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Japanese Wall
A Japanese wall is composed of a mixture of sand, clay, diatomaceous earth and straw, and is a traditional element in the construction of Japanese teahouses, castles and temples. Today, teahouses continue to use this product for Zen purposes. Traditional methods for building and decorating Japanese walls were included in the Japanese government's 1975 update to the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (1950). See also * Burdock piling * Disordered piling * Namako wall Wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ... Types of wall {{struct-type-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sand
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of soil or soil type; i.e., a soil containing more than 85 percent sand-sized particles by mass. The composition of sand varies, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal settings is silica (silicon dioxide, or SiO2), usually in the form of quartz. Calcium carbonate is the second most common type of sand, for example, aragonite, which has mostly been created, over the past 500million years, by various forms of life, like coral and shellfish. For example, it is the primary form of sand apparent in areas where reefs have dominated the ecosystem for millions of years like the Caribbean. Somewhat more rarely, sand may be composed of calciu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay particles, but become hard, brittle and non–plastic upon drying or firing. Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impurities, such as a reddish or brownish colour from small amounts of iron oxide. Clay is the oldest known ceramic material. Prehistoric humans discovered the useful properties of clay and used it for making pottery. Some of the earliest pottery shards have been dated to around 14,000 BC, and clay tablets were the first known writing medium. Clay is used in many modern industrial processes, such as paper making, cement production, and chemical filtering. Between one-half and two-thirds of the world's population live or work in buildings made with clay, often ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth (), diatomite (), or kieselgur/kieselguhr is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock that can be crumbled into a fine white to off-white powder. It has a particle size ranging from more than 3 μm to less than 1 mm, but typically 10 to 200 μm. Depending on the granularity, this powder can have an abrasive feel, similar to pumice powder, and has a low density as a result of its high porosity. The typical chemical composition of oven-dried diatomaceous earth is 80–90% silica, with 2–4% alumina (attributed mostly to clay minerals), and 0.5–2% iron oxide. Diatomaceous earth consists of the fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled microalgae. It is used as a filtration aid, mild abrasive in products including metal polishes and toothpaste, mechanical insecticide, absorbent for liquids, matting agent for coatings, reinforcing filler in plastics and rubber, anti-block in plastic films, porous support for c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Straw
Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number of different uses, including fuel, livestock bedding and fodder, thatching and basket making. Straw is usually gathered and stored in a straw bale, which is a bale, or bundle, of straw tightly bound with twine, wire, or string. Straw bales may be square, rectangular, or round, and can be very large, depending on the type of baler used. Uses Current and historic uses of straw include: * Animal feed **Straw may be fed as part of the roughage component of the diet to cattle or horses that are on a near maintenance level of energy requirement. It has a low digestible energy and nutrient content (as opposed to hay, which is much more nutritious). The heat generated when microorganisms in a herbivore's gut digest straw can be useful in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teahouse
A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment which only serves cream teas. Although the function of a tearoom may vary according to the circumstance or country, teahouses often serve as centers of social interaction, like coffeehouses. Some cultures have a variety of distinct tea-centered establishments of different types, depending on the national tea culture. For example, the British or American tearoom serves afternoon tea with a variety of small snacks. Asia In China, Japan and Nepal, a teahouse (Chinese: , or , ; Japanese: ; Standard Nepali: ) is traditionally a place which offers tea to its customers. People gather at teahouses to chat, socialize and enjoy tea, and young people often meet at teahouses for dates. The Guangdong (Cantonese) style teahouse is particularly famous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a palace, which is not fortified; from a fortress, which was not always a residence for royalty or nobility; from a ''pleasance'' which was a walled-in residence for nobility, but not adequately fortified; and from a fortified settlement, which was a public defence – though there are many similarities among these types of construction. Use of the term has varied over time and has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th-20th century homes built to resemble castles. Over the approximately 900 years when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples are called Mandir), Buddhism, Sikhism (whose temples are called gurudwara), Jainism (whose temples are sometimes called derasar), Islam (whose temples are called mosques), Judaism (whose temples are called synagogues), Zoroastrianism (whose temples are sometimes called Agiary), the Baha'i Faith (which are often simply referred to as Baha'i House of Worship), Taoism (which are sometimes called Daoguan), Shinto (which are sometimes called Jinja), Confucianism (which are sometimes called the Temple of Confucius), and ancient religions such as the Ancient Egyptian religion and the Ancient Greek religion. The form and function of temples are thus very variable, though they are often considered by believers to be, in some sense, the "house" of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conservation Techniques For Cultural Properties
In 1975 the Japanese government added a new chapter to the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (1950) to provide for "traditional techniques or craftsmanship that are indispensable to the preservation of cultural property and for which preservation measures shall be taken". Preservation techniques are selected in relation to both tangible and intangible cultural properties and a holder or preservation body is recognized for each technique. In support of the , the government provides funding for and conducts programmes relating to documentation, training, development, promotion and public education. Recognition is thus made and measures taken to combat some of the most serious conservation issues, namely the lack of specialist craftsmen, the loss of knowledge of traditional techniques, and the availability of suitable tools and materials. These issues are of particular relevance in Japan due to the sophistication and inherent susceptibility of much of its art and architectur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burdock Piling
is an advanced Japanese technique for building stone walls, named after the resemblance of the rough stones used to the ovate shapes of the blossoms of Japanese burdock plants. It was used to build , sloped stone walls which make up the foundations of many s, such as .Thinkquest.org - The Castles of Japan: Walls/Moats Large rocks are fitted together over a mound of earth, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disordered Piling
is a Japanese wall-building technique consisting of large number of small stones packed tightly together. It was used in some Japanese castle walls to create a wall that was difficult to climb. As it became more sophisticated it evolved into a technique known as burdock piling.pacificu.edu - Japanese Castles See also * Japanese wall *Dry stone
Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their cons ...
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Namako Wall
''Namako'' wall or ''Namako-kabe'' (sometimes misspelled as ''Nameko'') is a Japanese wall design widely used for vernacular houses, particularly on fireproof storehouses by the latter half of the Edo period. The ''namako'' wall is distinguished by a white grid pattern on black slate. Geographically, it was most prominent in parts of western Japan, notably the San'in region and San'yō region and, from the 19th century, further east, in the Izu Peninsula. Origin As the base of the external walls of earthen ''kura'' storehouses is vulnerable to physical damage and damage from rain, they are often tiled to protect them. The exaggerated white clay joints that are a few centimetres wide and rounded on top remind people of ''namako'' sea cucumber. Modern uses During the Meiji period (1868–1912), when Japan imported many Western ideas, the ''namako'' wall was used in a way that mimicked the "bricks and mortar" style of these countries. For example, Kisuke Shimizu's Tsukiji Hotel f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Architecture In Japan
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings or other structures. The term comes ; ; . Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements. The practice, which began in the prehistoric era, has been used as a way of expressing culture for civilizations on all seven continents. For this reason, architecture is considered to be a form of art. Texts on architecture have been written since ancient times. The earliest surviving text on architectural theories is the 1st century AD treatise ''De architectura'' by the Roman architect Vitruvius, according to whom a good building embodies , and (durability, utility, and beauty). Centu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
