Abstract
In the late 1920s and the 1930s it came into vogue to try to express Japanese architectural tradition by arranging tiled roofs, brackets and other details originally used in old Japanese architecture, especially in temples and shrines. The architects who supported rationalism severely criticized such tendency. The aim of this paper is to show how they criticized them, what they thought "real Japanese tradition" was and what was behind their thoughts by delving into the articles at the time. Incidentally, in this paper "Japaneseness" means physical features and concepts that are inherent in traditional Japanese architecture and thought to be worth preserving and passing down to future generations. The rationalists criticized the tendency to try to show Japanese architectural tradition by using physical elements originally used in traditional architecture, because they thought that in such way there were vague understandings of Japanese architectural tradition and that such way was contradictory to rationalism. Making much of not temples but shrines, houses and tea houses as "genuine Japanese architecture," they submitted their "Japaneseness" as follows : 1. simple, uncomplicated floor plan and structure ; 2. respect for the beauty of materials ; 3. lack of ornamentation ; 4. asymmetry ; 5. harmony with surrounding environment ; 6. the existence of modular units. An influence of rationalistic thoughts can be clearly seen in their "Japaneseness." The six points, that have often been counted as the essence of "the real Japanese architecture," were the products of the age when rationalism began to be declared as gospel for modern architecture.
