Tokonoma

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tokonoma with ikebana and a hanging picture sheet

The (occasionally also the) tokonoma ( Japanese床 の 間 toko-no-ma, literally German : bed niche ) is an essential element of traditional Japanese architecture . This is a small, ground-level or slightly raised niche about 50 cm deep and 1 to 2 m wide or a bay window. Tokonoma are usually found in Washitsu , traditional Japanese rooms with tatami (rice straw mats).

Characteristic

The choice of materials, the size and the design of the tokonoma depends on the formality ( shin, gyō, sō ) of the room. Shin is the most formal level, gyō is semi-formal and sō informal.

The tokonoma is delimited by a screen and two bars, the otoshigake (落 と し が け) on the upper front and the tokogamachi on the lower front, on the side there can be a small window ( shitajimado ) and the tree trunk called tokobashira (床柱) , which is natural and made of a different wood than the rest of the tokonoma to avoid repetition. The pillar opposite the Tokobashira is called aitebashira . In the shin style, the pillars are painted black, in the other styles they are natural. The floor of the tokonoma is paneled with wood in the gyō and sō style, and in the shin style it consists of a tatami mat. This is slightly higher than the rest of the room. Typically, the tokonoma is designed with a vertical hanging scroll , the kakemono , and an ikebana arrangement, the latter never being allowed to stand in the middle of the tokonoma. The ikebana must also harmonize with shin , gyō and sō .

Rooms with a tokonoma are considered more elegant than rooms without a tokonoma. That is why guests are preferred to receive in them. The host takes the place furthest away from the tokonoma, unless the guest is higher in rank than he is. The guest sits with his back to the tokonoma. This was always the other way around for rooms in the Sukiya style .

According to Tanizaki , Japanese architecture has an aversion to glaring light and prefers the shade, so the tokonoma should "not have so much the effect of a decoration as to give depth to the shadow." The main task of the Kakemono is the incident light in the shade to reflect the tokonoma. The coherence of the kakemono with the wall of the tokonoma is called tokoutsuri , which means that an artistically excellent kakemono does not come into its own in an unsuitable tokonoma, on the other hand, a less successful scroll can harmonize perfectly with the tokonoma. According to Bruno Taut , the tokonoma is a room element of "unique, aesthetic harmony".

history

Tokonoma originated during the Muromachi period (14th to 16th centuries) and can be traced back to Chinese tables and altars. Its Buddhist origin as they were first used for religious activities, especially for the ritual tea drinking in front of a portrait of Bodhidharma was conducted and floral decoration, but the time lost this purpose in the barrel. Bruno Taut sees the Tokonoma as an "artistically high-profile synthesis of Chinese furniture and Japanese interior design"

Trivia

  • The architecture critic Grant Manson sees the design of the chimneys by Frank Lloyd Wright as a western transfer of the tokonoma.
  • In his book “Japan's Culture”, Bruno Taut calls for the tokonoma to be adopted in western architecture.
  • In Japan, a husband who does not participate in the household is often jokingly referred to as "tokonoma jewelry".

Literary reference

“I recently saw the work again after more than twenty years when I was asked for advice on restoring a suspension. The great egrets hung in the tokonoma of the tea room. And for the first time I understood the meaning of what Master Rikyu had told me. The picture is excellent, but the way it is framed is what counts. Suddenly I realized that Master Rikyū had spoken of this simple suspension. It seems to me characteristic of Jukō to mount the picture on such a material. Admirable how Master Rikyū recognized this so precisely. The decisive refinement of the picture actually lies in its simple frame. "

- Yasushi Inoue The death of the tea master

gallery

  • Guest room in Hachi-Ishi

  • Tokonoma with hanging picture sheet and ikebana

  • Kannon-in in Tottori

  • Tokonoma in the Folklore Museum in Murotsu

  • Tokonoma in the Maritime Museum in Murotsu

  • Tokonoma in Kita Kamakura

  • Tokonoma in Katsusika

literature

Web links

Commons : Tokonoma  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%BA%8A
  2. ↑ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%96%93
  3. ↑ Japan room: Tokonoma wall niches. Retrieved July 17, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Japan room: Tokonoma wall niches. Retrieved July 17, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Japan room: Tokonoma wall niches. Retrieved July 17, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Kakuzo Okakura: Das Buch vom Tee, Insel, 1979, ISBN 3-458-32112-8 , p. 71
  7. ↑ Ayako Graefe: Ikebana: Spirit and Beauty of Japanese Flower Art, Books on demand, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8391-4034-5 , p. 72
  8. ↑ Ayako Graefe: Ikebana: Spirit and Beauty of Japanese Flower Art, Books on demand, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8391-4034-5 , p. 72
  9. ↑ https://www.houzz.de/ideabooks/63792956/list/nicht-von-dieser-welt-geschichte-und-magie-der-japanischen-teehaeuser
  10. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / en.japanese-culture.info
  11. ↑ Japan room: Tokonoma wall niches. Retrieved July 17, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Kakuzo Okakura: Das Buch vom Tee, Insel, 1979, ISBN 3-458-32112-8 , p. 71
  13. ↑ Ayako Graefe: Ikebana: Spirit and Beauty of Japanese Flower Art, Books on demand, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8391-4034-5 , p. 72
  14. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / en.japanese-culture.info
  15. ↑ Tanizaki Jun'ichirō: In Praise of the Shade: Design of a Japanese Aesthetic, Manesse, 2010, ISBN 978-3-7175-4082-3 , p. 39
  16. ↑ Tanizaki Jun'ichirō: In Praise of the Shade: Design of a Japanese Aesthetic, Manesse, 2010, ISBN 978-3-7175-4082-3 , p. 39
  17. ↑ Tanizaki Jun'ichirō: In Praise of the Shade: Design of a Japanese Aesthetic, Manesse, 2010, ISBN 978-3-7175-4082-3 , p. 39
  18. ↑ Bruno Taut: The Japanese House and its Life, ed. by Manfred Speidel, Mann, 1997, ISBN 978-3-7861-1882-4 , p. 95
  19. ↑ Robin Rehm: "Tasted through". Bruno Taut and the Japanese House, in: Simone Müller, Toru Ito, Robin Rehm (eds.), Berlin 2015, pp. 10–35. Retrieved July 26, 2017 .
  20. ↑ Kakuzo Okakura: The Book of Tea, p. 69
  21. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / en.japanese-culture.info
  22. ↑ Robin Rehm: "Tasted through". Bruno Taut and the Japanese House, in: Simone Müller, Toru Ito, Robin Rehm (eds.), Berlin 2015, pp. 10–35. Retrieved July 26, 2017 .
  23. ↑ Kevin Nute: Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan: The Role of Traditional Japanese Art and Architecture in the Work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Routledge, 2000, ISBN 978-0-4152-3269-2 , p. 61
  24. ↑ Yasushi Inoue: The Death of the Tea Master. Novel. Translated from the Japanese by Ursula Gräfe. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2007, ISBN 978-3-518-46025-2 , p. 81