Most traditional Japanese structures are constructed in a similar manner and out of similar materials. The building materials in a Machiya are surprising in their simplicity. Stone is used only as a slab for the foundation and as stepping-stones in the exterior of the house. Stepping-stones play an important role in the symbolic bridging of the interior and exterior space of a house, a usage they have been put to for hundreds of years of Japanese history. Apart from stone, the only real construction materials required to build a machiya re wood, clay, bamboo, and paper.
Construction was typically done only by a master carpenter and his assistants. Heinrich Engel writes that:
While in the West the specialization of the building industry has alienated the architect from many fields in building, in Japan the master carpenter, owing to the standardization and limitations of architectural work, still fully masters and controls every phase of architectural construction.1
The construction of a house begins with the creation of plans on a wooden board called an itazu. It lists little more than the placement of pillars and the amount of tatami mats in each room. As rooms are all sized to fit standard tatami mats, little else is needed for an experienced carpenter to raise a structure.
The first step is the laying of the foundation, though the foundation differs markedly from that of a typical Western house. Its construction is additionally far simpler as the only purpose of a machiya’s foundation is to raise the house above the ground. Being its only purpose, the foundation is little more than a flat stone sunk into the ground on which a vertical wooden beam rests. This construction is nearly the polar opposite of a Western house, which has a large and complicated foundation spanning the entire house. The raised nature of the building not only allows it to be built far more inexpensively and simply than a typical Western house, but can also be repaired for less cost and with less hassle. It additionally benefits the house by providing a means for air to circulate under the floor, important as Japanese summers are notoriously humid, and were it not for air movement, materials inside the structure would quickly deteriorate.2
The beams of the house are not tied to the foundation in any way, and are held in place by the weight of the structure. As the walls of the machiya are not required to support any load save for their own, the framework of a Japanese house is far simpler than the equivalent Western structure. The roof too is as simple as the foundation. It consists of several large horizontal beams laid on top of the vertical beams of the foundation. The design of the roof allows for a completely open floor plan below, as it requires no additional load-bearing walls to be constructed. There are downsides to such a construction, as Engel notes:
The roof construction of the Japanese house has been the subject of many controversies, less as to its constructional inadequacy, which in fact cannot be disputed, than to the factors that were instrumental in preventing its improvement. Though Western influence has taught the structural merits of triangulation, it did not succeed in replacing the heavy, rough-treated trunks that, albeit delicately joined, are simply laid from eaves beam to center beam and carry the entire roof load, equally distributed on their full length.3
Once the vertical construction of the roof is finished, it is then lightly shingled. Once completed, a thick layer of mud is applied to its entire surface. Mud is simply gathered from wherever convenient, and it is mixed until the carpenter deems its consistence appropriate. Large ceramic tiles are pressed into the mud, which is the only material securing them to the roof.4
As machiya are long and narrow, they have a very large surface on their sides to cover. Once the basic framework of the house is completed, the outside walls are covered with a series of boards called yakiita. Yaki translates as “grilled” and it refers quite accurately to the process used to treat the wooden boards in order to prevent mold and rot from forming. They are burned once briefly before being cut to size,. They have the advantage of wonderful weather resistance, however they unfortunately play a large part in the difficulties in constructing and restoring contemporary machiya, as they offer nothing in the way of fire resistance. Current fire regulations forbid their installation, and they are frequently covered up with sheet metal rather than being replaced due to difficulties involved.
Inside a machiya, there are two types of ceilings, the yamatotenjo and the saobuchi tenjo. A yamatotenjo is usually found above the mise and other rooms on the first floor, and consists of several large beams called sasara, which support the floor of the room above. The underside of the upstairs floorboards can be seen between the beams. With the saotenjo, a series of thin cedar boards are supported from above by the large horizontal beams of the house. The boards are hung in such a way that nails are not visible from below, overall creating a very clean appearance.5
The walls of the inside rooms are created from a mixture of sand, straw and clay laid over a bamboo lattice. It provides strong protection from the elements and creates a softer mood inside the house. Typically the floor of a machiya contains tatami mats, which are thick rectangles of woven straw bordered by a strip of cloth. They are all of a standard size, and as mentioned before, rooms are laid out in specific sizes to accommodate them.
Works Cited
1 Engel, Heinrich. The Japanese House: A Tradition for Contemporary Architecture (Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1964), 180.
2 Ibid., p. 111.
3 Ibid., p. 114.
4 Morse, Edward S. Japanese Homes and Their Surroundings (New York: Dover Publications, 1961), 84.
5 Kyomachiya. 15 November 2005. http://www.kyomachiya.net.