Shoji

A is a door, window or room divider used in traditional Japanese architecture, consisting of translucent (or transparent) sheets on a lattice frame. Where light transmission is not needed, the similar but opaque fusuma is used (/closet doors, for instance). Shoji usually slide, but may occasionally be hung or hinged, especially in more rustic styles.see kake- and hiraki-shōji below

Shoji are very lightweight, so they are easily slid aside, or taken off their tracks and stored in a closet, opening the room to other rooms or the outside.Sukiya Living Magazine article about shoji screens Fully traditional buildings may have only one large room, under a roof supported by a post-and-lintel frame, with few or no permanent interior or exterior walls; the space is flexibly subdivided as needed by the removable sliding wall panels. The posts are generally placed one tatami-length (about ) apart, and the shoji slide in two parallel wood-groove tracks between them. In modern construction, the shoji often do not form the exterior surface of the building; they sit inside a sliding glass door or window.

Shoji are valued for not setting a sharp barrier between the interior and the exterior; outside influences such as the swaying silhouettes of trees, or the chorus of frogs, can be appreciated from inside the house. As exterior walls, shoji diffuse sunlight into the house; as interior partitions between rooms, they allow natural light deep into the interior. While shoji block wind, they do allow air to diffuse through, important when buildings were heated with charcoal. Like curtains, shoji give visual privacy, but they do not block sounds. Shoji are also thought to encourage a home's inhabitants to speak and move softly, calmly, and gracefully, an important part of the ethos behind sukiya-zukuri architecture. Sliding doors cannot traditionally be locked.

Shoji rose in popularity as an integral element of the shoin-zukuri style, which developed in the Kamakura Period (1123–1333), as loss of income forced aristocrats into more modest and restrained architecture. This style was simplified in teahouse-influenced sukiya-zukuri architecture, and spread to the homes of commoners in the Edo Period (1603–1868), since which shoji have been largely unchanged. Shoji are used in both traditional-style Japanese houses and in Western-style housing, especially in the washitsu (traditional Japanese-style room). The traditional wood-and-paper construction is highly flammable.

Construction Frame

The shoji frame is a panel called a . It is assembled from interlocking laths of wood or bamboo called kumiko. "" literally means "woven"; the halved joints alternate in direction so that the laths are interwoven. The interweaving is structural, and the paper (which is tensioned by spraying it with water) further strengthens the finished panel. Frames can easily be broken by stepping on them when they are dismounted and stripped for re-papering. No fasteners are traditionally used to hold the frame together. Rice glue can also be used in the frame joints.

Coniferous wood is preferred for its fine, straight grain. Shoji with kōshi made of split bamboo are called take-shōji (). Kōshi are sometimes made of aluminium, shaped to resemble wood.

Most shoji lattices are rectangular. However, about 200 traditional patterns are used; each has a symbolism, associated with the natural pattern it stylistically represents. Patterns may also be combined. While these are traditionally used for shoji, they are increasingly used for other woodwork items, in and outside Japan. Patterns can be classified according to jigumi, the foundational grid; this may be square, diamond-shaped, or hexagonal. Rectangular shoji may skew, in which case bent springs of bamboo are inserted into the short diagonal to push them back square. There can be substantial artistry in frame design.

The kumiko are the fine wooden laths of the screen, and the tsukeko are the heavier members (usually around the edge). The tsukeko are joined with mortise-and-tenon joints, with either a jaguchi joint or a more complex mitered joint. The jigumi kumiko are generally joined with simple halved joints, but where jigumi kumiko cross at a non-right-angle, or three cross at the same point (mitsu-kude), the angles can become complicated, and specialized tools are used to cut them rapidly. Small kumiko may simply be friction-fitted and glued.

While frames can be produced with minimal hand tools, specialized hand tools, power tools, and jigs for cutting identical lengths and angles speed the process.Specialized hand tool for making grooves to take shoji screens, and very elaborate kumiko: , , These tools are often homemade; as shoji-making is highly competitive, these give kumiko craftspeople a critical competitive advantage. While frames are handcrafted, there is also industrial mass-production.

Some simple kumiko types include: mabarasan shoji () or aragumi shoji have large squarish openings, and are quick to assemble. This is the standard pattern used in most shoji. yokoshigesan shoji () or yokoshige shoji have rectangles that are longer in the horizontal direction; they are more common in the east of Japan. tatehonshigesan shoji () or tateshige shoji have rectangles that are longer in the vertical direction; they are more common in the west of Japan.

Koshi (dado)

The lowest portions of the shoji, which are the most likely to get wet or kicked, might be filled with a solid wood-panel dado, called a koshi (; literally, waist or hip; not to be confused with kōshi, above). Such a shoji is called a koshizuke shoji.

If the panel is over 60 cm high, or around a third of the height of the whole shoji, the shoji may be called a koshi-daka-shōji (; literally, high-koshi shoji). These are somewhat archaic, as they were designed to protect against rain. Now that shoji are rarely exposed to rain (due to being behind glass), the form in common use has a much lower panel, and is called koshi-tsuki-shōji (). Manaka koshishōji () have a central koshi.

The wood panels were often quite elaborately ornamented, from the late 1500s onwards. The outside of the koshi may be covered with wickerwork, or the inside papered. Pictures on paper were sometimes pasted onto the koshi board (haritsuke-e, ); pasted-on pictures are characteristic of the Shoin style.

The koshi boards may be fastened to straight vertical or horizontal rails, which stand proud of the planks; older rails are thicker and often chamfered. The rails are often grouped in clusters; this clustering is called fukiyose ().

Filling

Open and semi-open

The spaces between the kumiko are sometimes left open, and the kōshi panel used as an open lattice, especially in summer, for more air circulation. Kōshi may be made into windows (kōshi-mado, ) or doors (kōshi-do, ). Kōshi that are traditionally left open are now often filled with glass; this does not require much change to their appearance or structure, and glazed kōshi are still considered kōshi. Some lattice patterns have heraldic meanings, identifying the trade of a shopowner, for instance.

Frames may also be backed with wire mesh, for ventilation without insects. Sudare-shōji (; also called sudo, ) are filled with Phragmites reed, cat-tail stalks, pampas grass, or fine bamboo, held together by a few rows of thread woven around the stems. These provide more shade and ventilation than paper-backed shoji, and are also called natsu-shōji (, "summer shoji"), as they may be used seasonally. For instance, in Kyoto, both paper shoji and fusuma will be removed and replaced with sudo doors and sudare blinds; this is usually done towards the end of June, before the rainy season ends and the Gion Festival begins. A translation of a couple of illustration-heavy sections from a book published in Japanese.

Cloth and paper Shoji are most commonly filled with a single sheet of paper, pasted across the back of the frame (on the outer side). Shoji may also be papered on both sides, which increases thermal insulation and sound absorption; the frame is still visible in silhouette.

futsū ("common") shoji () have a frame on one side, paper on the other mizugoshi shoji () have a frame sandwiched between two papers. Also called taiko shoji. ryōmen shoji () have paper sandwiched between two frames

Shoji are not made with edible rice paper, though this is commonly asserted outside of Japan, possibly simply because "rice paper" sounds alimentary.

Cloth, usually a fine silk, has traditionally been used, but usage declined with improvements in the quality of washi (a specialized paper which diffuses light particularly well, and excludes wind). Washi is traditionally made from kōzo (mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera), mitsumata (Edgeworthia papyrifera) or gampi (Wikstroemia canescens), or hemp fibers and it is sold in a broad range of types. Washi was formerly made in narrower strips, which were overlapped by a few millimeters as they were glued on; it now comes in wider widths, and in rolls or lengths the height of a short Japanese door. Bright white paper is most popular in Japan; off-whites are also available, but darker colours are avoided, as they would not transmit light. Washi began to be mass-produced in the 1800s, making it much more affordable. Synthetic fibers were first used in washi paper in the 1960s (mid Shōwa period). A small proportion of synthetic fibers may be used to increase tear strength. The optical characteristics of washi, such as its reflectance and scatter, are selected by the maker.

Paper is decoratively patched if torn, and, traditionally, replaced once a year in late December (sometimes less frequently, such as every two years). The rice glue used to hold it to the kumiko is water-soluble (wheatpaste is also sometimes used and double-sided tape may also be used, especially for laminated paper).

Laminated papers, coated in vinyl, last longer and are sufficiently waterproof to be wiped clean, but the thicker the plastic film, the harder it is to install. After glue is dry (~6 hours), non-laminated paper can be sprayed with water to tauten it (removing small wrinkles), but laminated paper cannot. Shoji paper cannot be used in places where it will get wet, like a bathroom; even laminated paper will be affected, as water bleeds in from the edges.

Traditionally, abura-shōji (: "oil-shoji"), also called ama-shōji (: "rain-shoji"), used paper (generally nishi-no-uchigami, ) that was glued on with vinegar-based paste and then oiled. This made them water-resistant, so they were used where rain might reach under the eaves. Oiled-paper windows were common in Europe, as European-style shallow eaves exposed the windows to precipitation. In Japan, deep eaves were conventional, and oiled-paper windows were rare.PDF, with additional images of process and tools, 3D drawings for a kōshi (lattice) door

The smooth sheet of paper covering the back of a shoji can make it difficult to grip and slide the shoji from the outside. To solve this, a single square in the frame may be papered only on the opposite side, and/or a groove may be cut in the outside of the frame (see image). This doorpull is called a hikite.

While washi paper blocks wind, it does allow air to diffuse through, allowing air circulation. This is particularly important in traditional buildings, in which charcoal is burned, and damp evaporates from the ground in the crawlspace under the raised wooden floor. Ranma (transom/fanlight panels above the sliding panels and kamoi) may have openings to further encourage breezes to pass through the building.

Plastic sheets and synthetic fibers