Forms in Japan by Yuichiro Kojiro (1963)

The Forms

FORMS OF UNITY (purpose/function/use) 

FORMS OF CONTINUATION (tsuranari)

of continuation

of expansion

of openness

of dilation

FORMS OF UNION (musubi)

of tying 

of binding

 of weaving

of joining

of bracing

of matching

of stopping

FORMS OF COLLECTION (atsume)

of grouping 

of gathering 

of piling 

of layering 

of heaping 

of bundling

of tightening

of grasping

of felting

FORMS OF ARRANGEMENT (kubari)

of pairing

of distribution

of complement

of surfeit

of discard

of scattering

FORMS OF ENCLOSURE (kakomi)

of wrapping 

of enclosing 

which surround

of encirclement 

which hide

which cover

FORMS OF FORCE (idea/desire/will)

FORMS OF SUPPORT (sasae)

which support 

which hook

of tension

which suspend

which hang

which spread

FORMS OF CURVE (magari)

of circling 

of curve 

of curvature 

which rise

FORMS OF ADAPTATION (materiality/nature)

FORMS OF FLUIDITY (nagare)

which droop 

which flow

which swirl 

which rotate

which smear

FORMS OF THE NATURAL (sonomama)

of natural things

of inlay 

of firing 

of texture 

of impression

FORMS OF CHANGE (hand/skill/technique)

FORMS OF REDUCTION (chijime)

which are rolled 

which are creased

which are folded

of storing

of bending

of shortening

FORMS BY TWISTING (hineri)

of twisting 

of twining

of dappling

of crumpling 

of shavings

FORMS OF SEVERING (kirihanashi)

of tearing

of chipping 

of splitting 

of cutting

of severing

of dropping

of removing

FORMS OF TRANSFIGURATION (kuzushi)

of simplification

of difference

of disarrangement

of dancing

of shading

of open-work

of splashing

Questions

PURPOSE

to what degree is this form called into being for a specific purpose?

IDEA

to what degree is this form articulated by a will, intellect, desire, and forced into a particular way by its creators?

MATERIAL

to what degree does this form reflect the attributes of its materials?

HAND

to what degree do we arrive at this form from a skill or process or craft tradition?

TIME-HISTORY

what are the histories and traditions of this general form?

is there a lineage of skill or craft that carries this form?

what contextual significance does this form carry? How does this significance change when the form changes hands?

where do the materials for this form come from, and how are they processed?

CLIMATE-SPACE

how does this particular form exist in space and time?

what is the specific trajectory of this particular form in the world?

in other words, how has this form become particular?

FORMS OF UNITY (purpose/function/use)

FORMS OF CONTINUATION

FORMS OF UNION

FORMS OF COLLECTION

FORMS OF ARRANGEMENT

FORMS OF ENCLOSURE

If the determinants of form

can be sought among the four concepts called

Purpose (purposeful use or useful function), Idea (conception

power or artistic volition),

Material (nature’s raw materials or characteristics of materials),

and Hand (skill or technique),

it may be said that the forms which unify are mostly due to

Purpose.

And these forms that are collected under Unity

can be divided, according to the characteristics of each of them,

into the following five sub-groupings:

tsunranari–continuation; mushi–union; atsume–collection;

kubari–arrangement; and kakomi–enclosure.

In the process of formation,

the fact that the forms which seem to have been most strongly

affected by Purpose

can be generalized as forms which unify

is indicative of the characteristic manner in which forms in

Japan respond to function.

In other words, it can be said that

in the additive quality recognizable in “continuation,”

“union,” “collections,” “arrangements,”

and the containment evident in “enclosure”

there lies the characteristics of response to function.

In order to respond to use,

form is created in an appropriate size.

For instance, enlarging a certain basic form can create an object of

suitable size.

In contrast to this very common method, here in Japan multiple

units are frequently connected together

and thus by adding units a larger object is achieved.

Here the addition form called cumulative

becomes an important characteristic of forms in Japan.

Another Japanese characteristic is to continue

enclosing in order to unify, which 

may be contrasted to the Western characteristic

to extend order outwardly in response to function;

in contrast to the Western extroverted nature,

this tendency to enclose may be said to reflect the Japanese

introverted character.

FORMS OF FORCE (idea/desire/will)

FORMS OF SUPPORT

FORMS OF CURVE

If what determines form can be sought among the four concepts 

called Idea, Material, Hand, and Purpose,

forms of force are volitional forms,

and it may be said that much of their origin

is due to the Idea (power of conception or artistic volition).

