into several types:

• matiya: where the townspeople lived;
• noka: lived by peasants;
• gyoka: fishermen's buildings;
• gassho-zukuri: mink in remote mountainous areas with steep and massive thatched roofs, silkworm hut.

🈚Matiya roofing - tiles or tiles. The roof of Nok is straw or shingles.

🈯Although Minka, in the classical sense of the word, implies medieval buildings, these days this term is applied to any residential building in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Key Features

🈯There are practically no chimneys. This is explained by the floor raised by stilts and the high roof.

Increasingly, traditional Japanese houses are built from several floors, although previously only one level was used.

In general, the history of architecture developed according to the characteristics of climate, relief and other features. For example, high temperature and humidity influenced the fact that Japanese homes were made as open, ventilated and light as possible.
And the danger of earthquakes and tsunamis prompted the use of piles in design. They softened the shocks. They also tried to lighten the roof as much as possible so that if the house was destroyed, it could not cause critical physical damage to the owners.

Japanese style presupposes a reverent attitude towards purity and harmony. After all, the room was originally a project for a person living on the floor. And for such a philosophy, the absence of dirt and chaos is extremely important. It is not for nothing that such things as special slippers in front of the restroom and bathroom or exclusively white socks have become customary.

🈚To be fair, we note that maintaining cleanliness in Japanese square meters is easier than in our apartments. This is due to the minimal presence of furniture - the main place where dust accumulates.

The Japanese garden deserves special mention

Picture: Garden

Harmony with the surrounding world and nature is deeply rooted in the philosophy of this eastern people. And this could not but affect their daily life, including the design of their home.

The Japanese surrounded their houses with wonderful and characteristic gardens. Travelers were amazed by the beautiful and harmonious combination of natural components and man-made products: bridges, ponds, lanterns wrapped in transparent paper, figurines and much more.

But, perhaps, Sakura is the most common element in a Japanese garden. This is not just a plant, it is a real symbol of all eras, dynasties and empires.

🈚By removing everything Fusuma or Shoji, the Japanese turns the house into a kind of “gazebo” in his own garden, thereby satisfying the innate need to think about the meaning of life. This partly explains the absence of windows and doors that are classical in our understanding.

🈯By the way, many European and American landscape garden design specialists take the Japanese style of home area design as the basis for their projects

Device diagram

So, to summarize, the layout of a traditional Japanese home will consist of the following places:

• external fence;
• kindergarten;
• tea house (usually among the nobility);
• outbuildings (barn or storage place for tools and tools);
• veranda (engawa);
• main entrance (odo);
• hallway Genkan;
• kitchen;
• toilet;
• bathroom or Japanese bathhouse ofuro;
• rooms (washitsu).

🈯The central part of the house may consist of several washitsu. If a large gathering of guests is planned, then all partitions are removed, creating one large hall!

🈵Important! The Japanese often measure rooms not by square meters, but by the number of tatami mats. A standard mat is 90 cm wide and twice as long.

In general, tatami is an important element of Japanese culture. Their number and arrangement can determine the character of the washitsu. For example, this could be a bedroom. In this case, a Japanese Futon mattress is placed on the mats and the result is a standard sleeping place for a resident of the area where Sumo wrestling originated.

Tea house or Chashitsu

Important and wealthy families had a tea house on their property. The first such structures appeared in the 15th century AD. From the name it follows that these places were intended for the tea ceremony and, in general, had the main properties and signs of culture - minimalism, asceticism, space and illumination.

🈯A pond or lake around is a classic of the genre!

At the same time, a number of features are observed:

• A low entrance requiring the person to kneel. The main message of this idea is that, regardless of status, everyone must bend down to enter this “temple of tea drinking and spiritual pleasure.” The second point is that people with weapons were not allowed here; such a door prevented a samurai from entering Tyashitsa with weapons.
• Opposite the entrance there was a place where certain attributes were concentrated. These were either traditional calligraphic designs and texts, which were the subject of discussion, or relaxing objects such as ikebanas or lavish incense sticks and incense burners.

🈚Japanese tea houses promote meditation and tranquility, or vice versa – they encourage philosophical conversations.

