Articles related to traditional Japanese design
The gist of Zen-inspired arts, such as Japanese rock garden or Haiku, is still powerful in today’s designs. You could call it aesthetics of subtraction. By eliminating any excess frills, carefully and considerately, Japanese traditional design lets ultimate essentials emerge from “less” or “emptiness.”

Why the hell did Japanese samurai commit seppuku (harakiri)?
Why the hell did Japanese samurai commit seppuku (harakiri)? According to its definition, seppuku is a form of “ritual suicide” ...
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What does wabi-sabi mean? – It’s Japanese version of “shabby chic”
What does wabi-sabi mean? – It’s Japanese version of “shabby chic” Wabi-sabi is not easy to understand, especially because it’s ...
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Shoji screen design ideas
Shoji screen design ideas Shoji screen is a unique feature of Japanese architecture for which walls played substantially reduced role ...
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Gagaku – why does it sound out of tune?
Gagaku - why does it sound out of tune? Art is orderly in general, as it has certain methods and ...
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Kenya Hara, Japanese “emptiness” aesthetics guru, on decluttering (2)
Kenya Hara, Japanese "emptiness" aesthetics guru, on decluttering (2) What about a life without material overload at home? Hara says ...
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The Many Faces of Noh Masks (Noh-men): Men (otoko) Part 2
The Many Faces of Noh Masks (Noh-men) for Men (otoko) Men ...
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Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement): no-cost therapeutic hobby
Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement): no-cost hobby to find your inner Zen Subject to stay-at-home order due to coronavirus? It's not ...
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Curious perspective of Japandi: the many faces of Japanese-Scandinavian crossover
Curious perspective of Japandi: the many faces of Japanese-Scandinavian crossover ”Japandi” is an emerging design trend that blends simple, linear, ...
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History of Japanese aesthetics 4: Edo period and Iki Part II
History of Japanese aesthetics (5): Edo and iki - Part II Japanese aesthetics are known for simple and minimalist design ...
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The Many Faces of Noh Masks (Noh-men): Men (otoko) Part 1
The Many Faces of Noh Masks (Noh-men) for Men (otoko) Men ...
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History of Japanese aesthetics 4: Edo period and Iki Part I
History of Japanese aethetics (4): Edo and iki - Part 1 Japanese aesthetics are known for simple and minimalist design ...
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History of Japanese aesthetics: Wabi-sabi and more
History of Japanese aesthetics Japanese aesthetics are known for its simple and minimalist design details and unique appreciation of natural ...
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History of Japanese aesthetics 1: the Heian period and Mono no aware
History of Japanese aesthetics (1): Heian and mono no aware Japanese aesthetics are known for simple and minimalist design details ...
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History of Japanese aesthetics 3: Muromachi and wabi-sabi
History of Japanese aesthetics (3): Muromachi and wabi-sabi Japanese aesthetics are known for simple and minimalist design details and a ...
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History of Japanese aesthetics 2: the Kamakura period and mujo
History of Japanese aesthetics (2): Kamakura and mujo Japanese aesthetics are known for simple and minimalist design details and a ...
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Kenya Hara, Japanese “emptiness” aesthetics guru, on decluttering
Kenya Hara, Japanese "emptiness" aesthetics guru, on decluttering As the Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo has been attracting ...
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Traditional Japanese poems from waka to haiku and tanka
Traditional Japanese poems from waka to haiku and tanka Poems have been one of the most familiar forms of art ...
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“So-an,” the 1000-year-old Zen tiny house
So-an: the 1,000-year-old Zen tiny house The recent “tiny house movement” may be relatively new but that is not the ...
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The many faces of “shoji”
The Many Faces of shoji - traditional Japanese screen door Shoji is traditional Japanese screen/sliding door/partition made of wooden frame ...
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Tea ceremony and chashitsu: the ultimate example of Zen design
Tea ceremony and chashitsu: the ultimate example of Zen design What is 茶道 (sado - a traditional Japanese tea ceremony)? ...
