Dust jacket notes: "Traditional Japanese domestic architecture is epitomized in the minka: the houses of the common people built during the feudal age that preceded Japan's entry into the modern world in the late nineteenth century. Of the many forms in which the Japanese architectural genius has expressed itself, probably none has more immediate appeal for the Westerner than these commoners' dwellings in country and in town. Their functional beauty and quiet understatement reflect a tradition of design and craftsmanship that commands the admiration of professional architect and layman alike. In fact, modern architects, both Japanese and Western, have found in the minka a source of inspiration for new concepts of design and the effective use of space....[T]hey embody the ideals of Japanese domestic architecture in their most vital form. In a word, the minka is the essentiail Japanese house. In this engagingly written and generously illustrated book, the reader is introduced to the minka in all its significant aspects: its place in Japanese architectural history and in the social scene of the feudal age, its structural variety, its adaptation to environmental conditions, its role as a symbol of social status, and its functional and aesthetic values. At the same time, the book gives appropriate attention to the people who built these houses and lived in them - the farmers, the townsmen, the merchants, the lower-level government officials, the innkeepers, the less affluent samurai - and to the variations in structure and style determined by the occupations and preferences of the owners. Of particular interest is the wealth of detail in which the distinguishing features of the minka style are presented and discussed. The abundant photographs (19 in full color and well over 100 in black and white), drawings, and other illustrations cover the full range of achievement in the minka form during some three centuries."

Traditional Domestic Architecture of Japan (Heibonsha Survey of Japanese Art, Vol. 21)

Arts & Photography

Teiji Itoh

Architecture

Weatherhill/Heibonsha

From the front flap of this 290 page book: "More than three centuries ago, when Kyoto was the capital of Japan, three magnificent gardens were created for the imperial court - gardens intended for such elegant pastimes as tea ceremonies, poetry contests, and moon-viewing parties and, in general, for the appreciation of nature in its various manifestations and moods. Today these three gardens - those of the Sento Imperial Palace, the Katsura Detached Palace, and the Shugaku-in Detached Palace - are among the most celebrated in Japanese garden art, and here, for the first time in a book designed for Western readers, their beauty is revealed in striking photography and intimate detail. All of the gardens were designed to a great extent by members of the court; all are much larger than the average Japanese garden; all are stroll gardens in which the visitor is charmed by an almost endless succession of delightful views; and all date from the middle seventeenth century, when the stroll garden emerged into prominence. Emperors and princes, deprived of all political power by the ruling shoguns, turned to artistic pursuits, among them the art of garden design. Today these gardens, reverently preserved and universally admired, stand as monuments to their discriminating taste, outshining all surviving gardens created by the military rulers and their vassals. Through the photographs and the accompanying essays the reader is invited not only to see these gardens in a variety of seasons and moods, but also to have a look at their history and the distinguishing features of their construction and design: the ponds, waterfalls, and streams; the bridges and islands; the teahouses; the steppingstones, paths and lanterns; ornamental rockwork; the trees and shrubbery, but more important than this, it conveys the spirit of the gardens themselves and the aesthetic philosophy that went into their making."

The Imperial Gardens of Japan: Sento Gosho, Katsura, Shugaku-in

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Gardening & Landscape Design

Weatherhill

Photographs highlight this study of the history and creation of the Japanese courtyard borrowed-landscape gardens

Space and Illusion in the Japanese Garden (English and Japanese Edition)

Traces the development of the Japanese garden from ancient times to the modern world and discusses the designs of gardens in Japan

The Gardens of Japan (English and Japanese Edition)

Kodansha International

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Teiji Itoh. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Teiji Itoh

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Teiji Itoh. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Traditional Domestic Architecture of Japan (Heibonsha Survey of Japanese Art, Vol. 21)

The Imperial Gardens of Japan: Sento Gosho, Katsura, Shugaku-in

Space and Illusion in the Japanese Garden (English and Japanese Edition)

The Gardens of Japan (English and Japanese Edition)