Shōji

Different types of Shoji in a traditional Japanese house

Shōji ( Japanese 障子 ) are sliding room dividers in traditional Japanese architecture .

Use in the building

They can act as a door ( sliding door ), window or room divider. As a rule, shōji were used along the outer walls. Since they are translucent, the inside of the building could always be supplied with daylight, but was protected from view. Due to their light construction, they are neither noise nor heat insulating.

The low weather resistance meant that Shōji, depending on the condition, had to be constantly covered with new paper. To avoid this problem, Shōji were always protected with a roof overhang and were located between the interior and the engawa , a narrow balcony. In addition, there were additional wooden sliding elements that could be attached to the floor and ceiling in their own rails in front of the Shoji, especially in winter and during typhoons. Shoji were never exposed to direct rain.

In traditional Japanese buildings (until the end of the Edo period in 1868) there were basically only sliding elements. Revolving doors did not open until the country opened up. One of the main reasons was the philosophy of flowing space, which only required lightweight room dividers. Sliding elements are also more space-saving and do not destroy the atmosphere in the room when they are open by standing in the room like a revolving door.

With the beginning of the Meiji period , the Shōji were protected from weathering with glass and curtains

With the beginning of the Meiji period and the opening of the country, new materials and architectural ideas came to Japan from the west. The buildings got a new outer skin, the Shōji were protected by a glass front. This design does not correspond to the original air-conditioning and architectural concept of the traditional residential houses, as Western and Japanese elements were combined, which had advantages and disadvantages.

Shōji are still used in new buildings these days, especially in the tatami rooms, the washitsu . These are rooms based on traditional Japanese design patterns that can still be found at least once in most newly built Japanese apartments. In this case, however, the separation of interior and exterior space is taken over by a built-in window, which only gives the Shōji the meaning of a decorative element.

construction

A Shōji consists of an outer wooden frame, a thin stabilizing wooden board in the foot part (Koshi-Ita) and the thin lattice struts (Kumiko) on which the paper is glued with rice starch glue (Sokui) . Depending on the division resulting from the Kumiko, a distinction is made between Tateshige-Shōji (more than four columns, less than ten or twelve lines) and Yokoshige-Shōji (four or fewer columns, more than ten or twelve lines). The usual size is 1.73 m × 0.86 m, due to the classic design of the Japanese interior.

Traditionally, the shōji are covered with new paper by the residents on the last day of the year so that the New Year can be celebrated with bright white shōji.

Nowadays paper from industrial production is mostly used, sometimes plastic.

Differentiation from Fusuma elements

In contrast to Fusuma sliding elements, Shōji are translucent because they are only covered with a layer of rice paper, called washi . Fusuma, on the other hand, are a complex combination of several layers of paper and cardboard, also on a wooden lattice, which, however, remains invisible. In addition, Fusuma are painted or decorated and, due to their smooth surface, have a handle, called hikite , which in turn can be elaborately designed.

Fusuma elements have been used as a delimitation between the rooms inside the building, while the Shōji elements have taken over the delimitation to the outside space.

The word Shōji was originally used for all sliding elements in a Japanese house. Later, the distinction between karagami shōji (today Fusuma ) and akari shōji (today Shōji ) was introduced.

variants

Laterally movable Shōji are called hikishōji ( 引障子 )

hanging shōji kakeshōji ( 掛障子 )

The covered wooden frames can be combined with small glass windows, sliding panels or thin wooden panels, resulting in Shōji variants with different uses, for example:

Yokogarasu-Shōji (with horizontal window glass, usually at medium height)