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Homes and Castles of Ancient Japan. Aristocratic Homes in Ancient Japan. The aristocratic home during the Heian period was called a shinden-zukuri. The main elements of a shinden-zukuri were … shinden tai no ya (flanking pavilions, or secondary buildings )
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Homes and Castles of Ancient Japan
Aristocratic Homes in Ancient Japan • The aristocratic home during the Heian period was called a shinden-zukuri. The main elements of a shinden-zukuri were… • shinden • tai no ya (flanking pavilions, or secondary buildings) • wataridono (roofed-and-chambered building-linking corridors) • sukiwatadono (roofed, building-linking bridges) • rô (corridor "wings") • tsuridono (fishing pavilions).
The Shinden Tai no ya Wataridono The core of the shinden was called a moya. The moya was divided into two sections. One section was a family sanctuary and the other section was the main living area for the head of the house. In front of the Moya, there is a courtyard where celebrations were held. Encircling it is the Hisashi which can be split up into rooms and floor pads can be put there. Then along the Southern length of a Hisashi, there is a sunoko where you enter. • These were multi-purpose rooms where guests and residents could live. • The tai no ya to the right and left of the shinden were at a 90° angle to it and the northern tai no ya is parallel to the north length of the Shinden. With this design, there is no space for a southern Tai no ya. The wataridono is a covered corridor that links the tai no ya to the shinden. That is the only purpose of this structure.
Sukiwatadono Rô Tsuridono The sukiwatadono was used like a wataridono except instead of covered corridors, these were roofed bridges connecting the shinden to the tai no ya. The Rô were a pair of two corridors that extended southward from the tai no ya. This was a means to get to the tsuridono from the tai no ya. The tsuridono was located at the end of the Rô and it was a fishing pavilion. There was an artificial pond across the courtyard at the end where you would fish.
Castles of Japan The castles of Japan had a design before even putting down the first rock. They would have men choose a suitable place (usually high ground) surrounded by many physical features. Then they would have men lay down ropes for the outline of the castle. Only after all that, they would start to build the actual castle.
Ancient Castle Design First they would build the outer walls along with the moat and gates throughout the castle. Then, they would start to build inner walls to strengthen the castle and towers circling the area inside. After that, they would start to build the interior of the castle so that people can live there. The interior wasn’t as fancy as you would expect it to be. It is just a regular design with ordinary wood floors and walls.
Ancient Castle Defense • To defend an ancient Japanese castle, you would have… • Natural barriers such as mountains or slopes. • If the area lacked natural barriers, make artificial ones such as a deep moat and reinforced walls. • The walls were made of tightly packed small stones so that there were no cracks on which to climb on. • Samurais and soldiers had to keep watch from watch towers and gates. • With these elements of defense, your castle can survive through the fiercest of fierce attacks from your enemy.
What do the designs of these castles tell us? The designs of these castles tell us that clan rivalries were very strong and warfare was devastating. This is because of by the way the castle is built for defense, you wouldn’t expect some kind of small attack. We are talking about thousands of people coming to attack you all at once with many weapons.