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The Many Faces of traditional Japanese tea house – chashitsu
The Many Faces of traditional Japanese tea house (chashitsu) ...
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The what and how of Zen design
The what and how of Zen design What does "Zen" + "design" really mean? What is “Zen design” and how ...
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Horyuji: How do you make wooden buildings that last 2,000 years?
Horyuji: How do you make wooden buildings that last 2,000 years? "Wow, is that really what ancient people could do? ...
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Japanese architecture: is it really natural and sustainable?
Japanese architecture: is it really natural and sustainable? Kengo Kuma and "natural architecture" Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, who recently designed ...
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Yuhisai Koudoukan, Kyoto: What it means to practice sado in the 21st century
Yuhisai Koudoukan, Kyoto: What it means to practice sado in 21th century What is the beauty of sado? The traditional ...
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Experience the sukiya-zukuri: Setouchi Minato no Yado
Japanese residential architecture has changed significantly over a couple of centuries, reflecting the drastic social transformation in Japan (modernization and ...
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The Japan House Los Angeles
The Japan House Los Angeles opened in December 2017 at the popular Hollywood & Highland Center, a shopping and entertainment ...
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Subtle Snail by Atsushi Wada: TAKEO Paper Show
Atushi Wada started creating animation films when he unwittingly picked up a mechanical pencil someone as he studied art at ...
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Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e through the lens of Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 – 1959) is one of the most prominent architects in modern history, but he was also ...
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Chapter 3-2: Bonsai – the art of condensation
Bonsai, the art of condensation Bonsai is the Japanese traditional art of growing plants in pots which is often dubbed ...
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Chapter 3-4: Tai’an – Rikyu’s microcosmic teahouse
Images above Left: Tai-an at Myoki-an, Kyoto Right: Bamboo vase "Onkyoku" believed to have been made by Rikyu In the ...
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Abundance by absence in music: “Absolutely on Music” by Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa is a globally renowned conductor who's been active in the music scene for more than half a century ...
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Chapter 4: Abundance by absence
In Chapter 1-3, we discussed the "power of zero" and its manifestation through the act of "subtraction (Chapter 2)" and ...
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Chapter 4-2: Absence on senses
The almost empty kare-sansui garden at Ryoan-ji was so mysteriously abstract and beautiful that it inspired many artists from various ...
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Chapter 2: Abundance by subtraction
One of the most commonly seen “zero” concepts in Zen-influenced art and design is subtraction. There is a Japanese phrase, ...
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Chapter 2-2: Ikebana – the art of subtraction
The current form of ikebana (the traditional art of Japanese flower arrangement) cemented its reputation in the 15th century when ...
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Chapter 2-3: Haiku – the beauty of worlds’ shortest poem
The aesthetics of subtraction can also be found in the haiku, the world’s shortest form of poem. The haiku uses ...
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Chapter 2-4: Effect of subtraction on your satisfaction
What does subtraction really do to us? Imagine the situation where you receive satisfaction from an external stimulus. In this ...
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Chapter 1-7: Discovery of zero = abundance
And, by the way, this is not a new experiment at all. For thousands of years, our ancestors have been ...
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Chapter 1-10: Zazen – empty your body and mind for mind-FULL-ness
We need to put ourselves in the shoes of the tomatoes to understand what happens when we internalize the power ...
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The Many Faces of Engawa
The Many Faces of Engawa The engawa (縁側) are hallway-like strips that surround a suite of rooms in a traditional ...
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“Simplify!” Steve Jobs’ relentless quest for Zen design
It is well known that Steve Jobs practiced Zen. It influenced his design philosophy and is reflected in Apple's minimalist, ...
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Tofukuji kare-sansui by Mirei Shigemori
Mirei Shigemori (重森三玲) was born in 1896 in Okayama, Japan. After studying and practicing ikebana (the traditional Japanese art of ...
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1000 year-old amusement park: Saiho-ji (koke dera)
If an amusement park is designed to let “another world” emerge – a world of dream/fantasy in which you can ...
