Abstract
This article examines the relationship between functionalism and the concept "Beauty of Simplicity", and explores its characteristics and the meaning of the "Beauty of Simplicity" in research by the NRIIA in wartime Japan. The "Beauty of Simplicity" refers to an aesthetic that comprises the notion of "Simplicity".
The design principle and ordinary aesthetics were brought together through the comprehension of functionalism as "simplification" in wartime Japan. The "Beauty of Simplicity" served to mediate the concepts of functionalism and ethnicity.
The contemporary Japanese form, founded on the fusion of functionalism and ethnicity, emerged in the context of broader wartime trends. The "Beauty of Simplicity" conformed to this notion.
Thus, wartime developments of this principle built the groundwork for postwar Japanese design.
