DOI Heft:
No. 366 (September 1923)
DOI Artikel:Harada, Jirō: Decorations in the Tokonoma
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21398#0161
DECORATIONS IN THE TOKO-
NOMA. BY JIRO HARADA. a 0
THE triumph of the traditional style of
home architecture in Nippon, as far as
the interior is concerned, is the tokonoma,
a recess in the room now specially used
(whatever may have been its origin) for
containing ornaments to decorate the room.
It varies in size and form, but is usually
about three feet deep and six or nine feet
long in an ordinary sized room ; and is cut
into the wall, the proportion of wall-spaces
and sizes of the posts, etc., all being care-
fully taken into consideration. The toko-
noma generally has an extension where
shelves of one form or another are con-
structed for the further placing of orna-
ments. Furniture is of extreme sim-
plicity and is sparingly used in the house ;
and the main scheme of decoration is laid
in the tokonoma and the shelves adjoining
it. a a 0 0 0 0
Simplicity in decoration is the charm of
the homes of Nippon. The scheme of
decoration should be simple, but full of
meaning. There may be only a few things
in the room, but those few things should be
so chosen and placed as to create an
aesthetic whole. Confusion is by no means
conducive to beauty. However beautiful
each individual object may be in itself, if all
of them do not combine to quicken a poetic
sentiment or suggest something appro-
priate to the occasion, the decoration is
considered a failure, there being nothing
but a chaos, a mere conglomeration of art
objects. Instead of presenting striking
effects to the eye, the decoration should
impart serene tranquillity, full of spiritual
peace. Instead of suggesting luxurious pro-
fusion, it should express noble simplicity
and a quiet beauty that reveals itself by
gradual appreciation. This is the principle
involved in decorating a Nippon home, 0
The kakemono is one of the principal
objects of ornamentation. The kakemono
(hanging thing) is hung on the wall of the
tokonoma and may be a painting or a verse
mounted according to the established rules
in a pleasing proportion, so that it may be
rolled up and stowed away when not in use.
The kakemono constitutes the keynote of
the decoration : everything should depend
upon it, there should be nothing to con-
tradict it and everything should support
and emphasize it. It may be a single piece
or a pair, a set of three, four, five, or more.
The kakemono is changed from time to
time according to seasons, occasions or the
expected guests, wherein lies the charm
of the Nipponese way of decorating the
home. If you are expecting a visitor in
your home, you first think over the charac-
ter and taste of that particular guest, and
then, out of a stock of perhaps hundreds of
kakemono, you choose the one, or a pair
as the case may be, that you think will
please him most. You will try to remember
which kakemono you happened to have on
his former visit, and what sort of impression
it made upon him, and be guided accord-
ingly in making the choice. Care also is
exercised to have something in the toko-
noma that was not shown him before. An
individual touch of this kind, a personal
element in the scheme of decoration, goes
far in the reception of a guest. It gives a
personality to the decoration. 0 0
Flowers play a very important part in
the tokonoma. They should be chosen so
as not to contradict or repeat what is in
the kakemono. The two should combine
to produce a pleasing effect. In order to
forget the intense heat of the summer,
the writer now has in his tokonoma before
him in the study a kakemono of a dashing
waterfall. On the floor of the tokonoma,
slightly to the left, there are some water-
lilies put at the corner of a large open
bronze basin filled to the brim with water.
On the other side of the tokonoma there is
a rock shaped like a grand old mountain
with a suggestion of the glow of dawn in
its colour. By using imagination and giving
some thought to the matter, an endless
variety of charming schemes of decoration
can be obtained, even though the number
of paintings and ornaments in one's pos-
session may be limited. The people of
Nippon, by their understanding of Nature
and in the appreciation of familiar lines
in literature, have associated certain trees
and animals in art motives. For instance,
the tiger is almost invariably associated
with a thicket of bamboo, the deer with
maple trees, lions with pseonies, the uguisu
(bush-warbler) with plum-blossoms, spar-
141
NOMA. BY JIRO HARADA. a 0
THE triumph of the traditional style of
home architecture in Nippon, as far as
the interior is concerned, is the tokonoma,
a recess in the room now specially used
(whatever may have been its origin) for
containing ornaments to decorate the room.
It varies in size and form, but is usually
about three feet deep and six or nine feet
long in an ordinary sized room ; and is cut
into the wall, the proportion of wall-spaces
and sizes of the posts, etc., all being care-
fully taken into consideration. The toko-
noma generally has an extension where
shelves of one form or another are con-
structed for the further placing of orna-
ments. Furniture is of extreme sim-
plicity and is sparingly used in the house ;
and the main scheme of decoration is laid
in the tokonoma and the shelves adjoining
it. a a 0 0 0 0
Simplicity in decoration is the charm of
the homes of Nippon. The scheme of
decoration should be simple, but full of
meaning. There may be only a few things
in the room, but those few things should be
so chosen and placed as to create an
aesthetic whole. Confusion is by no means
conducive to beauty. However beautiful
each individual object may be in itself, if all
of them do not combine to quicken a poetic
sentiment or suggest something appro-
priate to the occasion, the decoration is
considered a failure, there being nothing
but a chaos, a mere conglomeration of art
objects. Instead of presenting striking
effects to the eye, the decoration should
impart serene tranquillity, full of spiritual
peace. Instead of suggesting luxurious pro-
fusion, it should express noble simplicity
and a quiet beauty that reveals itself by
gradual appreciation. This is the principle
involved in decorating a Nippon home, 0
The kakemono is one of the principal
objects of ornamentation. The kakemono
(hanging thing) is hung on the wall of the
tokonoma and may be a painting or a verse
mounted according to the established rules
in a pleasing proportion, so that it may be
rolled up and stowed away when not in use.
The kakemono constitutes the keynote of
the decoration : everything should depend
upon it, there should be nothing to con-
tradict it and everything should support
and emphasize it. It may be a single piece
or a pair, a set of three, four, five, or more.
The kakemono is changed from time to
time according to seasons, occasions or the
expected guests, wherein lies the charm
of the Nipponese way of decorating the
home. If you are expecting a visitor in
your home, you first think over the charac-
ter and taste of that particular guest, and
then, out of a stock of perhaps hundreds of
kakemono, you choose the one, or a pair
as the case may be, that you think will
please him most. You will try to remember
which kakemono you happened to have on
his former visit, and what sort of impression
it made upon him, and be guided accord-
ingly in making the choice. Care also is
exercised to have something in the toko-
noma that was not shown him before. An
individual touch of this kind, a personal
element in the scheme of decoration, goes
far in the reception of a guest. It gives a
personality to the decoration. 0 0
Flowers play a very important part in
the tokonoma. They should be chosen so
as not to contradict or repeat what is in
the kakemono. The two should combine
to produce a pleasing effect. In order to
forget the intense heat of the summer,
the writer now has in his tokonoma before
him in the study a kakemono of a dashing
waterfall. On the floor of the tokonoma,
slightly to the left, there are some water-
lilies put at the corner of a large open
bronze basin filled to the brim with water.
On the other side of the tokonoma there is
a rock shaped like a grand old mountain
with a suggestion of the glow of dawn in
its colour. By using imagination and giving
some thought to the matter, an endless
variety of charming schemes of decoration
can be obtained, even though the number
of paintings and ornaments in one's pos-
session may be limited. The people of
Nippon, by their understanding of Nature
and in the appreciation of familiar lines
in literature, have associated certain trees
and animals in art motives. For instance,
the tiger is almost invariably associated
with a thicket of bamboo, the deer with
maple trees, lions with pseonies, the uguisu
(bush-warbler) with plum-blossoms, spar-
141