ARTD299 Japanese Aesthetics

I'll re-iterate my thoughts from the first week to start, this being my first actual post: my original conception of the rooms in the Japan House was of overwhelming simplicity, as I'm sure was true of everyone. And as a result of that simplicity it is easy to see where their designers wanted the focus of the room; the tokanoma. This section of each of rooms is cast in more light, elevated, and fixed with appropriate wall hangings, effectively creating a spot of emphasis, direction, and an overriding sense of purpose throughout the room. When you're in them, you feel as if you know what you should be doing. However, this pulls you away from some of the smaller details that make the rooms so great.

The second time through, last week, I became more aware of space, which I related back to the sense(s) of purpose from the week before. Obviously, the larger space of the "shin" room is meant to be sociable as it accomodates guests during the tea ceremonies. Comparatively, the smallest "so" room, is designed to be introspective. When you are inside, you can't help but keep to yourself, think, or relfect. (The wall hanging that was up that week was "flower" done in the so style, and allowed us to do just that. The character resembled a flower, but depending on the observer a different flower type was projected).

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