UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

Traditional Japanese Architecture introduces major forms of Japanese architecture, garden, and building practice prior to contact with the west. Students learn about Japan's two major religions, Shinto and Buddhism, and discover how its architecture gives from to ideas about divinity, ritual, and national identity, by closely studying both the ways that Japanese city plans, and government buildings, illuminate notions of class identity and power, and the distinctive aesthetic principles embodied in residential and leisure sites. All of these examples show how culture provides a vital framework for thought and form. The study of its architecture prior to Japan's opening to the West helps us understand how modern Japan builds upon its traditions as its engages with issues of contemporary life.