Description: This book presents a thorough and meticulous study of Japanese architecture based on thirty years of field research by the architect and urban planner, Gunter Nitschke. In this major anthropological survey, the imperial, religious and domestic architecture of Japan are traced in connection with the rituals and rites of Japanese society from Shinto to the modern day, culminating in the work of Tadao Ando the renowned Japanese architect. The book is a collection of essays exploring two threads of the evolution of Japanese architecture: the styles and the rituals which has persevered through the centuries, maintaining a traditional stronghold, and the styles and rituals which have adapted to the times and the influence of the Western world while still employing a lesser degree of tradition. Each essay focuses on the Japanese concept of space making and space understanding. Alongside this overriding theme, the author provides a penetrative study of time, the element which complements space.

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