And these forms that are collected here,

according to the characteristics of each of them,

can be classified into two sub-groupings, Support and Curve.

It is natural that the generalized term force should be ascribed to

the forms for which the causal origin

is the most strongly connected with the desire of the creators.

However, the substance,

in the case of the sub-group “support,” generally reveals a downward

direction.

But ascendancy, in the case of the curve,

is another characteristic of these forms in Japan.

Generally speaking, a support form is considered most ideal

when the supporting power apparently surpasses

that of gravity and results in an upward thrust,

but in Japan there are many support forms that lead toward

strengthening the visual impression of stability owing to the

downward pull of gravity.

There are also many expressions of balance with gravity,

such as those we find in objects which are hooked, suspended, or 

hung.

Not ascent that overpowers gravity,

but descent that acquiesces to gravity

may be taken as one of the characteristics of forms in Japan.

We found still another spatial characteristic

which can be observed in various curves or curvatures

and which is in contrast to the materiality emphasized by the West:

Generally, curves or curved surfaces

express the fullness of the power of substance itself,

but in Japan there are many cases that, rather than being expressive

in themselves,

are instances of forms that send echoes through the space that 

surround the object.

Ascent versus descent; substantiality versus spatiality–

these are the characteristics that can be seen

in certain aspects of Japanese forms that express power.

FORMS OF ADAPTATION (materiality/nature)

FORMS OF FLUIDITY

FORMS OF THE NATURAL

If what determines form

can be sought among the four concepts called Material, Hand, Purpose,

and Idea,

forms of adaptation are greatly due

to Material (nature’s raw material or the characteristics of such

material);

and those forms that are collected here,

according to the characteristics of each of them,

can be classified into two sub-groups:

forms of fluidity and forms of the natural.

The reason why the origin of those forms most strongly connected

to the characteristics of the material from which they are created

is generalized as adaptation is that they reveal

how forms in Japan respond with the greatest rapport

to the nature of the raw material used.

In other words,

it is an adaptability that is in accordance with the materials

themselves;

and it is in harmony with the organic features of nature itself.

It is not artificially applied to process after process

so that the original material can no longer be identified,

but rather it retains nature’s objects as they are;

it is an adaptability that tries to symbolize 

the characteristics of the things with the least treatment.

And this tendency,

in contrast to the geometric forms in the West,

creates organic forms in Japan, and it results in living, natural

forms.

This fact appears most clearly 

in the contrast between the geometrically patterned Western

garden 

and the natural garden of Japan.

This is not only true of the effect of the garden as a whole,

but also of the way stones or plants are sued

down to minute details everywhere.

Conforming to natural growth and movement, form is created;

natural objects themselves are viewed as forms.

FORMS OF CHANGE (process/hand/skill/technique)

FORMS OF REDUCTION

FORMS BY TWISTING

FORMS OF SEVERING

FORMS OF TRANSFIGURATION

If the determinants of form

can be sought among the four concepts called Hand, Purpose, Idea,

and Material,

it may be said that “Forms of Change”

are mostly due to “Hand” (skill and technique);

and these forms that are collected here,

according to the characteristic of each of them,

can be divided into four sub-groups; forms of reduction;

forms of twisting; forms of severing;

and forms of variation.

In the process of creation

the forms we consider to be most strongly influenced by skill and

technique

are characterized by “change,’ and that they can be so grouped 

together

shows that the forms themselves retain some relation to their

original shapes.

Judging this relation from the viewpoint of technique,

it may be said that the effect of the operation can be

autonomy of form, or it can result in a partly treated form,

or it can evolve gradually;

however, not by continued or repeated applications of mechanical

technique,

but by instant or sudden application of creative skill, the object is

formed,

which is one of the characteristics of all forms in Japan.

Forms created suddenly by “breaking,” “twisting,” “shaving,”

“splitting,” or “cutting”

are surprisingly numerous;

and one further form

that is ever changing and gracefully beautiful

is one resulting from the continuous gradual changes, step by step,

of skill

rather than from the tirel;ess repetition of the same technique.

The ever-changing process itself becomes a form, and thus fixed.

It may be called “simplification” or “shading,” and 

its examples are far more numerous than we imagine them to be.

This, it seems, is rooted deeply in the climate of Japan,

which is marked by the beautiful gradually changing features of the

four seasons.