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Katsura Imperial Villa (Katsura Rikyu)
Katsura Rikyu (Katsura Imperial Villa) is often considered as the culmination of Japanese traditional architecture. It was built as a ...
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Demystifying the mysteries of Japanese aesthetics
You must be visiting this page to solve your mysteries about Japanese aesthetics. You may be interested in knowing more ...
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Kengo Kuma: Our cities need to “ferment”
In his book “自然な建築: Natural Architecture“ (Iwanami Publishing, 2008), Kuma describes the worlds’ perception towards Japanese architecture. “Having worked and ...
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Tradition of shoe repair: it’s about renewing relationships
In the main article, we discussed how shoe repair had been part of the vibrant circular economy 300 years ago ...
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Kintsugi: Repair beyond repair
Have you ever tried to fix or repair broken items? If so, why did you do that? If you think ...
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Circular economy 300 years ago
Left: Kintsugi ceramics courtesy of Hatoya Right: Repaired geta courtesy of Kagurazaka Sada The "Circular economy" is an exciting, emerging ...
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Minimalist Ukiyo-e & paints by Hokusai
Hokusai is widely known for his ukiyo-e piece “Great Wave Off Kanagawa,” which heavily influenced French Impressionists. His bold composition ...
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The history of Japanese aesthetics (1) – Mono no aware that “utsurou”
Zen-influenced art and design is often admired for its unique simplicity and minimalist approach. Although it is just one aspect ...
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Kenya Hara and the aesthetics of “emptiness”
Japanese design is often associated with the simple and minimal. Top left: The Butterfly Stool by Sori Yanagi, Top Right: ...
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Kare-sansui (Japanese Zen rock garden): ultimate beauty of absence
Gardens have been an essential part of every civilization. From the “Hanging Gardens of Babylon” to Singapore’s “Garden by the ...
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Bonsai: condensation of nature for your palm
Bonsai is unique among Zen-inspired arts because it has somehow maintained its position as ordinary people's hobby. It doesn't have ...
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Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement): Define ultimate essentials by subtraction
Flowers have always been playing important roles in Japanese culture. Ancient Japanese thought that flowers represented the power of living ...
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Is it color? Or is it absence of color? White: color of Zero
White is the color of Zero. The concept of Zero originates from old Indian philosophy. As it expanded its influence ...
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Japanese minimalist design and the influence of traditional Zen art
Japanese minimalist design and the influence of traditional Zen art Minimalism is often associated with Japanese traditional Zen-style design. Zen ...
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Shou sugi ban, primitive-modern architectural material
Shou sugi ban, or 焼き杉 (yaki-sugi, or burnt cedar), is a traditional Japanese method to burn the surface of cedar ...
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Haramaki, Heattech or MUJI: items to keep your body warm and comfy
Haramaki, Heattech or MUJI: items to keep your body warm and comfy Waste heat recovery is one of the measures ...
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Applied Origami, as state-of-the-art engineering
Origami is a Zero art because you only use one piece of paper, and are supposed to make something pretty complicated, ...
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Absence in Ukiyoe: Hiroshige – One hundred of Famous Views of Edo
Zero> Zero design> Japanese traditional design Ukiyo-e boasts its simple and bold composition. Enjoy striking effect of subtraction and absence ...
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Tanada Terrace Office: MUJI x Atelier Bow-Wow House Vision 2016
Tanada Terrace House by MUJI x Atelier Bow-Wow Zero> Zero and Technology> Zero and Architecture > Japanese Architects> House Vision> ...
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Horyuji: World’s oldest surviving wooden architecture
“Wow, is that really what ancient people could do? How could this have been possible?” This is our typical reaction when ...
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Ginkakuji: the labyrinth of wabi-sabi
Ginkakuji (The Silver Pavilion) : the mesmerizing labyrinth of wabi-sabi The Jisho-ji, commonly known as Ginkakuji (the Silver Pavilion), is ...
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Origami, the co-existence of art and math
Origami in Japanese means “folding paper.” It’s been a popular pastime for kids for such a long time that people ...
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