Shoji

Frame The shoji frame is a panel called a . "" literally means "woven"; the halved joints alternate in direction so that the laths are interwoven. The interweaving is structural, and the paper (which is tensioned by spraying it with water Coniferous wood is preferred for its fine, straight grain. Shoji with kōshi made of split bamboo are called take-shōji (). Kōshi are sometimes made of aluminium, shaped to resemble wood. Patterns may also be combined. Patterns can be classified according to jigumi, the foundational grid; this may be square, diamond-shaped, or hexagonal. Rectangular shoji may skew, in which case bent springs of bamboo are inserted into the short diagonal to push them back square. There can be substantial artistry in frame design. The jigumi kumiko are generally joined with simple halved joints, but where jigumi kumiko cross at a non-right-angle, or three cross at the same point (mitsu-kude), the angles can become complicated, and specialized tools are used to cut them rapidly. Small kumiko may simply be friction-fitted and glued. These tools are often homemade; as shoji-making is highly competitive, these give kumiko craftspeople a critical competitive advantage. While frames are handcrafted, there is also industrial mass-production. • yokoshigesan shoji () or kicked, Such a shoji is called a koshizuke shoji. These are somewhat archaic, as they were designed to protect against rain. Now that shoji are rarely exposed to rain (due to being behind glass), the form in common use has a much lower panel, and is called koshi-tsuki-shōji (). The koshi boards may be fastened to straight vertical or horizontal rails, which stand proud of the planks; older rails are thicker and often chamfered. The rails are often grouped in clusters; this clustering is called fukiyose (). File:Kurashiki Ohashi House02n4592.jpg|A kōshi door in a historic house, unfilled File:Soba restaurant by Shadowgate in Higashi-Ueno, Tokyo.jpg|A kōshi door on a soba shop, filled with glass; left, simple kōshi window. File:Jingoji Kyoto Kyoto35n4592.jpg|alt=room with sliding screens at about 50 cm height, looking out on the upper reaches of sunlit trees. The screens have a low wooden panel, and a high lattice which appears to be open but is actually glass-filled.|These sliding kōshi have been inconspicuously glazed, and are less sheltered than usual. File:JapanHomes104 REED-SCREEN.jpg|Reed shoji; koshi with cut-out bats, top section unfilled. File:蟹仙洞 旧長谷川家住宅主屋（部屋） (cropped to sudare-shoji).jpg|alt=Rectangular lattice frame filled with a blind made of fine grass stems, laid in parallel|Sudare-shōji; beyond, a sudare byōbu and kami (paper-filled) shoji. The spaces between the kumiko are sometimes left open, and the kōshi panel used as an open lattice, especially in summer, for more air circulation. These provide more shade and ventilation than paper-backed shoji, and are also called natsu-shōji (, "summer shoji"), Cloth and paper Shoji are most commonly filled with a single sheet of paper, pasted across the back of the frame (on the outer side). Shoji may also be papered on both sides, which increases thermal insulation and sound absorption; the frame is still visible in silhouette. • futsū ("common") shoji () have a frame on one side, paper on the other Synthetic fibers were first used in washi paper in the 1960s (mid Shōwa period). The optical characteristics of washi, such as its reflectance and scatter, are selected by the maker. (wheatpaste is also sometimes used and double-sided tape may also be used, especially for laminated paper). Laminated papers, coated in vinyl, last longer and are sufficiently waterproof to be wiped clean, but the thicker the plastic film, the harder it is to install. After glue is dry (~6 hours Traditionally, abura-shōji (: "oil-shoji"), also called ama-shōji (: "rain-shoji"), used paper (generally nishi-no-uchigami, ) that was glued on with vinegar-based paste and then oiled. This made them water-resistant, so they were used where rain might reach under the eaves. The smooth sheet of paper covering the back of a shoji can make it difficult to grip and slide the shoji from the outside. To solve this, a single square in the frame may be papered only on the opposite side, Ranma (transom/fanlight panels above the sliding panels and kamoi) may have openings to further encourage breezes to pass through the building. such as approximately 2 mm-thick acrylic or polycarbonate which can be frosted or bonded to a printed film. Rigid translucent panels cannot readily be spliced; one continuous sheet must usually be used per frame. A peel-and-stick film made of epoxy and white non-woven fiberglass is also used. Nonwoven sheets of composite plastic (vinyl-coated polyester) fibers are also used, and may be attached with removable fasteners rather than glue, although they are still single-use. blown plate glass was expensive and available in small panes. Cheaper plate glass was introduced to Japan circa the late 1800s. It was widely applied to traditional kōshi doors, without much change to the traditional form and structure. Sukimi shoji (, moon-watching shoji) Fitting File:Edo-Tokyo Museum - miniature model of Hokusai's studio 01 (15585495469).jpg|Shoji as usually mounted with two sliding panels in an opening. If the full opening is wanted, panels are removed. 2×2.5 ken house. File:Gs01-rinsyun.jpg|Four-panel opening at Sankeien, open. The innermost doors and outermost doors overlap fully; note that in the single-layer ranma above, the light is brighter, and the silhouette of the visitor stooping for her bag sharper. File:Kaisuian Interior window crop.jpg|Top: katabiki shoji, on interior rails, slides in front of the wall. Lower right: a katabiki shoji which cannot slide fully open. File:JapanHomes151 SHŌJI FOR WINDOW.jpg|Kake-shōji hang from hooks; they are used for small windows in opaque walls. File:松風荘 茶室 (3).jpg|Center, kake-shōji. Right, opaque ajiro (: "wickerwork") on a cupboard door. The traditional wooden track requires precise fitting, The double parallel grooves allow the shoji to be slid so that they occupy nearly half of their closed width; Hiki-chigai came to be used in minka (commoners' homes) in the mid-Edo Period (c. 1700s). Katabiki shoji () are single panels sliding in a single groove. They slide on rails mounted on a solid wall, and when open partly or fully overlap the wall. They are used for smaller windows in opaque walls; this is common in chashitsu (see image). Small windows and katabiki mounting were used in minka until the mid-Edo period, but were then replaced by larger openings with sliding panels. Less traditionally, hiki () shoji (sliding panels) can be hung on rollers, which run on metal rails mounted on the side of the kamoi. This avoids fit problems caused by humidity-related changes in the dimensions of wood. Such shoji are also fairly easy to remove. in Cambridge, UK Shoji may also be installed as pocket doors between rooms, called hikikomi () shoji. This is a historical practice, but it is no longer common in Japan, though it is sometimes used in western-style homes. Kake-shōji (hanging shoji) are mostly used in traditionally rustic chashitsu (tea rooms). They are commonly hung over small windows in opaque walls of mud plaster; they hang from bent-nail hooks, one on either side of the top of the window, and the topmost frame member is extended into two horizontal projections that rest in the hooks (see photo above). Like katabiki shoji, Double doors, whether bifold doors or not, are termed ryōbiraki shoji (). Tsukuritsuke shoji (, "fixed shoji"), are often horizontal strips. ==Development and use==

Hashira-ma equipment Traditional Japanese buildings are post-and-lintel structures. They are built around vertical posts, connected by horizontal beams (rafters were traditionally the only structural member that was neither horizontal nor vertical). The rest of the structure is non-load-bearing. The roof completed, all but the cheapest buildings also added a raised plank floor (except in the kitchen). The remaining question was what to do with the space between the pillars, the hashira-ma (, ). The hashira-ma might be filled with fixed walls, in cheaper Japanese homes. For example, there might be lath-and-plaster walls, or in colder areas thatch walls; these are still used in rustic teahouses and historic buildings (see images). Bark-and-bamboo walls, clapboard, and board-and-batten walls were also used. either free-standing or hung from lintels,). When paper came to be used instead of cloth, fusuma shoji were also called karakami shoji. From the late 1100s to the early 1200s, translucent cloth and paper shoji were called akari-shōji (), "illuminating shoji". which were usually horizontally split and hinged (hajitomi), but were occasionally vertically split and hinged. Sliding partitions (hiki-do, , literally "sliding door") did not come into use until the tail end of the Heian, and the beginning of the Kamakura period. Early sliding doors were heavy; some were made of solid wood. A shakuri kanna (plow plane) was used to smooth the bottom of the groove, and a wakitori kanna for the sides of the groove (these planes also became more elaborate, later adding screw adjustments and other machined-metal refinements). A core part of the style was the shoin ("library" or "study"), a room with a desk built into an alcove containing a shoji window, in a monastic style; this desk alcove developed in the Kamakura period. The Shoin style also made extensive use of sliding doors. Maira-do replaced shitomi-do as rain-protection doors. Initially, the beams between the outer support posts were cut with three grooves; the innermost one for the shoji, and the outer two for mairado-do. This meant that the hashira-ma was generally at least half-obscured, although the other half could be open, shoji-filled, or closed. To open the building in the morning, each ama-do would be slid along (rotating at corners) to the end of groove, where they were stacked in a box (, : literally, "door-container"). The to-bukuro might be designed to swing out of the way. The inner two grooves remained as they were, but both could now be filled with shoji, doubling the number of shoji in a building. Lightweight shoji could be lifted out and carried away easily. This new structure allowed the entire side of the building to be opened, giving either twice as much light, from an uninterrupted wall of shoji, or an unobstructed view of the garden; gardens changed accordingly. File:Fukagawa Edo Museum on the 30th of october 2010 - 89.jpg|Shoji in a museum replica of a 1×2.5 ken Edo nagaya (, row house). Kitchen to left, second door on right; munewari nagaya had only a kitchen door. File:Fukiya katayama house01s3200.jpg|Shoji in a machiya (merchant's house). Light from full-height tōriniwa (, atrium/kitchen) enters the lateral tatami rooms. File:Kawasaki Nihon Minkaen 06.jpg|Shoji in a nōka (, farmhouse). The attics were probably once used for sericulture. File:Dejima Nagasaki Japan31s3.jpg|Dutch-Japanese interior from Dejima Unlike the Shiden and Shoin styles, the Sukiya system was, and still is, used in Japanese buildings of all classes. Fires were a major problem in Japanese cities well into the Meiji Period; homes (including their furniture and the standardized architectural modules, such as tatami and hiki-do and even floorboards) were made to be quickly packed up and carried away when fire threatened, leaving only the stripped pillars and roof, which could easily be pulled down by firefighters. The process was made profitable in 1960, and in the early sixties plants were licensed throughout the world, including in Japan. Japan had developed substantial domestic float glass production by 1965. As 1960s float glass produced large single-pane picture windows in Western architecture, some influenced by the architecture of Japan, it also had an effect on Japanese architecture. Float glass was widely applied to traditional kōshi frames, without much change to the traditional structure or appearance. Shoji are common in the washitsu of modern Japanese homes; they may also be used instead of curtains in Western-style rooms. File:Yoshimatsu02.jpg|Engawa lined with paper-coated shoji (left, frame on inside) and surrounded by all-glass garasu-do (right). The lower glass is frosted. File:昭和の暮らし (2910417887).jpg|A mid-20th-century Japanese kitchen, with shoji and half-frosted glass sliding doors File:Nara Irie KyuKyo BookRoom.jpg|Shoji in an interior with Western-style furniture; note float-glass outer doors. File:Ryokan Koaka - 4 (756346060).jpg|Room with shoji in a ryokan ==Aesthetics and culture==

The silhouettes cast through shoji, and visible on the darker side, are valued for their aesthetic effects. Shoji also filter the outside light. How light is brought inside a traditional building, and what kind of light, is considered an integral part of the livability and aesthetics of an interior space. The ability to slide the shoji aside, and take them out and put them in a closet, means that living space is more spacious, open, and more connected to the garden outside. ==See also==