What are the Japanese paper walls called?
You must mean shoji or fusuma, not walls but screens or doors. Basically these can act like dividers. If you close them up you have several rooms and you open them up or remove them and you have a big room. They're not always made of paper, that's traditional and you would have to repair it constantly for the holes. Never saw a home with paper actually except for the shoji my mom made for our American house. Some home examples: http://www.japancorner.com/japanese_home...
Do traditional Japanese houses have paper walls?
They are not paper walls, they are partitions between rooms.When those paper partitions slid into one place or removed altogether, creates one big room for special occasions.
Why do most Japanese houses have sliding doors?
Space and material...the style goes back centuries and it was easier to build a sliding door than to deal with hinges. The material is a type of rice paper which is cooler in the summer...part of the cultural heritage is self discipline and keep your self control meant not raising your voice which with paper thin walls, everyone would know that you lost control.... Mainly it had to do with material availability....
Why do Japanese use paper doors? Isn't Japan very cold in the winter?
There is an old Japanese saying from long ago, "Build your house to be comfortable in summer." Back before air conditioning was invented, it was much easier to keep warm in front of a fire than to cool yourself down. And Japan, especially Kyoto, is VERY humid and muggy in the summer. I'd much rather be too cold in the winter than too hot in the summer. The other reason to use paper and other lightweight construction is that, in case of an earthquake, you are less likely to be injured or buried by falling heavy objects. Also, as others have answered, the paper doors and walls were just on the inside of the house, not the outside.
Why are houses in Japan made of wood?
Bricks, stone, cement and RCC are brittle. Wood is provides strength as well as cushion effect due to its flexibility and elasticity.So houses made of wood are more earthquake prone.Plus Wood is cheap and widely available throughout the history.
Do houses in Japan have basements?
Traditional houses in Japan did not have basements. I have never seen one with a basement. More like a crawl space. I have never seen a modern Japanese house with a basement either. In some places it is said building codes prevent them. I have heard in some cities modern some buildings have basements. But I have never personally sen one.They did have root cellar sort of place in the kitchen to store pickles in old farm houses. But no basement. In one house I was in, they lifted the tatami and pulled out the moonshine (sweet potato) from a under the floor area. But it wasn’t a basement. Usually there is no central heating so there is no need for a place for a boiler or furnace. They don’t have attics either.
What do you call traditional Japanese houses?
伝統的日本家屋 dentouteki Nihon-kaoku 和風建築 wafuu-kenchiku --------------- Edit: In modern Japanese, 民家 refers to "private houses (both traditional and modern)" So if you want to express "traditional" Japanese houses, 民家 won't describe it. http://eow.alc.co.jp/%e6%b0%91%e5%ae%b6/... * Wikipedia - Japanese page - says: 現代日本語では、団地やマンションなどの集合住宅に対して、一戸建ての比較的小規模... 住宅を指して「民家」と呼ぶことがある。(English page doesn't explain this) -
Traditional Japanese house name?
Traditional houses in Japan are made mainly of wood and partly of paper, and tile-roofed. What do we Japanese call this kind of house? A traditional style is quite common to us, so we just call that kind of house "でんとうてきないえ dentoutekina ie (a traditional house)". lol By the way, We call such ROOMs "nihon-ma" or "wa-shitsu" "Nihon" means Japan :), So does "wa" "ma" is for "space","room". "shitsu" for "room". We call western style rooms "you-ma""you-shite" "Yo-u(pronounced like Yo! not like You)" means "western". We call HOUSEs of such style "nihon jutaku""washikino ie""wahuno ie" as a conter concept to "yousiki juutaku""youshikino ie""youhuno ie" jutaku:house, residence washiki wahu:Japanese style youshiki, youhu:western style Basic style of this "tatami-floored, husuma-separated" rooms with a small decoration place was established in the Muromachi period(1338-1573) and called "shoin-dukuri".