Illustrated Japanese Culture
障子
A shōji usually means a light wooden lattice covered with translucent paper. It can close an opening while admitting softened light. Many slide in grooves; the older Japanese word shōji had a broader meaning that included other kinds of partition.
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Translucent paper on a light frame admits daylight while making the view less distinct. The amount of light and the visibility of silhouettes change with the covering and the conditions on each side. Historically, thin silk was also used.
Fusuma are opaque partitions covered with layers of paper or cloth. They may slide just as shōji do, but they block the view and light differently. In one room, translucent shōji and opaque fusuma can perform different jobs.
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An outer frame holds slender bars that support the covering. The spacing and direction of the bars vary; some patterns emphasise vertical lines, others horizontal ones. The grid is both construction and visible design.
Sliding panels commonly run between a grooved upper member, the kamoi, and a lower sill, the shikii. Parallel tracks let panels pass one another. The number and arrangement of tracks depend on the opening; two grooves are one common example.
A koshitsuki shōji has an opaque lower portion beneath the paper lattice. That solid “waist” gives the panel a different appearance and protects the lower area. Other panels carry the lattice farther down.
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A yukimi shōji has a smaller panel that can move upward in its lower part. Raising it opens a view without moving the whole door. Many examples include glass behind the opening. The name suggests snow viewing, but the mechanism also frames an everyday garden view.
Seasonal reed or bamboo screens can replace paper-covered fittings. Their gaps allow air to pass. Continuous paper shōji diffuse light but do not ventilate like an open mesh; to admit a breeze, the opening or its covering has to change.
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In older records, shōji could mean several kinds of space-dividing screen or partition. The translucent lattice form developed toward the end of the Heian period and through the medieval centuries; its exact first use is uncertain.
Translucent screens became established in elite residences and shoin-style rooms. The Old Shoin at Katsura provides a surviving architectural example of how paper-covered fittings organise daylight.
In the Edo period, paper production and more standardised fittings supported wider domestic use. Harunobu’s eighteenth-century print shown here places lattice screens within an inhabited room.
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Rain shutters, and later glass fittings, could protect inner shōji from weather. At Rinshunkaku, the glazed veranda and paper screens form different layers.
The former home of writer Fumiko Hayashi, designed by Bunzō Yamaguchi in 1941, includes lower panels that can be raised. Its current appearance shows how the older fitting continued in twentieth-century domestic architecture.
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Modern coverings can include regenerated or synthetic fibres and plastic-laminated layers. They differ in strength, light transmission and how they are attached.
The covering can be replaced while the frame remains in use. Some products use paste, others tape or heat-activated attachment. Select the removal and fixing method for that specific covering rather than applying one treatment to every panel.
A translucent covering on a light lattice frame, often used as a sliding panel.
Fusuma are opaque; shōji commonly let diffused light through.
The upper member and lower sill that commonly contain the sliding grooves.
No. The number and arrangement vary with the opening.
Raise a smaller lower panel to see out without sliding the entire fitting.
No. Reed screens have openings; continuous paper does not work as an open mesh.
No. The older word covered a wider range of partitions and screens.
Greater paper production and more standardised fittings.
Other layers, such as rain shutters or glass fittings, can protect them.
The material and the method of attaching or removing it differ between products.