The Art of Impermanence: Japanese Wooden Joinery and the Architecture of Craft
As an aspiring architect and historian, I am constantly fascinated by how architecture can be used to tell stories, and represent culture. In Japan, despite the grandeur of the famous temples, I am fascinated by its construction methods, how it can be so simple, yet so strong. Japanese architecture, especially vernacular ones, can best reflect the skill of the craftsman, and the well versed knowledge of knowing materiality, building, and physics. Using wood joinery for temples or called miyadaiku (宮大工, temple carpentry), artisans have consistently preserved one of the most sophisticated craft systems. Yet Its mastery lies not just in structure, but a philosophy of impermanence and precision, honoring history, culture and structure at the same time.
1. Origins: Building from the Living Earth
The choice of using wood can be tied to geography. Geographically, the country is a mountainous archipelago, with dense forests, mountains, and the occasional volcano (Yoteii and Fuji being the famous 2). It offers limited resources but gives an abundance of cedar, hinoki( cypress) and pine, thus the choice to use wood is natural.
The earliest of these structures can date back to the Asuka and Nara periods (6th-8th centuries). These structures were influenced heavily by Chinese and Korean Buddhist temples, yet with time, the Japanese developed their own vernacular methods. This can be best seen by the Hōryū-ji Temple (607 CE). It's often considered the world’s oldest surviving wooden building, and pioneered the Japanese vernacular methods of interlocking beams, columns, and bracketing systems – allowing the building to be more resistant towards earthquakes. This principle — that endurance arises from adaptability — became the core of Japanese architectural thinking.
2. The Philosophy of Wood: Shinto, Zen, and Impermanence
Perhaps on a larger view, being able to understand the meaning (besides architecturally of course) of Japanese joinery is being able to understand Shinto, a reflection of traditional Japanese values. In Shinto, all natural materials possess a spirit or essence (kami), and treat materials like wood as alive. Therefore for traditional artisans, their job was not only to create the material, but to reveal its inner spirit and work through that to create their artworks. In Zen Buddhism, Mujo (impermanence) is treated as a fundamental truth. Through this belief, they see buildings as a representation of life, as if it was temporary. This can explain why temples like Ise Jingu are rebuilt every 20 years (an act known as Shikinen Sengū). Despite the decay, the knowledge and spirit of the craft endures.
As philosopher and craftsman Kiyoshi Seike once wrote:
“Japanese architecture lives and dies like the trees from which it comes.”
This cyclical understanding of architecture — that decay is part of continuity — underpins the aesthetic of wabi-sabi, the beauty of imperfection and transience. It informs every joint, every beam, every empty space.
3. Joinery as Philosophy: The Craft of Connection
At the heart of Japanese architecture is joinery(tsugite and shiguchi): the art of connecting wood without nails, screws, or adhesives. Metaphorically, each joint is philosophy, tradition and culture combined. These systems developed as a response to Japan's humid environment, and embody a reflection upon cultural values. Joinery solved these problems by making structure flexible and self-locking.
Key Joinery Types
Kanawa tsugi (scarf joint): Used to connect beams end to end with dovetails and hidden wedges for support
Kigumi (frame joinery): Using multiple columns and beams that are assembled through mortise and tenon, often very visible in temple ceilings or tokonoma alcoves.
Ari-shiguchi (dovetail joint): A diagonal joint that prevents lateral movement, used in corners and furniture
Hozo (tenon): A vertical peg fitting into a mortise cavity, can vary region to region.
Master carpenters (tōryō) spend decades learning to read wood grain, moisture, and behavior in order to master their craft. They often use the following tools: planes (kanna), chisels (nomi), and saws (nokogiri)
4. Structural Intelligence and Culture Flexibility as Strength
Japanese joinery can often do what modern structural engineering can't: tell a story of culture. Yet, despite being more ‘old’ and ‘venacular’, it can still resist earthquakes and loads just as well as modern techniques. The interlocking yet flexibility of the joints allow them to absorb seismic energy from earthquakes and maintain structural integrity. For example, in the famous 5 storied pagoda, Hōryū-ji, a central pillar called the shinbashira acts as a flexible spine, stabilizing the structure during tremors. The wooden joints allow horizontal movement without collapse — a principle modern architects now emulate through base isolation.These systems emerged not from computers or laboratories, but from centuries of accumulated empirical wisdom — a form of vernacular engineering encoded in craft.
In terms of training, the tradition (miyadaiku) operates similar to a European industry guild. Apprentices often train for a decade or more under a master, learning key skills like forestry, wood selection, joinery geometry, tool maintenance and rituals. I find the wood selection process to be super fascinating, some choose wood based on its aroma, or grain, or even resistance to decay. Artisans often orient specific beams based on the tree's growth pattern and direction as they believe this respects material and harmony. Most importantly though, these artisans believe in Kata, repetition until it becomes an instinct. Their tools are deeply personal, handed down throughout generations and cared for meticulously, just like how they care for materiality and craft.
Modern Resonances: Tradition as Innovation
Contemporary Japanese architects continue to reinterpret wooden joinery in modern forms. Kengo Kuma famously used interlocking joints as structure and ornamentation in his works in Prostho Museum and Sunny Hills Tokyo, describing the joints as “transparent structures of connection.” Shigeru Ban employs similar joinery in his famous ‘paper tube architecture’, using them as the main form that makes up the structure rather than the architecture itself. Similarly, Terunobu Fujimori revives folk carpentry traditions to challenge modern material hierarchies, creating surreal yet rooted constructions. On a larger scale, architects now use CNC milling and robotic fabrication to create similar structural logics of Kigumi in steel and composite materials, perhaps an avant garde reinvention?
With its harmony and humility, Japanese joinery not only continues to revolutionize architecture, but embodies a philosophy that represents relation between man, material and structure. It shows that perfection is not static, but a continuous practice, emphasizing that architecture is slow, patient and human, and ultimately should be embodied in design.