Picture: Tea house in Japan

Ryokan Hotels

These hotels can also be classified as traditional Japanese houses. For tourists and travelers, this is a kind of temple of traditional Japanese culture. Everything in the rooms is furnished in a manner consistent with a Mink hut.

Here you can plunge headlong into Japanese identity. Sleep on mattresses laid on tatami. Spend time in o-furo. See the traditional kimono attire that the staff wears. Using Japanese hashi chopsticks, taste the national cuisine, rich in seafood and vegetables.

Modern Japanese style house

As mentioned at the beginning, modern Japanese housing has changed greatly, especially on the outside, but the interior design of almost any person from the Land of the Rising Sun contains a touch of national traditions.

In the current realities, when the cost per square meter and interior elements is rising, the Japanese style with its minimalist approach to arrangement is becoming the most practical. And the free layout of their homes provides people with the opportunity to realize their design fantasies and ideas.

Buildings in the city and rural areas should be considered separately.

City. The appearance of ancient and modern Japanese cities has changed dramatically. Wooden Matiyas were replaced by buildings erected using materials such as brick, concrete, iron, and bitumen.

In the central parts of the policies rise business skyscrapers, where the foundation of a strong and stable economy is forged. World famous corporations are located here.

The majority of citizens live in apartments located in multi-storey buildings. As a rule, these are five to seven storey buildings. One-room apartments predominate. The area of ​​the rooms does not exceed 10 square meters.

The layout of such housing is simply surprising with its rationalism when using such a limited area. Upon entering you will see this view:

• Small narrow corridor.
• On one side of the corridor there is a combined bathroom.
• On the other side there is a built-in wardrobe and a kitchen.
• Next is a small room.
• Miniature balcony with drying stick.

Space saving is evident in everything. This includes a kitchen built into a closet, placing plants on the walls, and a miniature bathroom. Well, the tradition of sitting on the floor, and, consequently, the lack of chairs and armchairs.

Entrance to the apartment

Kitchen in the closet

But some Western influence can also be identified, for example, the presence of a European bed or console under the TV.

More affluent people buy so-called family apartments (60-90 m2) or private houses on the outskirts.

🈵In Japanese houses, central heating is practically not practiced; instead, gas, electric, infrared and even kerosene heaters are used.

Countryside. Homes outside the city are less susceptible to modern trends. Although many of them today are built on the model of Western society using know-how materials, it is still possible to draw an analogy with the traditional Minko.

Everyone decides for themselves to what extent their housing should correspond to classical Japanese culture and style.

Let us highlight several of the most common common features that are inherent in houses in the outback today:

• Minimum amount of furniture. Ignoring chairs and armchairs.
• Elevation of the floor half a meter above the ground.
• Free layout provided by movable screens (Fusuma or Shoji).
• High roof.

🈯The more prosperous the peasant, the more he uses the achievements of modern science. Poor people in the village still make a roof out of thatch, sleep on a futon, and warm themselves at a kotatsu.

Frame buildings

No matter what global trends in architecture occur, the Japanese build only frame houses. This technology is simply necessary for them to survive in an earthquake zone.

A frame house is incredibly resistant to earthquakes; it seems to absorb and dampen them. There are known frame buildings that have survived a large number of earthquakes over a thousand years and were practically undamaged.

This technology has some advantages! They are relatively easy to restore when destroyed. These structures are lightweight, and if they collapse, they are unlikely to cause severe fatal damage.

There are three types of frame houses:

1. Wooden. These are traditional Japanese Minka, tea houses, temples;
2. Reinforced concrete. Modern skyscrapers.
3. Unusual futuristic buildings. Frame technology allows you to build fancy structures of unusual shapes and their combinations.

Unusual frame structure

Dome houses are the most modern Japanese technologies in the field of architecture and construction

They have an unusual design in the shape of a hemisphere. It looks like alien earth settlements of the future.

The most unique thing is the material. Essentially, it's a home made of reinforced polystyrene foam! It endows these buildings with properties that are useful and necessary for the Japanese climate, such as strength and high thermal insulation. You can also avoid spending on the frame and foundation, which significantly reduces its cost.

In Europe, they are actively beginning to introduce this technology in the production of seasonal suburban housing.

At the end of the video on the topic: