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Katsura Imperial Villa

Page history last edited by Rachael Inch 14 years, 1 month ago

Katsura Imperial Villa

Katsura Imperial Villa, also known as Katsura Detached Palace, sits upon a seven-hectare site by the side of the Kyoto River outside of Kyoto, Japan. Hichijonomiya Toshihito and his son Toshitada built the palace in three installations between the years of 1616 and 1660 during the Edo Period.

Overview of the villa's interior space. Views are of a 1/100 scale model of the villa built by Timothy M. Ciccone.

The site of the villa was favored by many of the elite class for its picturesque views and particularly as place from which to view the moon. Although built primarily as a nobleman’s villa for relaxation and contemplation, the villa is innovative both within its time period and in its use of simple materials and minimalist space that work together to integrate the interior of the villa with the exterior. This integration of interior with exterior in terms of space and aesthetics perhaps enhances both the ritual aesthetic and the physical act of the traditional Tea Ceremony.

Introduced during the 9^th century to Japan by a monk returning from China, the Japanese Tea Ceremony or the Way of Tea became the center of courtly ritual and pastime during the Edo Period. Up until this time the aesthetics of the Ceremony were predominantly Chinese and therefore highly adorned and decorative. During this time a monk by the name of Sen no Riykū, a student of prominent tea masters, became instrumental in consolidating the traditions of Japanese tea drinking into a simply choreographed exercise known as wabi-cha.

Riykū considered the extravagance and over adornment of Chinese aesthetics distracting and that they detracted from the experience of the Way of Tea. Paralleling Riykū’s ideas was a general movement within Japanese culture toward placing value upon simplicity. As the Feudal rigidity of class structure was lessened due to an influx of western social and political ideas the status of the rural farmer rose. Among others Riykū looked to the rustic simplicity of earthenware and architecture found in the huts of countryside villages to help develop an aesthetic philosophy called Wabi-Sabi. Closely aligning with Zen Buddhism Wabi-Sabi has been defined as “ a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional”(Koren). The Wabi-Sabi aesthetic became the predominant influence in the design of Teahouses across Japan and is exemplified within Katsura Villa.

The villa consists of a main building comprised of three inter-linking Old, Middle and New shoins. A meandering path unites and integrates the shoins with the surrounding gardens linking several teahouses and a drawing room together. The original Old shoin lies upon an east-west axis. Lining the exterior of the building is a porch or viewing platform where spectators may view the moon. During the day the trees lining the pond reflect and mirror the garden providing for a multiplicity of space that extends beyond the viewer’s initial field of vision. Thus the viewing platform is a quintessential experience of the appreciation of fleeting, transient moments that are so integral to the wabi-sabi aesthetic and Zen Philosophy.

Although the Tea Ceremony and the viewing platform are an integral part of the Katsura villa experience the ‘main event’ of the villa is considered by many to be a stroll around the garden. The garden wrap around the buildings, interlocking the shoins with drawing rooms, tearooms. The flagstones that serve as a path are placed a stride apart. By constructing the path in this way one is again aware of their body and link physical bodily awareness with the cerebral tranquility prompted by the nuances and intricacies found in the gardens. As one travels through the gardens the shoins are always partially obscured by foliage or are merely reflected in the pools that dot the site. The presence of the shoins is thus mysterious, intriguing and a sense of suspense is created as one approach their presence.

As one approaches the shoins they do not dominate the landscape nor do they impede upon the natural essence of their surroundings. Instead the materials used within the buildings integrate them with their surroundings, “The qualities they [the architects] seek to realize in architecture are those which seem essential in nature.” Generally the buildings maintain a diminutive stature sitting to low to the ground, with strong horizontal structural lines. The

structures do not impede upon their surroundings with an overbearing logic or symmetry. Instead they are asymmetrical and bear the imprint of nature in their weathered appearance that echoes the vulnerability innate to the notion of wabi-sabi. The support beams of the buildings are comprised of unfinished wood most of which still retains its original bark. These beams sit directly upon un-hewn flagstones that are the same as those which link the structures with the gardens.

Similarly the materials chosen for the inside of the shoins are reflective of the wabi-sabi aesthetic and are picked for their natural qualities of harmonious color and texture. To enter a room requires one to climb through a relatively small door. This action calls for an awareness of body within the shoin and initiates the mood of the space as a place for contemplation. Bare wood and a neutral color palette provide a serene environment within which one can concentrate upon the act of the Tea Ceremony without distraction. The integral structure of the shoins is generally concealed and the intersection of walls, or shoji screens, with low hung ceilings appears invisible rendering the illusion that they both float, interdependent of one-another. The walls or shoji screens are made from translucent rice paper that can be slid open to reveal the gardens outside. This integrates the gardens Zen like aesthetic with the interior rooms. By opening and shutting these screens once can alter the light and view, mediating between visibility and invisibility, and thus the mood.

The Katsura Villa is therefore, more than a building situated within surrounding gardens. The villa and garden are one, inextricably linked, feeding and reflecting off of one another, providing the illusion of spaces unbound by walls and foundations. The experience of the house and of the gardens thus acts similarly: the experience of the gardens lies within the consciousness as one enters the villa and vice versa. Although the aesthetic and subsequent experience of Katsura villa were designed to enhance the ritual tea ceremony the aesthetic seems to transcend this purpose and becomes an environment that evokes the Wabi-Sabi experience regardless of ones actions whilst visiting the Katsura villa.