Abstract

The expression of time is widely believed today to be one of the unique features of traditional Japanese architecture. This article argues, however, that many of the apparently temporal features to have been identified in traditional Japanese buildings were actually accommodations of change rather than conscious expressions of time, and similar characteristics are found in buildings from other cultures. It is suggested that the interpretation of traditional Japanese architecture as having been based on time as opposed to space was part of a long-standing impulse, both within and beyond Japan, to cast Japanese culture in contrast to the West.