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Article: Japanese mountain deities. (traditional Japanese perceptions of urban space)
- Article from:
- The Architectural Review
- Article date:
- October 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 EMAP Architecture. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Traditional Japanese perceptions of urban space are, argues Fred Thompson, completely different from those of the West. Space in Japan is defined by time and ritual, and festal rites involve elaborate symbolic temporary constructions.
During a visit to Japan in 1969, I began to ponder the questions of civic unity and why the Japanese seemed to lack civic spaces in the form I was used to seeing in the West. Professor Itoh Teii[1] had drawn my attention to the fact that a public place in Japan is rarely conceived of as hard bordered, but rather as kaiwai, or an activity space. Professor Kojiro Yuichiro[2] further suggested a theoretical basis for a new form of research ...